This brief provides examples of gender transformative changes achieved by initiatives in Papua New Guinea. It describes practical, proven approaches for gender-transformative change and highlights the importance of:
- Program design explicit in its aim to reshape gender norms and power relations.
- Working in partnership with organisations and community groups to create change.
- Drawing on community strengths, customs and practices.
- Clearly aligning activities to support government policy commitments and strengthen government systems.
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.
The Pacific Women Regional Learning Forum on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) aimed to:
- Contribute to and build Pacific understanding and knowledge of women’s economic empowerment and approaches.
- Build on regional research, practitioner expertise and the experiences of women in the region to adapt and improve the Pacific Women approach to WEE.
- Strengthen relationships between development partners working on WEE and catalyse increased communication and more coordinated action.
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.
Two ‘Do No Harm’ guidance material kits have been developed by a team from the International Women’s Development Agency. The kits draw on key findings from the Do No Harm research project, conducted by the Australian National University in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
The Do No Harm research explored the relationship between economic inclusion and empowerment programs, and violence against women. The key lessons learned from the research were that:
- Working with men is necessary.
This trainer’s handbook sets out five half-day trainings in Family Business Management Training relevant to rural settings. The topics are:
- Exploring our household.
- Exploring how we work together.
- Managing money and coffee production.
•Decision making and household budgeting.
- Summary and planning for change.
It provides clear guidelines for trainers on activity objectives, key learning points and how to conduct each of the set daily activities.
This paper draws on research undertaken in 2015 among coffee smallholders in Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, focusing specifically on some of the challenges faced by women coffee farmers in accessing financial services.
The research was a collaboration between the Department of Pacific Affairs (formerly the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program) at the Australian National University and the Coffee Industry Support Project of CARE International in Papua New Guinea.
This paper reports on research that found that increasing women’s savings or income does not necessarily lead to greater bargaining power within the household in Papua New Guinea. For women, the choice to escape violent relationships is constrained by gender norms and social customs such as bride price, custody of children and access to land, which limit their ability to live independently.
Poverty data in Fiji is derived from household income and expenditure data, collected via periodic Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. Given gender inequality within households can be significant, assessing individual poverty by using household data and then assuming all household members have the same access to resources and opportunities is problematic. Household-level measurement also means accurate disaggregation of data is impossible. This makes the work of policy makers and advocates harder, masking differences rather than revealing them so they can be addressed.
This short paper draws on research undertaken in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in 2015. It specifically explored the relationship
between women’s economic empowerment and violence
against women through in-depth qualitative interviews.
Interviewees included business women in the urban context
of Arawa (Kieta District) and rural women involved in informal
marketing and alluvial mining (Panguna District) and in
informal marketing and cocoa farming (Tinputz District).
The Bougainville Do No Harm research confirms that women do not always gain greater empowerment when they bring money into the household because their access to economic resources does not automatically give them control over those resources. Neither is violence towards them reduced. Bringing economic resources into the household may in fact heighten tensions over the expenditure of the resources.
The research demonstrated that, in general, women’s increased involvement in community financial management and income generation has not necessarily led to a redistribution of caring work or other unpaid household and community responsibilities.
This monograph describes an approach to farmer learning and agricultural extension known as the ‘Family Teams’ approach used in a project to improve the uptake and impact of training and small business development for women smallholder food crop producers in three regions of Papua New Guinea. The Family Teams approach enables farming families to explore issues of gender and culture within families, seeking to encourage more effective, sustainable and gender-equitable farming and business practices.
This short paper reports on planned research in Fiji, the first country in the Pacific to pilot a measure of poverty at an individual level from a gender perspective.
This review looks at major trends in spending (comparing women and men), the chief barriers to women having more income and control of their finances, and the key opportunities for programs to address economic empowerment of women at household and community levels.
This checklist proposes actions in five specific areas:
- Learn from women’s experience and support their leadership.
- Develop and implement gender-sensitive responses to COVID-19.
- Support women’ economic security.
- Prioritise support to domestic violence survivors.
- Ensure continued access to health services.
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.