It is anticipated that a project to reduce violence against women and girls, promote equity among Members of Parliament (MPs), and assist Melanesian women entrepreneurs would shortly begin operations.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat and the Pacific Community (SPC) will co-sign a grant agreement on August 5, 2024, marking the beginning of the Promoting Melanesian Women project, which aims to empower women in the region through social and economic empowerment.

Improving the leadership and participation of women and youth in the MSG development process is a key component of the project.

Through the Australian Government-funded Pacific Women Lead at SPC program, SPC is contributing to the joint project. The combined project value is AUD577,000, of which over AUD400,000 comes from money from the Pacific Women Lead at SPC (PWL at SPC) initiative and over AUD170,000 comes from in-kind contributions made by the MSG Secretariat.

The three connected components of the Promoting Melanesian Women project—Trade and Women’s Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG), and Women in Leadership (WIL)—are centered around gender equality.

As recommended at the Senior Officials Conference MSG Women Minister’s Conference held in Fiji in 2020 and the Inaugural MSG Ministers for Women Meeting, the initiative will assist EVAWG in developing an MSG Sub-Regional Plan to reduce sexual and gender-based violence. Accelerating MSG Member countries’ pledges to EVAWG and perhaps lowering the statistics on violence against women and girls in Melanesia are the two goals of the sub-regional plan for EVAWG.

In terms of leadership, the project will enhance research capabilities to enable all Members of Parliament (MPs) in the MSG nations (Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands) to impact change and improve the standing of female MPs at the national level.

This will be accomplished by helping research officers provide legislation, amendments, and legislative concerns to members of parliament, particularly women MPs, so they can better equip them to contribute to discussions about gender equality and women’s empowerment in parliament.

Twenty Melanesian women entrepreneurs will receive training in women’s economic empowerment, business planning, mentoring, and coaching so they may take advantage of the MSG Trade Agreement’s market access and trade facilitation mechanisms.

According to Jon Philp, Australia’s Acting High Commissioner to Vanuatu, encouraging gender equality and supporting women is not only the moral thing to do, but also a wise move.

“The MSG and Australia are collaborating to achieve new heights in our partnership, and Australia’s backing for this significant project is a great example of that,” Mr. Philp stated.

Leonard Louma OBE, the director general of the MSG Secretariat, expressed gratitude on behalf of the MSG for the SPC’s prompt support of the project, “Promoting Melanesian Women to Enable Social and Economic Empowerment.”

It clearly illustrates our joint willingness to stand up for our women in the gender domain and shows how committed we are to doing so. In our collaborative MSG/SPC efforts to empower women, support Member pledges to address Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and advance women in leadership roles in Melanesia, this is an encouraging first step in the right direction, according to DG Louma.

Mereseini Rakuita, Principal Strategic Lead for Pacific Women and Girls at SPC, commended the collaborative endeavor and its “ownership and leadership by Melanesian leaders.”
According to Ms. Rakuita, “the announcement of this project comes at a critical time as just last month MSG Ministers for Women resolved that a Melanesian Gender Equality Framework is needed.” She also mentioned that officials in Polynesia are contemplating it and that Micronesia is also developing a sub-regional framework.

“If we are to realize our aspirations for gender equality across the region as outlined in the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration, we must adopt a sub-regional approach, with actions informed by the Pacific Platform for Action, which SPC is the custodian of,” she stated.

The project’s anticipated outcomes include the empowering of female entrepreneurs, enhanced social development metrics for MSG member nations, and strengthened pledges and initiatives to hasten the cessation of violence against women and girls.