Women National Action Plan Soon for Launch, Implementation
The plan is aimed at engaging the full participation and leadership in the economy of Fijian women and girls.
The Fiji Women’s Economic Empowerment National Action Plan (WEENAP), a project by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection, is expected to be launched and implemented by the end of the year or early 2025.
Minister for Women Lynda Tabuya made this announcement at Parliament on Tuesday.
The plan is aimed at engaging the full participation and leadership in the economy of Fijian women and girls.
Workshop for 50 leaders, experts
The Ministry embarked on the initiative through a technical workshop last April for 50 leaders and experts from civil society organisations, government agencies, private and informal sectors, and women’s rights groups, to develop WEENAP.
Ms Tabuya said the process identified several leading issues that affected Fijian women and girls including unpaid work, genderbased violence, limited access to sexual and reproductive health rights and limited access to financial resources.
She said the Ministry had acted upon the outcomes of the workshop.
Since then, Cabinet endorsed the implementation of the WEENAP and the Ministry put together a team of experts to support the progression of the initiative.
Consultation
Ms Tabuya said the Ministry had developed a consultation framework for WEENAP, the consultation process would be from next month to July.
“This consultation aims to alleviate awareness of the importance of women’s economic empowerment, spotlighting the significant contributions of women and addressing the challenges that hinder their full participation. “There are about 104 stakeholders in this process, who are directly or indirectly contributing to the consultation of the WEENAP. “In the consultation process, we continue to lean on the expertise of women-led civil society organisations and the engagement of NGOs.”
Ms Tabuya said upon completion of this consultation, the Ministry would draft the Women’s Economic Empowerment Plan and submit it for Cabinet approval.