Fiji Women's Fund Newsletter

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Newsletter Issue 4 - February 2020

The Fiji Women’s Fund (the Fund) is an initiative of the Australian Government’s Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women) Program. The Fund has committed AU$10.5 million from 2017 to 2022 for funding and capacity development support to women’s groups, networks, and organisations in Fiji to expand and enhance their work on women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Women’s groups caring for others, but who’s caring for them?

The women's movement in Fiji is a space of solidarity, accountability, peace, strength, sisterhood, opportunity, respect, collaboration, healing and pain. It can also sometimes be a space that is described as toxic, unhealthy and capable of driving the most steadfast, well-intentioned feminist to “burn-out”. In our latest blog, we provide insights on self-care practices and the need for organisations to support and invest in mechanism to help women cope. READ MORE

Overcoming gender stereotypes in rugby

"The struggles that women in sport face on a daily basis is often undocumented and only known by those within the fraternity. Our society and culture still wrangle with the reality that women can lift weights, tackle like a beast and run the oval ball.”

Striders Women’s Rugby Club Team Manager Akisi Rabulimasei, speaks about the many hurdles that her rugby club has had to overcome in promoting gender equality and an equal playing field for women in a male-dominated sport. READ MORE

Fund announces changes to its Steering Committee members

The Fiji Women's Fund welcomes Cathy Wong and Georgina Naguilevu to its Steering Committee and thanks Mere Roden of the Spinal Injuries Association and Tupou Vere (formerly of Oxfam) for their immense contributions to the Fund over the past three year. READ MORE

Study finds that less than 1% of aid flowing to the Pacific is allocated to women and girls

Women’s rights are challenged all over the world, however women living in the Pacific face intersecting challenges that can make them all but invisible to the rest of the world. While globally donors are increasing their funding for gender equality and women’s empowerment, funding disbursements by OECD DAC members have stagnated over recent years in the Pacific. Less than 1% of grant funding is directed to women’s organisations in the region.

In early 2019 the Fiji Women’s Fund (FWF) and the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights, Asia & Pacific (UAF A&P) commissioned a Scoping study about the funding realities for women’s organisations in the region.
READ MORE

Click on the image to play video - Where is the money for money and girls in the Pacific?

NEWS IN BRIEF

21 January
Program Officer Kuini Rabo and Finance Officer Roshni Chand paid a courtesy visit to grantee partner - Naitasiri Women in Diary Group. Regular site inspections allow the Fund to discuss ways to provide further support or technical assistance to grantee partners.

16 February

In partnership with the Urgent Action Fund Asia and the Pacific, the Fund launched a new scoping study - Where is the money for women and girls in the Pacific? at the Australasian Aid Conference - preconference event. This was followed by a panel discussion featuring Women's Fund Asia, and Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Women.

19 - 20 February
The Fund alongside the Urgent Action Fund Asia and the Pacific and Women's Fund Asia met with the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Gender Equality team to discuss and broker increased and sustainable investment from the Australian Government into Women’s Funds in Asia and the Pacific.

26 - 27 February
Senior Programme Manager Menka Goundan facilitated a two-day gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) for 12 members of the Psychiatric Survivors Association (affiliates of the Fiji Disabled People's Federation). GESI training ensures that gender equality and the empowerment of women is integrated into every aspect of our grantee partners work to reduce inequalities and exclusion.

Annual reflection: sharing experiences and solutions to supporting women's organisations in Fiji

Find out how 80 of our grantee partners from civil society, government, and development organisations came together in December 2019 to discuss and share ideas on how best to progress women in Fiji. READ MORE

EVENTS

CSW64 / Beijing+25 (2020) - 9-20 March
In 2020, the global community will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). A five-year milestone will be reached towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2020 is therefore a pivotal year for the accelerated realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere.

Fiji Women's Fund Annual Progress Report Launch - 31st March
Presentation of the Fund's Annual Report and announcement of our 2020 grantees partners.

Level 3, Kaunikuila House, Sun Insurance Building,
Laucala Bay Road, Flagstaff Suva, Fiji
Email: information@womensfund.org.fj Phone: +679 331 4410

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The Fiji Women's Fund is supported by the Australian Government

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Women's Fund Fiji · 17 & 17A, Level 1, Mid City Complex, Cumming Street, Suva, Fiji · Suva · Fiji