Opening of the National Council of Women's Training for Women Candidates and Campaign Managers

At the official opening of the National Council of Women's training for women candidates and campaign managers yesterday, Australian High Commissioner Patrick Cole, highlighted that advancing women's participation in the political sphere was one step towards investing in Solomon Islands' women's collective demonstration of their sense of responsibility, honesty and capacity to lead: "It is time for the women of the Solomon Islands to step up to take on the important leadership roles",
he said.

femLINKPACIFIC spoke to Anne Saenemua in Honiara about how women and peace initiatives are progressing in the Solomon Islands and how far they have been able to engage with decision makers who are mapping a path forward for this island country's social, economic and political recovery.

Anne Saenemua is the volunteer coordinator for the Solomon Islands Church Association - Federation for Women (SICA-FOW). She is also the Provincial President of the Mothers' Union of the Anglican Church, and a Vice President of the National Council of Women. She was in the forefront of mobilising women who worked across the ethnic divisions which surfaced during the crisis. While Anne continues to work for peace, she also realises that there are no quick fix solutions to assist in the recovery and healing of her nation: "Peace building is a very slow process, we really need to get those who were involved. Women are doing a lot of work in the communities, especially trauma counselling, and this is an exercise before the reconciliation ceremony. We feel that we should have trauma counselling workshops or programmes in the communities to bring back people to their normal state again before reconciliation ceremonies have been held."

According to Saenemua the trauma counselling efforts which she is involved has been effective in the Weathercoast area and some parts of Malaita, where her groups' efforts have been focused, but she is quick to point out that there are still communities where trauma counselling is needed: "(It) does not mean that the effect of the tension is only on the people who were directly or indirectly involved. There are other problems elsewhere, in other parts of the country, which needs trauma counselling because trauma happens to people who are involved in other conflicts as well, such as rape."

Victim-survivors of such trauma, whether the incidents are crisis-related or not, also need assistance: "Trauma counselling needs to continue at all levels regardless of whether it is the impact of the conflict."

Peacebuilding workshops have continued to be a priority activity, together with negotiation and reconciliation workshops, especially to bring Malaitan women and Guadalcanal women together: "Last year we had 80 women from Guadalcanal who went over to Malaita for a reconciliation ceremony, and I was with them during that time, and it was a very moving moment."
The success of that reconciliation initiative brought about a call for similar programmes for men as well, however, Saenemua has found this to be difficult to arrange, as men from both sides of the ethnic tension, remain uneasy about travelling to and from each others provinces.

So with her ongoing work with a range of women and peace initiatives, Saenemua feels that women's peace initiatives remain outside of the mainstream post conflict recovery programmes organised either by the government machinery or the churches:
"We are working as women, in our own organisations, whether it is an organisation under the church or an organisation outside of the church, we are doing it outside, although we take note of what government departments are trying to do."

Saenemua suggests that by a more effective consultation process with women who continue to work for peace, could only serve to improve current initiatives: "(in the meantime) we continue to do what we do silently outside of the government initiatives."

Another important impact on her work has been the lack of a strong financial base, to continue the work of the SICA-FOW programme. Saenemua is optimistic saying the SICA-FOW has not closed down, it is merely functioning as a volunteer based committee: "I am sitting outside of the SICA office and am still coordinating programmes outside of this SICA-FOW desk.
However, we have the SICA Commission which is coordinating all the programmes of the churches, but it is not doing so at the level that we have been doing. So it is (in a way) going back to square one, to the time before the desk was created."

Saenemua is concerned that this is slowing down a lot of the work for women. However, the good news is that the women who provide the current executive leadership of SICA-FOW as well as women in the individual churches are determined as ever to continue their work for peace. But without the necessary resources being provided not only for the immediate but also ongoing peace-building initiatives, how do these women's groups operate?

"We are able to get assistance from other people to enable us to continue with the work", says Saenemua, "We have CARITAS from the Catholic Church who are focusing mainly on trauma counselling and HIV/AIDS; the Anglican Church has a programme that is looking at community development that is empowering women and youth at the decision making level."

Through this programme, according to Saenemua, efforts are being made to assist women and young people to become more empowered to contribute more actively to decisions that are made at the village level.

In response to the UNIFEM Early Warning Indicators report for the Solomon Islands which highlights that there is a moderate chance of conflict recurring in the 'hot spots' of the recent crisis, Saenemua feels that it is time to act decisively to address these early warning signs as well as capitalise on women's nterventions for peace: "We have to work fast because the programmes we have conducted throughout the country involves only a few women, so we need to expand that but we cannot (do that) without financial resources, and this is a constraint. It slows down our work."

The involvement of women at the community level, she says, needs a lot of encouragement from the upper echelons of decision making: "(and also) It needs the support of the parliamentarians or the provincial members to enable women to move forward in their work, and to accelerate our work at the community level."

Which is why Saenemua is excited about the capacity building programme of the Women in Leadership Desk of the Solomons Islands National Council of Women: "It is very important. I think it is now a time to have women at the national level (of decision making). I think because women have been involved in providing community programmes for a long, long time, women have been working in community based organisations, we have the experience and the feel of the communities, their development needs. It is high time that women are sharing and influencing decision making in parliament."

However, she agrees that it is not just about getting into parliament, it is also about working more strategically with the existing networks: "I think we should strengthen our networks. Information must flow to the grassroots, through the networks, through the structures of the church women's organisations."

Information is needed now. Training is needed now, she says, so that more women will not only understand their right to be involved in decision making but to also be able to articulate their visions for a peaceful and prosperous Solomon Islands: "So that more women are able to see the future, to see what we have to do now for our children's future. We need to look forward."

For more information contact:
VBMS Coordinator - Josephine Teakeni Phone 677-28738
or Sharon Bhagwan Rolls c/- 677-23942 (Hotel Mendana)