This report summarises the workshop approach, objectives, key learning outcomes and participant recommendations of the third Pacific Women and Fiji Women’s Fund Fiji Annual Reflection and Planning Workshop.
The primary objectives of the workshop were for participants to:
- Reflect on overall progress in advancing gender equality at various levels.
- Share experiences and lessons learned in promoting women’s economic empowerment, enhancing women’s leadership opportunities and capabilities, ending violence against women and coalition building.
This report draws on a consultations with communities and key stakeholders to understand current income generation activities undertaken by women and identified areas of women’s current work where future investments could be made. It identifies additional economic opportunities, in which women were not currently engaged, but may have the potential to increase women’s income and Livelihood options.
The report explores and identifies marketing opportunities for women to sell their goods and/or services in Kiribati, as well as in regional and international markets where relevant.
The review finds that there are very strong outcomes for Spa Academy scholarship graduates and their families.
Graduates feel more confident and valuable. Graduates have increased decision-making power in their families and communities and are considered more of a leader since graduating particularly at work as well as in their families and communities. Graduates have become more empowered and independent.
The fifth Pacific Women in Papua New Guinea Annual Learning Workshop offered an opportunity for Pacific Women-funded and non-funded partners to come together to discuss their work and research and to share lessons about what is working, the challenges, and the opportunities for promoting gender equality in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.
This paper examines the experience and lessons of three projects implemented by CARE International in Papua New Guinea to inform best practice in inclusive governance programming in the future. CARE’s governance work enables citizens (the “grassroots”) and government (representative as well as the civil service) to come together, disrupting negative or destructive cycles of distrust, inaction and disempowerment.
The fourth Pacific Women in Papua New Guinea Annual Learning Workshop provided an update on activities, research, innovation, and good practice undertaken by Pacific Women and its partners in 2017-2018 in the areas of:
- Increasing women’s leadership and decision making.
- Increasing economic opportunities for women.
- Reducing violence against women and expanding support services.
This study was commissioned to increase the visibility of young persons with disabilities to policymakers and advocates. It provides:
- An up-to-date analysis on the situation of young persons with disabilities concerning discrimination and sexual violence, including the impact on their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
- A detailed assessment of legal, policy, and programming developments and specific good practices in service delivery along with best-standard prevention and protection measures.
The Pacific Women Advisory Group on Research is comprised of specialists in gender research expertise who have interest in the Pacific region including representatives of research institutions, development partners, civil society organisations, regional organisations, governments that are engaging in gender research as well as individual research practitioners. Guided by the Research Strategy, the Advisory Group provides advice to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the strategic direction of the Pacific Women research program.
This is a global annual report for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence againts Women. Global statistics include:
- 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual imtimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.
- About 7 % of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than their partner.
- More than 125 million women and girls alive today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation.
- More than 700 million women worldwide alive today were married before their 18th birthdays.
This booklet highlights some of the work of Australia’s aid program to support an end to all forms of violence against women and girls, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. This includes providing services for women who have been affected by violence, programs that improve access to justice for survivors and help women rebuild their lives, education to change attitudes towards violence, and engaging men and boys in initiatives to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.
The Pacific Young Women’s Leadership Strategy was published in 2011 by the World YWCA with support from the Pacific Leadership Program. The strategy is presented under five themes:
- Safe.
- Respected.
- Included.
- Connected.
- Skilled.
These themes were developed after analysing responses from over 250 young women who participated in interactive consultations across six Pacific Island countries.
This annual report notes that the eyes of the world were focused on Samoa and the wider region for the Small Islands Developing States Conference and UN Women’s Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo Nguka’s first visit to the Pacific.
Highlights from the year included:
- The launch of UN Women’s Markets for Change project.
- A highly visible 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign.
This paper supports the case for a transformative goal on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment. The case for a stand-alone gender-related goal, as well as addressing gender priorities into each goal, has been actively supported by Pacific Leaders and the women’s movement. The importance of a standalone goal in post-2015 development agenda was evident at the 12th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women held 2013.
The top findings of the evaluation of the Breakthrough Project are:
1. Global Fund grantmaking contributed to impact at three levels: on the individual lives of over half a million women and girls, their families and communities, on the sustainability and capacities of the grantee organisations and networks, and through concrete political and economic gains for gender equality.
This report focuses on the experiences of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood. It highlights the challenges that adolescent mothers face when pregnant and as mothers.
Over the last decade, young women’s fertility rates (ages 15-19) across the Pacific have declined in eight countries. However, in five countries (Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) rates have remained high, at over 50 of births to women 15-19 years per 1,000 women 15-19 years.
This review looks at progress toward the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action’s goals on the following themes:
- Sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- Health, morbidity and mortality.
- Family wellbeing and society.
- Gender and empowering women.
- Population and Sustainable development.
- Population change and social development challenges.
- Urbanisation and internal migration.
- International migration and development.
- Population development and education.
The global process under way to develop a new international development framework after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015 provides an opportunity to address the lack of power that women have to influence decision making compared to men. To be successful the framework needs to take into account the obstacles to gender equality; how and why these are being perpetuated; and evidence of measures that have proved successful in addressing them.
This summary document provides information to influence priorities post-2015 by discussing:
Pacific Women program activities support the Bougainville Gender Investment Plan, which prioritises the following objectives:
- Reducing family and sexual violence and assist survivors of violence.
- Strengthen women’s leadership.
- Improve women’s economic opportunities.
This report includes the following highlights:
In rural Papua New Guinea, where over 80 per cent of the population live, nearly 50 per cent of women birth outside of a health centre. One out of 25 women dies of pregnancy related causes and 52 babies out of every 1000 born die before their first birthday. For every woman who dies in childbirth or pregnancy, another 30 will suffer lifelong pain or disability from pregnancy-related complications. These alarmingly high death rates are partly the result of health centres being many hours walk away from remote communities and lacking in basic drugs, supplies and suitably trained staff.
This review found that UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme is aligned with Pacific country commitments to upholding children’s rights, and its approaches largely target regional priorities, structures and gaps. Specific findings included:
- There is a need to better contextualise child protection system strengthening approaches to national and local circumstances, and to sharpen messages so that the goals are explicitly communicated and the intended impact is more in focus.