FWCC launches 16 Days of Activism against VAWG campaign with intensive training for women on Beqa Island
6 Nov, 2025
Focusing on the theme Violence against Women and Girls: Ending Impunity, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre has launched its 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women campaign with an intensive two-week training on Gender, Violence against Women and Girls, Human Rights, Legal Literacy and
Technology Facilitated Violence against Women and Girls on Beqa Island.
Since Monday, about 60 women from Tikina Sawau have been part of awareness sessions at the Naiseuseu Village Hall.
Coordinator Shamima Ali says these trainings are held all across the country by FWCC as a strategy to develop a cadre of community advocates to help eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.
She says FWCC commends the Rewa Provincial Office for having such a progressive development agenda, as this request, like many others in the last two years, has come directly from them.
“It is encouraging to see that the Rewa Province sees gender equality as a necessary component of its overall development. We clearly see that FWCC’s work aligns with the broader development goals of the Rewa Province, which has its own Sustainable Development Plan focused on poverty and social
development,” said Shamima.
Since 2023, FWCC has conducted six awareness sessions and trainings for both men and women in villages in Rewa, focused on Gender, Violence against Women and Girls, Human Rights, and relevant laws.
In 2025, over 100 men from Rewa have completed the Male Advocacy for Women’s Human Rights program, which promotes introspection and encourages men to reflect on issues of gender equality and women’s human rights in all areas of their lives, including at home, in the community, in traditional
settings, and at work.
“This work involves engaging men in efforts to eliminate violence against women from a rights-based approach. A key element is for these men to first change their own behavior and thinking towards women and girls before they can influence other men,” said Shamima.
FWCC has also set up village-level Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) committees in Rewa. These committees support survivors of domestic violence in accessing counselling, medical, and legal support services and advocate against violence within their communities.
Since its establishment in 1984, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre has been raising awareness on violence against women as a human rights violation. This is done through its extensive community education program and community awareness and training for government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare, the Police, and corporate entities.
This is also in line with the 2023 National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls.
A comprehensive and holistic training module has been developed by FWCC and is used in various training packages locally and regionally with relevant contextual adaptations.
We acknowledge and thank both our development partners for enabling us to work towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women, girls, and and promoting women’s human rights in Fiji and the Pacific.
Australia (represented at the time by AIDAB, now DFAT) first began providing financial support to FWCC in 1990 and has continued to do so ever since. New Zealand (represented by MFAT) has been providing direct support to FWCC
since 2000.
For more information, please call Shamima Ali on 9992 875.
About 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women The 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women runs from 25 November to 10 December each year. This international campaign was
conceived in 1991 during the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute at Rutgers University, New Jersey in the United States. FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali was one of 23 women leaders from around the world who attended the institute and founded the campaign at Rutgers that year. Participants chose
the dates to symbolically link violence against women (25 November) and human rights (10 December) and to emphasize that violence against women is a gross violation of human rights. In Fiji and the Pacific, 16 Days has not only put the focus on the continuing violation of women’s human rights, but it has also
played a significant part in the movement for democracy, rule of law and human rights.