Gender Awareness for Councillors
Date:
Solomon Islands — “At times, we think only men can participate in decisions that we make for our wards, council and for the city but women also play a very important role in our society and we must also include them in whatever decisions we do,” said Charles Aiwosuga, a participant at the Gender 101 training and also Honiara’s Deputy Mayor.
“For me, as a leader, this session had given some new ideas and knowledge to be humble and carry our work by putting on the gender lenses,” he added.
Honiara City Council (HCC) Councillors and Heads of Division participated in the two-day Gender 101 training held at HCC from 13-14 July, and facilitated by the Women’s Development Division of the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (MWYCFA) and supported by the UN Women’s Markets for Change Project (M4C).
Pauline Soaki, Director for Women’s Development Division of MWYCFA highlighted how “gender matters because men and women’s needs are different and we have to meet those needs.”
“The training with HCC is important because we are targeting the Councillors; there are 12 wards in Honiara and within the Wards there are population of men and women,” Director Soaki said.
“We want to educate and bring awareness to the Councillors so that when they are making decisions, they are able to articulate meaningfully the provision of services, even the designs of programs, and the decision that they make that affects men and women has to be fair and equitable in some way.”
As part of its Markets for Change project, UN Women works closely with local governments including HCC to ensure that their capacity is strengthen so that they are gender responsive, effective and accountable to market vendors needs which consist mainly of women.
Speaking during the closing of the training participant and Deputy Mayor, Charles Aiwosuga said: “I would like to acknowledge the Director of the Women’s Development Division of the MWYCFA and your staff for the presentation that I believe most of us learned a lot from the training as it is very important for us in our leadership roles.”
M4C is a six-year, multi-country initiative that aims to ensure marketplaces in rural and urban areas of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. A UN Women project, Markets for Change is implemented in partnership with UNDP and principally funded by the Australian Government.
Media enquiries should be directed to
Sharon Tohaimae
Communications and Monitoring and Evalutation Officer, UN Women, Markets for Change
UN Women
Phone: (+677) 22463
Email: [ Click to reveal ]
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UN Women’s Markets for Change project: UN Women’s Markets for Change (M4C) project is a key component of its Women’s Economic Empowerment programme. M4C is a six-year, multi-country initiative that aims to ensure marketplaces in rural and urban areas of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. A UN Women project, Markets for Change is implemented in partnership with UNDP and principally funded by the Australian Government.
Between 75-90 per cent of vendors working at Pacific marketplaces are women and their earnings often make up a significant portion of the incomes of many poor households. Despite this, women are often excluded from market governance and decision-making. M4C works with stakeholders, service providers and the market vendors themselves to: build and support inclusive, effective and representative advocacy groups; deliver appropriate services, training and interventions; ensure women’s voices are heard and taken into account at the decision-making level; and to improve physical infrastructure and operating systems.
For further information please visit
http://fiji.unwomen.org
http://www.facebook.com/unwomenpacific
http://www.twitter.com/unwomenpacific