International Day of Families on 15 May is an opportunity to examine how policies and programmes can be responsive to the diversity of families. This is vital for the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG 5 for gender equality.

The Pacific Community (SPC) through the Pacific Women Lead programme will be looking at how to support partners to apply family-based approaches, particularly in the area of advancing gender equality in the region.

Some examples of family-based approaches from the region are reflected in two of the three Pacific Practice Notes produced as part of the transition to the Pacific Women Lead programme; “Gender Transformation in Practice” and “From Participation to Power: Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Pacific”.

These products share development practices contributing to gender transformative change in Papua New Guinea and the region. It includes approaches for promoting gender equality at individual, family, and community, and societal levels.

Projects like Family Farm Teams in Papua New Guinea have encouraged the reflection on gendered division of labour in households and helps families envision more equitable ways of dividing labour, decision making and income between women and men.

Other projects have engaged men meaningfully in gender transformation by adopting multiple strategies of examining social norms. In some cases, this is through modelling behaviours like sharing leadership roles and women and men working together.

Read the two practice notes on Pacific Data Hub:

–Pacific Practice Note: Opening Doors for Lasting Change – Gender Transformation in Practice – Dataset – Pacific Data Hub

–Pacific Practice Note: From Participation to Power – Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in the Pacific – Dataset – Pacific Data Hub

Background

Pacific Women Lead is at the centre of the Pacific Community’s (SPC) work for gender equality. It serves as secretariat to the PWL Governance Board and provides technical, convening and funding support to member government ministries, the civil society sector and other partners.

Located within SPC’s Human Rights and Social Development division, the Pacific Women Lead partnership with the Australian Government commits more than AUD 50 million over five years to promote women’s leadership and women’s rights, and to increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.

Pacific Women Lead continues to build on the almost 10-year long-term Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women) programme, Pacific Women Lead is one of the largest single funding commitments to gender equality globally.

Source: Pacific Community