Expanding Pacific Efforts to End Violence Against Women and Girls

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UN Women Pacific Sub-Regional Office Regional Programme Director, Ms. Elzira Sagynbaeva today announced USD 650,000 in grants for 11 new grantees of the Pacific Regional Ending Violence against Women Facility Fund.

The 11 newly selected grantees are organisations working to address violence against women and girls in 6 Pacific island countries. Projects that will be undertaken by the new grantees include:

  • Addressing the violence faced by women and girls living with disabilities in Fiji;
  • Addressing gender-based violence in emergencies and humanitarian situations in Fiji;
  • Targeting youths in schools and communities in the Solomon Islands to address attitudes, practices and norms and promote non-violence;
  • Setting up a Crisis Centre in Western Province, Gizo in the Solomon Islands to provide an easily accessible and safe location for women to get information, education and training, obtain basic counseling services, and get referred to other support services;
  • Empowering young women to address gender-based violence in Tonga.
  • Establishing an emergency hotline with telephone counseling and a community alert system in rural Samoa to enable survivors to receive immediate help and support without leaving their village environment;
  • Training of police officers, police recruits, judiciary officers and community leaders on new legislation addressing family violence in Vanuatu;
  • Addressing domestic violence to promote women’s protection, empowerment and development options in the highlands of PNG

The Pacific Regional Ending Violence against Women Facility Fund is the only funding mechanism in the Pacific dedicated programmes addressing violence against women. The Fund awards multi-year grants directly to civil society organisations and government partners to improve the lives of women and girls through the prevention of violence and the provision of services to survivors.

Since its inception in 2009, the Fund has grown to support 35 civil society organisations and government departments through grants and close to 100 practitioners from across the Pacific to different capacity development events. Funded organizations have access to an intensive package of capacity development, including gender responsive and human rights based approaches, lobbying and advocacy for policy and legislative change, organizational management, integrated services for survivors of violence against women and prevention of violence against women.

The Pacific Regional Ending Violence against Women Facility Fund is supported by Australian AID and the UN Women National Committees in Australia and New Zealand.