“Some of the significant changes I have seen is it has built my confidence and my advocacy skills in advocating for women’s issues. And also I have better understanding of the conventions of Human Rights and linking it to the Women Peace and Security. Meanwhile it has also inspired me to join other decision levels in the province in the tikina, the village and also in the national level”

“Personally for me it my personal growth as a woman. Finding confidence to be able to work with other women. And to work with the local government and local planners in our community. And for our network it is growth. When I first started we had a small core group of women consistently coming to the network meetings that we had every month but now we have almost 1600 women who have come to our consultations, been through our broadcasts, and been through our TV simulcasts. So these are the women that know what FemLINKPACIFIC does in Nausori.”

“Some of the changes I have seen in myself I am confident. I am strong enough being with the women and also the young women. For example in Labasa we have the young women volunteers who can run the radio by themselves in the office [that is the Community Media Center Labasa]. Sometimes we are busy so we have to go out into the field, the volunteers can manage the office. Changes in the consultations the 1325 meeting since I joined FemLINKPACIFIC in 2011 till 2014 the number of women are still increasing. Different faces different clubs different experience different background that they come from. And also the increase in number of young womens participation and sharing of issues. I know it’s same[the issues] but the way they share it out is different.”

“I started off in the early days. During those early days there were not enough resources and technologies that FemLINK is having right now. During our consultations and meetings we usually sit on mats just from that early starting and now we have an opportunity and a safe space for young women to come and attend to trainings and consultations. For me that is a huge significant change for me and the organisation. We started off [the FemLINKPACIFIC Tavua/Rakiraki Network] in 2012, the first time I arranged the women’s network I called them up to attend to the meeting. It was the first time a non-government organisation such as FemLINKPACIFIC actually working with rural women that had the opportunity to attend our meeting. They had no idea that there is a safe space for them to come and sit. For the past years they have been attending to other programs but were not given the opportunity to speak out and to talk. FemLINKPACIFIC has given them the opportunity to share the issues that they face in their communities.”