BY JOY OFASIA
THE members of the Girls Wholeness Solomon Islands, a local non-profit organization, held a two-day reflection program over the weekend at the Guadalcanal Women Resource Center at Henderson, east of Honiara.
The program was attended by women and girls from a few communities in the Central Island province, Guadalcanal province, and Honiara, with the purpose of selecting mentors.
Girls Wholeness Solomon Islands Organization Executive Kristina Sau’eha said the reflection activity is one of the activities that takes place after members of the organization carry out trainings in communities.
“The two-day reflection training is one of the activities that takes place after members of the organization carry out trainings around in communities to develop the confidence, skills, and knowledge of girls who are at-risk and establish supportive peer networks,” told Solomon Women in an interview on Sunday.
Kristina explained that the girl’s wholeness program was formed out of Girls Rise Up under the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which was a 3-year project funded by the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), which aims to develop the confidence, skills, and knowledge of 200 at-risk girls and establish supportive peer networks in the Solomon Islands.
She said the aim of the two-day reflection program is for the women to go back to their respective communities and work alongside church leaders’ community leaders and chiefs to support them.
She said after this training they are looking forward to seeing more work done in the participants’ respective communities.
Kristina acknowledged the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for sponsoring their sports activities on the first day.
“I want to acknowledge the Australian Federal Police, who sponsored our sports activities on Saturday with balls, t-shirts, food, and water,” she said.
The Girls Wholeness was formed and registered in October 2022 and funded by SPC for 12 months.
Girls Rise Up is a Pacific Girl project led by the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of the Solomon Islands in partnership with CARE International. It is supported by Australia through the Pacific Girl program, managed by Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women). Its aim is to develop the confidence, skills, and knowledge of 200 at-risk girls and establish supportive peer networks in the Solomon Islands. Providing girls with the opportunity to safely advocate on issues that affect them while engaging service providers to support the needs and priorities of the girls.
