By Loretta B Manele
Solomon Islands is one of the countries in the Pacific to receive a grant of AUD 315,000 from Passive Women Lead (PWL).
Freda Tuki, minister for Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (MWYCFA) made the announcement last week while opening International Women’s Day celebrations at the National Museum Auditorium.
She announced the launch of Passive Women Lead, (PWL) one of the largest global commitments to gender equality in the Pacific, with AUD 170 million funding from the Australian government.
“Solomon Island is proud to be one of the recipients under the PWL programme, receiving a grant of approximately AUD 315,000.”
Tuki explained that PWL focuses on improving women’s leadership, realising women’s rights and increasing the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.
She said the grant will help address gender-based violence by ensuring survivors’ access to safe, quality services and training of frontline police officers on their duties under the Family Protection Act.
Additionally, Tuki stated the grant will also allow for policy-enabling environments to tackle technology-facilitated gender-based violence and provide financial literacy training for rural women to improve their economic status and business opportunities.
She also took the opportunity to thank the Australian government for their support.
“The Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs sincerely thank the Australian government through the Pacific Women Lead and Pacific Community of this tremendous support as we continue our journey to realising gender equality in Solomon Islands.
I want to also thank all of our partners and stakeholders for their ongoing support.”
She stressed that they still have much more to do and need to act faster to achieve gender equality in the Solomon Islands.
With that remark, Tuki said International Women’s Day is about leaving no one behind.
She stated that as they accelerate actions for all women and girls, they must ensure that those who are farthest behind also get the support they need to move forward.
Pacific Women Lead, Australia’s flagship regional gender equality investment worth AUD 170 million investment, is for the Pacific region and is for a 5-year period (2021-2026).
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