Outcome SLB_O_1

Advancing business transformation

In 2024, UN Women Solomon Islands demonstrated transformative business model innovation through two flagship programs that delivered substantial impact while maintaining operational agility and fostering continuous improvement. The Markets for Change program reached 449 women directly through targeted services and training across five major markets, creating broader systemic changes that benefited over 4,000 market participants. Complementing this economic empowerment work, the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) programming directly engaged 4,697 women through coordinated interventions while strengthening institutional capacity across 15 partner organizations. The Markets for Change program's business transformation strategy balanced strategic planning with operational innovation. At the policy level, the Western Provincial Government's endorsement of the Market Ordinance established a pioneering financial framework that allocates 50% of market revenue for maintenance and services, creating a sustainable funding mechanism for market operations. This institutional reform was complemented by practical governance improvements, with both Malaita and Western Provincial Governments providing dedicated office spaces for Market Vendor Associations, strengthening communication channels between vendors and authorities. The transformation of market services demonstrated innovative business modeling through digital financial integration. Partnerships with the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund and Telekom introduced vendors to the youSave voluntary savings scheme and M-SELEN mobile money service, particularly benefiting rural vendors who comprise 80% of the population. Professional development elevated vendors' economic participation, with 109 women completing food safety certification through the Ministry of Health, triggering systemic improvements as vendors upgraded their facilities to meet public health standards. In parallel, the EVAW program exemplified business transformation through the establishment of SAFENET as a coordinated national referral system. Operating under a legally binding Memorandum of Understanding among eleven member organizations, this network created sustainable mechanisms for coordinated response. The SAFENET Data Management Protocol introduced standardized intake forms and quarterly reporting mechanisms, achieving a 62% overall technical capacity rating with particular strengths in mission understanding, referral protocols, and data management. Both programs demonstrated agile leadership through responsive adaptation to emerging needs. The Markets for Change program established regular dialogue mechanisms through Project Working Committee and Project Management Committee meetings, creating structured pathways for vendor input. Market Vendor Associations emerged as effective platforms for collective advocacy, with 78 association executives gaining crucial insights through the MVA Forum. Similarly, when challenges emerged in emergency response capabilities, the EVAW program quickly mobilized to strengthen Gender Based Violence in Emergencies capacity across provinces, achieving significant improvements in protection committee members' knowledge - from 19% to 73% in Choiseul Province and 54% to 75% in Western Province. A culture of continuous improvement underpinned both initiatives. In Markets for Change, this was particularly visible in climate resilience integration, with twenty-five MVA members securing active roles in Provincial Disaster Committees and contributing to concrete improvements such as elevated sea walls in Buala and weather protection shelters in Honiara's central market. The EVAW program demonstrated continuous improvement through SAFENET's evolution, with regular reflection sessions leading to enhanced service protocols and coordination mechanisms, supported by systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data. Both programs introduced innovative approaches to community engagement. Project Golkipa under EVAW integrated sports and faith-based platforms to create new pathways for addressing violence against women and girls, while Markets for Change established new models for vendor empowerment through digital inclusion and professional certification. The programs' comprehensive monitoring frameworks reflected their commitment to measuring and adapting approaches. Markets for Change saw eight partners demonstrate increased capacities to advance gender equality, while five multi-stakeholder dialogue processes were established, and 122 women gained enhanced leadership capabilities. The EVAW program similarly strengthened three women's organizations' capacity to deliver and monitor quality services, while establishing sustainable support systems for survivors of violence. Together, these programs exemplify UN Women's successful transformation toward delivering impact at scale through strategic planning, business model innovation, and continuous improvement. By balancing organizational aspirations with operational agility, they have created sustainable models for economic empowerment and violence prevention that strengthen institutional capacity for gender-responsive governance while enhancing opportunities and protection for women across Solomon Islands.

Advancing business transformation

The Solomon Islands NRA continues to progress its adaptation and innovation for business transformation, ensuring its programs and strategies remain responsive, effective, and aligned with its social impact goals. This culture of improvement, focused on integrating real-world insights into operational and programmatic strategies, has yielded sustained positive outcomes, advancing gender equality and women's empowerment in the Solomon Islands Central to this effort is the production of three knowledge products in 2023 which were developed from expertise, research, and lessons learned, to glean valuable insights into a wide array of gender dynamics, social issues, and developmental challenges in Ending Violence against Women and Disaster Risk Reduction prevalent across the Solomon Islands. These serve as important resources, providing deep understanding, identifying critical gaps and opportunities, and guiding evidence-based decision-making processes. Utilizing these insights, the Solomon Islands NRA is iterating on existing products and services to ensure their alignment with global and Pacific regional normative frameworks, as well as with evolving societal needs and expectations. For instance, the SAFENET Data Management Protocol under EVAW Pacific Partnership is refining strategies for managing services data, informed by real-world insights. Moreover, findings and recommendations from these knowledge products play a crucial role in shaping the direction of programmatic continuity, like the design for the second phase of the Pacific Partnership to End Violence against Women and its programme in the Solomon Islands. Moreover, the engagement of the Solomon Islands staff in cross-regional knowledge exchange with Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea has further strengthened the NRA's capacity for innovation and adaptation in Women’s Economic Empowerment. The result has been the inclusion of more stakeholders in the Market Vendors Forum in the Solomon Islands in 2023. This extended inclusion is expected to foster greater collaboration, diversified perspectives, and improved outcomes in the promotion of economic empowerment among women, ultimately contributing to broader socio-economic development and resilience in the region. Furthermore, a shift in management arrangements within UN Women's programmes in the Solomon Islands is leading to enhanced ownership at the country level. The change is now prioritizing country perspectives and guidance, thereby ensuring programs are more aligned with the specific needs and context of the Solomon Islands. Prior arrangements saw programmes being led out of the Suva, Fiji office. However, these have changed to give Country Coordinators more responsibilities and leadership in managing programmes from their local country offices. The introduction of Matrix Management (MM) arrangements further emphasizes this shift. NRA-based Country Program Coordinators are now not only leading and managing programs but are also providing inputs, comments, and feedback to MCO Program Managers. This feedback is utilized in assessing the performance of staff and consultants working in-country.