The Ministry of Youth and Sports permanent secretary Josefa Sania has called for greater partnership with other government agencies to achieve Government’s vision of developing Fiji’s youth potential.
The permanent secretary shared this with senior officials and staff of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation at the close of their strategic Annual Corporate Plan meeting. The meeting looked at ways of improving service delivery for Government through their respective departments.
He said that while the two Ministries have common goal and objectives relative to government’s deliverable on poverty alleviation and social justice, a common element in these goals include the need to strengthen youth empowerment in the country.
“A key strategy is to inculcate the positive change in the mindsets of the youths today, to empower them to become self-reliant and gender sensitive. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, further anticipates on addressing reproductive health services at the community level through maximum utilization of the existing women’s networks and mechanisms of the Ministry of Women as well as the established youth network at divisional and district levels”.
Officiating at the close of their meeting, Mr Sania also commended the Ministry of Social Welfare for the new approach taken to elevate service delivery through ensuring excellence at all levels.
“The mainstreaming of excellence within the Ministry irrespective of levels of operations will ensure that we truly embrace and practice what we preach. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, together with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Women are both classified under Government’s social sector and connect in many defined and informal ways, these include gender equality and empowerment, poverty alleviation and social justice,” Mr Sania said.
In a similar message, the Minister for Women Dr Jiko Luveni this week stressed the need for the Ministry to look at ways of boosting income generating projects for those on welfare assistance or for those without employment.
The Ministry’s ACP meeting has also provided an opportunity for the stakeholders, namely UN Women, UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), Courts Fiji Limited and South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) Fiji, Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons (FNCDP) and Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) to make presentations on way forward for strengthened partnership with the government.