The first regional ‘Supervision Skills for Health and Social Services Professionals' training aimed to support crisis centre counsellors and caseworkers in delivering services to women and children survivors of violence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It brought together more than 20 participants from crisis centres in small island states, joined by government nominees, from Federated States of Micronesia (Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap states), Kiribati, Nauru, Republic of Marshall Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Seventeen-year-old Anamalia Falemaka of Talitha Project in Tonga participated in the UNCRC side event in Samoa in March 2020 titled ‘A dive into the Blue Pacific’. Girls like Anamalia used the forum to share their experiences, lessons learned and innovative approaches at the international event. It was a learning opportunity for participants to exchange information, knowledge and challenges faced in the Pacific region. The side-event involved grassroots civil society organisations in the Pacific which engage with girls and acknowledge their role, agency and expertise.
Working towards gender equality is a priority for Tuvalu National Council for Women, a non-government organisation that has connected women across Tuvalu since 1977. In addition to its church service and street march, the council planned a radio program, conducted a small polled women on progress, good practices in their communities, practices in need of change, and their desired government actions.
The Pacific Girl webinar on adolescent girls and COVID-19, coincided with the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. It explored the impacts of the pandemic on adolescent girls in the region and the importance of listening to girls and young women in order to develop effective COVID-19 responses. The webinar amplified the concerns of young women and girls, and those working to support them, while discussing ways to support girls’ increased involvement in response and recovery.
Part of the broader Pacific women’s movement, the We Rise Coalition advocates for gender equality. Members FWRM, femLINKpacific and IWDA were joined by new members Talitha Project in Tonga, Brown Girl Woke in Samoa, Sista in Vanuatu and Voice for Change in Papua New Guinea in 2020. Existing gender inequalities are exacerbated during a crisis such as COVID-19, resulting in women and girls facing even higher rates of sexual and gender-based violence coupled with a greatly increased unpaid care work burden and less access to health services.
The impacts of COVID-19 are not gender-neutral. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by crises compared with men and boys, and so both women and men need to be included in response planning as leaders and decision makers. Women are key to an effective response. To encourage gender inclusive COVID-19 responses, Pacific Women’s Support Unit supported 164 partners across its portfolio of 171 gender equality initiatives in 14 Pacific Islands, funded through the Australian Government.
Multiple factors can create opportunities or pitfalls on the journey towards women’s economic empowerment. This was highlighted through a panel and an interactive ‘Snakes and Ladders’ activity at ‘From participation to power: mapping economic pathways to women’s empowerment’, a side event held in the margins of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women convened by the Pacific Community (SPC) in April 2021. The side event was convened by the Pacific Women Support Unit in partnership with CARE Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu Skills Partnership and attended by more than 650 participants.
The Pacific Girl regional discussion: Girls Agency and the Pacific Girl Journey was held in June 2021. Adolescent girls and young women involved in the six initiatives supported by the Pacific Girl program across six Pacific Island countries participated in the online panel discussion, along with members of the Regional Learning Network coordinated by the Pacific Girl program. The convening was an opportunity to reflect with adolescent girls who had been participating in Pacific Girl programming at national and regional level.
More than 60 adolescent girls and young women reflected on the successes and challenges of the Pacific Girl program and shared ideas to inform future efforts at a series of virtual convenings held in May and June 2021. To ensure a safe space for open and honest dialogue, a closed panel discussion was led by adolescent girls and young women involved in six Pacific Girl initiatives across Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia in June.
Natasha Stott Despoja AO, Australia’s candidate for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was one of three special guests who provided pre-recorded messages for the ‘Pacific girls and COVID-19’ webinar.
The webinar promoted girls’ involvement as essential in the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
This is a pre-recorded poetry performance by Anna Jane Vea for the ‘Pacific girls and COVID-19’ webinar.
The webinar promoted girls’ involvement as essential in the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
The poem ‘What I See, Hear and Understand’ was written for the Pacific Girl webinar and shares the perspective of an adolescent girl growing up in the Pacific.
This is a pre-recorded musical performance by Mia Kami for the ‘Pacific girls and COVID-19’ webinar. The song was performed live.
The webinar promoted girls’ involvement as essential in the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
The song ‘Dear Society’ is for Ms Kami’s sister, reflecting on the damaging expectations that society has of women, and why it’s important for us to support each other. It was composed in honour of her older sister who passed on at the age of 15 after undergoing multiple surgeries on her face to remove a tumour.
Designed for and by girls, Pacific Girl is the only regional program in the Pacific dedicated to adolescent girls and advancing their rights and opportunities.
Pacific Girl Highlights Booklet reflects on the first three years of the Pacific Girl programme – its inception, context, implementation and learning. The highlights are drawn from programme analysis, with sections on what works to engage adolescent girls in the Pacific as well as what the program is achieving through each of its five outcomes. There is also a video summary of the booklet and its programme highlights.
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.
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 2013 supplement to the 700 page 1998 text ‘Law for Pacific Women: A Legal Rights Handbook (1998) by Imrana Jalal.’ The Handbook and the Supplement examine legislation, court decisions, common law, legal structures and legal practices in the Pacific Islands through a human rights, feminist lens. The Handbook and Supplement are designed to be used together. The Supplement covers the laws and legal processes relating to:
- Violence against women.
- Family law.
- Social and economic issues.
- Women as criminal defendants.
This research resource document provides guidance on how to best measure women’s and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations, based on the experiences of J-PAL affiliated researchers around the world. This research resource document offers practical tips for measuring women’s and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations. It is designed to support the work of monitoring and evaluation practitioners, researchers, and students.
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.