May 2024 Newsletter - Pacific Women Lead at SPC (PWL at SPC) programme

View this email in your browser Celebrating more than 40 years of the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women  Less than three months to go – the Pacific gears up for the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and 8th Meeting of Ministers of Women.  The Triennial celebrates 40-years of progress since its inception. Hear from the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) Minister for Culture and Internal Affairs, Jess Gasper Jr, as the country prepares to hot the conference and welcome attendees in July: Read more.    Declaration captures agreed Micronesian priorities for gender equality and the empowerment of women The Ᾱṅ Towepo Declaration summarising Micronesia's gender equality and women's empowerment priorities has been endorsed during the final session of the 2nd Micronesian Ministers for Women Conference, held in Nauru from 16-18 April. All six ministerial delegations attending, endorsed the outcomes documents with it signed by the Head of Delegation from Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam, Kiribati, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) and host country, Nauru. Read more on Facebook. Pacific partners list their top priorities to address technology facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) A 28 year-old woman living in a village in remote Solomon Islands had her husband spitefully share her intimate photos, resulting in family accusing her of being irresponsible and taking away her only child. This is just one of many stories shared by frontline workers at last year's symposium about technology facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) in the Pacific, including online abuse and image-based abuse. To assist address the issue, the first Pacific-led TFGBV Priorities Document for the region is now available online: A first Pacific-led Priorities Document to better address online abuse Research on how cyclones and natural disasters impact adolescent girls CARE Vanuatu has commissioned research into how adolescent girls are impacted by Tropical Cyclones, through its Laef Blong Mi Vois Blong Mi (VBM) project. The findings will guide work to better include adolescent girls in disaster preparedness, planning and response.  Read more: Adolescent girls in Vanuatu stepping up to support national disaster response Better support for women and girls experiencing domestic violence in Chuuk  Survivors of violence against women and girls in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), are getting better support as a result of improved database systems and training introduced by Chuuk Women's Council at its Tongen Inepwineu Counseling Center (TICC).  The new database assists TICC to analyse Chuuk's emerging trends in relation to violence against women and girls, so it can deliver more targeted staff training and client services.  Read more: Better data results in better services for Chuuk's survivors of family violence The largest registry of Pacific language service providers is coming soon! Part of the Pacific Language (PacLang) project will be the establishment of the region's largest registry of Pacific language service providers including translation, interpretation, editing, voice-over, proofreading and transcription. In late 2023, SPC started the early phases of the PacLang project, which is a whole-of-organisation activity that will benefit every division and team in SPC – including the PWL at SPC programme – wanting to produce more Pacific language communication products. For more information email: paclang@spc.int More support needed for Pacific girls and young women with unplanned pregnancies Harnessing the potential of our Pacific region means including young women and girls. But how can this be done when one in six young women in the Pacific have commenced childbearing?  Listen to the ABC's Sistas Let's Talk podcast featuring SPC Principal Strategic Lead – Pacific Women and Girls, Mereseini Rakuita, speaking about the value of family and gender data to better address teenage unplanned pregnancies in the Pacific. Read more: More support needed for Pacific girls and young women for unplanned pregnancies International Women's Day SPC partnered with 11 member countries this year, supporting their government-led national campaigns for International Women's Day, held on 8 March each year.  Regionally, Mereseini Rakuita, SPC's Principal Strategic Lead - Pacific Women and Girls took centre stage in front of thousands convened at the National Convention Centre in Canberra, for the UN Women Australia-led global International Women's Day (IWD) event.  Read the "Count her in – Invest in women: accelerate progress" speech by Mereseini Rakuita. Miles Young, Director of SPC's Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division – the home of PWL at SPC – shared his insights for IWD through a feature story, or Op Ed, published by Pacific newsrooms. International Women's Day on 8 March is a time to celebrate the remarkable achievements of women and girls across the Pacific, and globally. This is also an opportunity to reflect on progress and challenges in the journey toward equal opportunities for women and men, in all their diversity. On International Women's Day – and every day of the year – we want to accelerate and celebrate women's achievements Read it here: International Women's Day: Invest to progress In this short video, SPC executives reflect on the benefits of integrating gender equity and equality into SPC's scientific and technical programmes. This year's International Women's Day theme of "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress" was a reminder that supporting women is a cornerstone for building inclusive societies and more effective community programmes, for all Pacific people.  Four of SPC's executives – Peter Ellis, Karen Mapusua, Berlin Kafoa and Rhonda Robinson – share their message as they echo this year's theme. Incredible range of women's events held over one day across the Pacific From empowering girls through sport to national marches, there was a wide mix of activities held across the Pacific region to mark this year's International Women's Day (IWD). The PWL at SPC programme supported 11 member countries plus states, who requested funding to run their national IWD campaigns. This included: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National Government plus the states of Pohnpei and Yap, Kiribati, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Read more: https://hrsd.spc.int/node/1051  New starters - PWL at SPC The PWL at SPC team welcomes new staff who have joined recently including: Adilaini Wata, Operations and Finance Assistant Mele Holani, Pacific Girl Project Officer Sylvia Kloulubak, Country Focal Officer in Palau. Farzana Gulista Gender Based Violence Adviser  Uieta Kaufusi, GESI Adviser, Tonga Eroni Wavu, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer Upcoming events Pacific Youth Council Convening 29 April to 3 May, Nadi - Fiji Co-convened by the Pacific Youth Council and SPC Regional Working Group on Family Protection and Domestic Violence Legislation - counselling framework consultations 6-10 May, Kiribati Tonga National Gender Equality Consultation 2024 8-10 May, Nuku'alofa - Tonga Menstrual Hygiene Day  28 May Pacific Girl Annual Partners Convening 3 - 6 June, Nadi - Fiji Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture 6-16 June, Hawai'i 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women 22-26 July, Majuro - Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) More Things to Watch Check out the latest videos from PWL at SPC The Pacific Girl Reference Group produced two short films ahead of hosting an International Day of the Girl Film Festival in Tonga last year:  Following the film festival, the Pacific Girl Reference Group members participated in a range of video production activities - particularly messages for Day of the Girl 2023. Building on these activities, Reference Group members in Tonga collaborated with Pacific Girl creative – Anna Jane Lagi – in celebration of the confidence of girl leaders that Anna Jane met with through the review and was inspired by reflection sessions led by the Pacific Girl creatives. Members of the Pacific Girl Reference Group addressed the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) Global Adolescent Girl Leadership Town Hall in this pre-recorded video message: Hear the stories from 16 Pacific Islanders sharing their view that 'gender based-violence is not my culture'. A range of people were interviewed, from Ketia-Kesa, President of the Kiribati Association for the Deaf, to Saram Salle Coordinator of the Young Women's Empowerment Programme (YWEP) within the Chuuk Women's Council. The stories were shared during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. Coming soon: SPC's Pacific Way has started its new season in recent months, with one of the first few episodes including a segment on Pacific Girl in early 2024. Pacific Women Lead Annual Reflection & Analysis Workshop Over 70 representatives of various partners under the Pacific Women Lead (PWL) portfolio came together for the first PWL Annual Reflections and Analysis Workshop in September 2023.  Two of the Pacific Women Lead's whole-of-portfolio delivery partners – Pacific Women Lead at SPC (PWL at SPC) and Pacific Women Lead Enabling Services (PWLES) – convened the event, which was an opportunity to highlight Pacific-led approaches and to make informed decisions about strategic actions that will be required in the years ahead. Participants discussed achievements, what is working well and what to do differently - in a range of programmatic areas as well as overall approaches (such as collaboration, transparency and accountability). The whole-of-portfolio annual report for Pacific Women Lead is available online now. One of the largest global commitment to gender equality, Pacific Women Lead aims to promote women's leadership, realise women's rights, and increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.    The Pacific Women Lead (PWL) at the Pacific Community (SPC) programme, termed PWL at SPC, has more than AUD 56 million dedicated to its work under the Australian Government's AUD 170 million Pacific Women Lead portfolio. This partnership with the Australian Government commits SPC to deliver the PWL at SPC programme, as the cornerstone for the PWL portfolio.  Copyright © 2024 Pacific Women Lead, All rights reserved. You have received this email because we thought you might be interested in updates from the Pacific Women Lead at SPC team.  Our mailing address is: Pacific Women Lead at SPC (PWL at SPC) programme Human Rights and Social Development Division (HRSD) Pacific Community (SPC) Nabua Campus, Fiji Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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