Family Support Centre

Transforming communities to end sexual and gender‐based violence

Focus area: Strengthening Institutional Response

A 2009 Family Health and Safety Study showed that 64 per cent of women in the Solomon Islands aged 15 to 49 who have at some point been in a relationship experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner and that most of them (70 per cent) never sought help. The Family Protection Act 2014 criminalized domestic violence, but there are challenges in implementation. The Family Support Centre, which receives over 300 new cases each year, is offering free, confidential counselling and legal services. The SafeNet referral system, which involves the police, health and social welfare, operates in Honiara to support survivors of gender-based violence, but its services do not extend to the provinces where the majority of the population lives.

Photo: UN Women/Marni Gilbert

The project aims to achieve three key results: (1) victims and survivors of family violence in three additional provinces have access to free, non-judgmental and confidential counselling and legal services;(2) there is increased knowledge across the Solomon Islands about sexual and gender-based violence and access to justice under the Family Protection Act; (3) the quality of counselling, legal advocacy and referral services at the Family Support Centre is maintained and strengthened. The project will replicate the Family Support Centre model (which has been operating successfully in Honiara since 1995) in the provinces and build strong links with civil society and local capabilities.