The Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Dr Jiko Luveni will be touring the Western Division from Thursday 5th to Friday 6th June, 2014.
Her official tour will begin by visiting Vanuakula Village and Seniyaya Settlement in Lautoka on Thursday. These two communities have successfully completed the 10 phases of the Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community Campaign (ZTVFC) within the period of 10 months to qualify as a violence free community in Fiji.
Dr Luveni also visited these communities last year and officially launched the campaign, which is coordinated by the ministry in partnership with the Fiji Police Force and Non-Government Organisations such as the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Empower Pacific.
A similar program will also be held at Dreketi Settlement in Lautoka on Friday before Dr Luveni returns to Suva.
Minister Luveni said the campaign was becoming popular among communities in Fiji and it aimed to strengthen community support to stop all forms of violence against women and children.
“A community that would like to join this campaign has to form a gatekeepers committee first in their communities and it is through this committee that we put together a 10 phase program which may take up to 10 months of awareness programs to complete before the community qualifies for the declaration phase,” Dr Luveni said.
“Most of these gatekeepers committees are headed by men. There is awareness programs carried out for men, women and youths so that we can bring the issue to the forefront and that people are comfortable in talking about it in public. And the young people and women representatives work in partnership with Fiji police to effectively implement all the phases of the campaign.”
Apart from awareness programs, the campaign also opens up income generating opportunities for women’s groups.
“One of the key phases of the campaign is economic empowerment of women. The ministry provides them with assistance to start their income generating projects and also through the construction of women centres. These centres are built with the vision to institutionalize women’s groups providing them with the required infrastructure to be able to organise themselves well and be more resourceful,” Dr Luveni said.
She said that community awareness programs have led to increase in reporting of cases to the police.
“Due to increased awareness, more women are now reporting the cases and because it is a public health issue and women and young people are now more comfortable in reporting these cases,” Dr Luveni said.
The 10 major phases carried out during the implementation of Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community Campaign are: Initial planning process, identification of stakeholders, stakeholders meeting, establishment of gatekeepers committee, community consultation, official commitment, stakeholders training on gender based violence, community training on gender based violence, economic and social empowerment program and finally the declaration of the Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community.
Any community that wishes to join this campaign is advised to call the Ministry Headquarters on 3312199 or visit their nearest divisional and district women offices.