Twenty women leaders – including young women and reps from the LGBT community - attended last month’s district convening in Lautoka.
As part of the convening, the women leaders formed a peace table to discuss among themselves the changes COVID-19 had brought to their communities.
Key to this discussion was the role of community media in supporting women as peacebuilders.
“Community media has been one of the very key and instrumental tools that our organisation uses in terms of amplifying our voice, particularly those of us who come from minority organisations,” shared Bonita Qio, Executive Director of the Pacific Rainbows Advocacy Network (PRAN), a grassroot movement advocating for the rights of the Trans community in the Western Division.
Qio said, “It is very hard and it’s a challenge for us to put our agenda on the table for decision-makers, for policymakers to hear.”
Adi Tubuna Namosimalua of the Ebenezer Women’s Ministry said community media had provided her community with a safe platform to address their issues and come up with solutions.
“This is a platform where we can speak freely and we can be heard and where we can express our rights and it is a place where we are included,” she said.
Namosimalua also shared how COVID-19 had affected the conditions to achieving peace.
“Peace to me is to have harmony and to be free from violence. COVID-19 has changed this as there has been changes in the resources [that’s available], health services and food and the economy,” Namosimalua shared, adding COVID-19 had strengthened her resolve as a leader and role model for other women in her community.
The full audio of this conversation will soon be available on femLINK’s Soundcloud page.
femLINK's district convenings are supported through the #WeRise Coalition. The Coalition believes that diverse women can achieve transformative change when working together through a vibrant, coordinated and sustainable feminist movement.
The Coalition consists of the Fiji Women's Rights Movement, International Women's Development Agency - IWDA and femLINKpacific.