Outcome FIJ_D_3.2

Women and Girls, especially from particular groups (with disabilities, rural, sexual and gender minorities) from target countries, who experience violence have access to quality essential services (health, social service, police and justice) to recover from violence

Despite community transmission of COVID-19 in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga, women and girls in all their diversity were able to continue to access quality gender-based violence (GBV) services from essential service providers as a result of UN Women coordinated preparedness activities developed and implemented in partnership with national women’s machineries and civil society organizations (CSOs). For the first time ever, women and girls from more rural and hard to reach locations had access to survivor-centred response services, with the capacity of frontline workers built and rollout of Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Fiji service delivery systems rolled out to outer islands/provinces/divisions. In response to the volcano-tsunami-COVID crisis in Tonga, women and children received access to essential services and psychosocial support through holistic mobile services including GBV essential and non-essential through the Tonga Women and Children’s Crisis Center. Within 24 hours, local responders were at the helm on conducting safety audits and providing culturally-relevant counselling and referral support to the most at-risk women and girls. Also, UN Women significantly enhanced the Government of Tonga’s capacity to respond to emergencies by strengthening existing systems and mechanisms of the national women’s machinery. Moreover, GBV referral data is now kept safely and confidentially, with coordinated systems and tools in place to support this. Members of the Kiribati and Solomon Islands SafeNet/SAFENET networks now have the knowledge and skills to use the GBV administrative data system. Finally, Kiribati’s Ministry of Women, Youth, Sports and Social Affairs (MWYSSA) has for the first time formally registered GBV counsellors on the national government registry for Domestic Violence (DV) Counsellors, a milestone in ensuring standardized, safe and best practice delivery of GBV counselling. Regional efforts culminated in a historic Regional Services Symposium that brought together over 100 diverse representatives from across the region to articulate and come to consensus on key recommendations to drive service delivery quality in the region. An Outcomes Document articulates key areas of focus and lays out the first regional roadmap for responding to survivors of gender-based violence. The recommendations informed the 3 rd Regional Working Group on DV Legislation and are a key document to inform the Pacific Leader’s Gender Equality Declaration alongside other regional frameworks.

Women and Girls, especially from particular groups (with disabilities, rural, sexual and gender minorities) from target countries, who experience violence have access to quality essential services (health, social service, police and justice) to recover from violence

In 2021, Women and girls, especially those from marginalized groups who experience violence have improved access to quality essential services to support their recovery from violence. In 2021, the Fiji National Service Delivery Protocol (SDP) for Responding to Cases of Gender-Based Violence was operationalized and roll-out at the divisional level in the Northern Division, which included the development of localised referral pathways. Women's Interest Officers from the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA) have strengthened capacity in the areas of survivor centered approaches as well as strengthened coordination skills, ultimately enhancing the coordination of the divisional SDP implementation. The SDP rollout to the Northern Division was prompted in response to the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Yasa, whereby the women and girls continued to access life saving essential services to recover from GBV in both normal times and times of crisis. During TC Yasa, a Divisional GBV coordination structure was established that leveraged the emergency as the moment to bring SDP stakeholders and emergency actors together including the police, health, social service / counselling providers, Commissioner Northern’s Office, provincial authorities and the disaster management authorities