Nasolo village in Nailaga district, Ba has become the latest beneficiary of Government’s program on creating violence free communities in Fiji.
Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Dr Jiko Luveni visited Nasolo village on Tuesday this week and presented a certificate of commitment to the gatekeepers committee that has recently been formed. This event marked the beginning of 10 months awareness programs that would be facilitated by Fiji Police and the Ministry of Women.
Nasolo village is among 69 communities that have joined the Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community Campaign.
During the launch, Dr Luveni said positive results have been achieved in communities that have joined this campaign.
“The fact that this community has joined the campaign shows that they do have lot of challenges and this is the step towards trying to make things right. The success is measured through the reports received from Police, it shows reduction in the maltreatment of women and also reduction in crime rates,” Dr Luveni said.
She highlighted that another key component of the campaign was economic empowerment of women whereby women’s groups are assisted to start their income generating projects.
“We have seen that communities that are violence free are driven towards economic empowerment programs as well. In August this year, the Ministry will host a women’s and children’s summit which will see the gathering of all the gatekeepers committee from the declared communities to share their experiences, address the challenges and also map the way forward in strengthening the network developed through this campaign,” Dr Luveni said.
Nasolo Women’s Club president, Mrs Losalini Taufa Ratoto said lack of awareness could be one of the reasons that women have suffered in silence over the years.
“There are 70 women among the population of 300 in this community who look after the daily needs of their families. There have been cases of family disputes that has led to divorce and broken families. We understand that though we cannot change the past but we can learn from it and take appropriate measures to address issues which affect women and children,” Mrs Ratoto said.
“With consultation with the police, we have formed a crime prevention committee that will work actively to facilitate the awareness and training programs. Through this campaign women will be challenged to overcome their fear and take action by reporting the violence or any discrimination committed against them.”
She said that through the financial assistance of $4000 provided by the Ministry, their club has also started a poultry project this year.
“The Nasolo Women’s Club has developed a three year plan and through the Ministry’s support these women have set up a poultry project, this will boost our income generating. Through the violence free campaign, we will be able to access information to make ourselves more resourceful for our families and contribute effectively towards the development of this village.
We are truly grateful to the Minister Dr Jiko Luveni for being the first women’s leader to visit us and her speech has motivated us to work together to become agents of change in our community,” Mrs Ratoto said.
Nasolo village headman, Mr Joeli Waqa thanked Government for assistance provided to improve the lives of his people.
“We are grateful to the Government for opening up this new opportunity to create an informed society that is well empowered to fight its own battle. As the leader of this community I am proud to say that today we have embarked on a new initiative that will enable us to make informed decisions and also treasure family as our greatest treasure,” Mr Waqa added.
-ENDS-