Women of the Pacific – Policies to Practical Realities

How can Pacific feminists address and respond to the practical realities of climate change and disasters in the region? 

The WeRise Coalition invite you to join us for this panel event, as part of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66). The webinar will explore and share best practice responses from feminists, governments and INGO actors in responding to the immediate challenges of climate crisis while holding the line to protect human rights norms, climate justice and gender equality in Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Australia. 

The session also allows Pacific feminists to share effective policies that ensures the full protection of all women and girls in all their diversities, through practical engagement in local, national and regional commitments/spaces.

Speakers:

Nalini Singh – Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (Fiji) - Moderator

Nalini Singh, from Fiji, is a feminist and a social development specialist with over 20 years’ experience in design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of women’s rights and development programmes in Asia Pacific. With her passion for women’s human rights and gender equality driving her work, her particular interests is in the issues of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), decent work and organisational capacity strengthening.

Prior to joining FWRM over four years ago, Nalini worked as the Programme Manager- Advocacy and Capacity Building for the Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 7 years. Before this she was a Programme Officer at the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) based in Chiang Mai, Thailand for 5 years. Nalini was also part of the Regional Rights Resource Team for 2 years. The diverse and unique experiences across the region have provided Nalini with invaluable skills, practical knowledge, learnings and understanding of contextual realities for the work that she does.

Lilly Be’Soer – Voice for Change (Papua New Guinea)

Lilly Kolts Be’Soer is a women’s rights defender and advocate for the political, economic and social empowerment of women in her native Papua New Guinea. She hails from Jiwaka Province in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Lilly is the founder and director for Voice for Change (VFC), a provincial NGO based and working in Jiwaka Province. Voice for Change focuses on ending violence against women and girls, and building alliances with communities and provincial government in Jiwaka to advocate for safer communities and an end to all forms of violence.

Lilly has assisted in facilitating mediation among the parties in tribal conflicts and wars. In January 2012, she coordinated a peace reconciliation to resettle about 500 internally displaced families and helped set up a committee to address sorcery-related violence.

Yasmine Bjornum – Sista (Vanuatu)

Yasmine is an activist for women’s rights and empowerment in Vanuatu. Currently the Executive Director and founder of Sista. Sista is a charitable organization, based in Vanuatu, which is driven by feminist values. Sista aims to use arts, media and communications to empower women and girls, raise awareness and advocate on issues that affect them. Established in April 2016, Sista has evolved during a significant time in history where women across the globe have been standing in solidarity with each other to challenge oppression and claim their rights. Our vision is simple – we want to live in a world where women and girls are able to enjoy their rights and participate fully in decisions that affect their lives.

Susan Grey – femLINKPACIFIC (Fiji)

Susan has over seven years of practical experience working directly in the electoral agencies in Papua New Guinea and Fiji specifically supporting civil society. She also has extensive experience in project management, policy and strategy development, grants management, monitoring and evaluation, diplomacy, communications, media, PR and research.

FemLINKpacific is a local, regional, and national catalyst for change through the use of accessible media and information. We seek a pacific region where there is gender justice, ecological sustainability, peace, freedom, equality and human rights.

Doris Tulifau – Brown Girl Woke (Samoa)

Doris started a Non-Profit Organization called “Brown Girl Woke” last year, and it was the first ever to provide programs and conferences for Pacific Islanders in California on issues as such. Ms Tulifau has also worked with Homeless shelters that have helped Asians and Pacific Islanders in California, in which as a Cultural correspondence for 5 years, she has encountered with some Samoans and Tongans in those shelters, which is quite a disappointing factor. Doris has also volunteered and worked in Samoa, for organizations such as Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) Samoa, Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG) Juniors, and Samoa Cancer Society. She has also had the privilege of speaking at various events such as the UN Women country office in Samoa, youth groups etc.

Vanessa Heleta – Talitha Project (Tonga)

Vanessa Heleta has been a women's rights activist in Tonga for more than a decade. As a young woman herself, she has made it her mission to empower adolescent girls through learning and awareness raising. Vanessa is the founder and Director of the Talitha Project, which runs a ‘drop-in centre’ for young women and girls in Tonga, providing security, counselling, training, income generation skills and support.

“I always tell young women and girls to fully commit to their visions, talents, dreams, desires and potential and never let anyone think or tell them that they don’t have any will of their own,” she says.

Vanessa has joined other partners in Tonga to advocate and lobby for CEDAW ratification and to continue to lobby for improvements in legislations and policies to advance the elimination of violence against children, such as the ‘Let Girls be Girls’ campaign, which calls for the marriage age of young girls in Tonga to be raised. She is passionate about advocacy work around human rights and gender equality and promoting the rights of marginalized people, particularly women and girls around gender-based violence and children living with disabilities.