2015 Pacific Regional MDGs Tracking Report

The 2015 Pacific Regional MDGs Tracking Report revealed mixed progress on gender equality.

Rates of violence against women in the Pacific are among the highest in the world, proving to be a major barrier to achieving every development goal.

Fiji experienced significant progress over the last 12 months, with the following key findings:

• Implementation of the sexual harassment provisions in the Employment Regulation Decree
• Fiji Parliamentary Committees included gender performance targets
• Elections in September 2014 saw more female candidates and resulted in an increase in women in parliament
• A food voucher program targeting rural women aims to reduce pregnancy-related complications
• Introduced Care and Protection Allowance to provide social security support for single-parent householdsDue to a lack of political commitment in driving women’s issues, as well as a lack of understanding of gender-responsive budgeting and ways to implement gender initiatives, Papua New Guinea has fallen behind in the achievement of the MDGs.

The Solomon Islands also achieved modest success, but has future plans to launch the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Economic Empowerment of Women and Girls and develop a gender mainstreaming strategy.