As part of a five-year initiative of the Australian Government funded Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Programme, a total of $1.9 million in funding has been committed towards 14 diverse women’s groups, networks and organisations in Fiji.
These women groups, networks and organisations either come from or have reach to rural remote women and marginalised groups that have been selected to receive financial support from the Fiji Women’s Fund (the Fund). The objective of programme is to provide women’s groups, organisations and networks in Fiji with the support that they need to improve women’s lives, particularly those in rural and remote areas or who are marginalised or disadvantaged.
The groups who received grants are femLink Pacific, House of Sarah, Rise Beyond the Reef, Medical Services Pacific, Partners in Community Development, Ra Naari Parishad, Women in Fisheries Network Fiji, Talanoa Treks, Fiji Girl Guides Association, Naitasiri Women in Dairy, Aging with Empowerment and Dignity, Survival Advocacy Network Fiji, Women’s Wing of the Fiji Trades Union Congress and Delailasakau Women’s Group.
According to the fund manager Michelle Reddy, “It had been an exciting eight months of co-creation with the fund’s steering and grants committee and the women’s movement in Fiji. Staying true to the heart of the fund, we have worked with and alongside myriad stakeholders and partners especially women’s groups, networks and organisations which has led to tremendous achievements within the inception period.”
While there is a growing evidence that supporting women’s groups, networks, organisations and the women’s movement is the most effective way to bring about gender equality, women’s funds are also seen as flexible, responsive, and accessible mechanisms for supporting women’s organisations and networks to advance gender equality.
