<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
span.EmailStyle21
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">FYI</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/01/30/fiji-s-unheralded-frontline-disaster-responders-women?utm_content=closerlook&utm_source=The+New+Humanitarian&utm_campaign=ee8cfc5362-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_7_23_2019_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d842d98289-ee8cfc5362-15654885">https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/01/30/fiji-s-unheralded-frontline-disaster-responders-women?utm_content=closerlook&utm_source=The+New+Humanitarian&utm_campaign=ee8cfc5362-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_7_23_2019_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d842d98289-ee8cfc5362-15654885</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:white">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black">Fiji - Vital Frontline Disaster Responders: Women<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black">By
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/authors/irwin-loy" title="See articles by Irwin Loy"><span lang="EN" style="color:#282828;text-decoration:none">Irwin Loy
</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black">- Asia Editor<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">30 January 2019 - Before Cyclone Winston struck Fiji in 2016, Leba Volau made sure her home
was tied down: the food was packed away into plastic bags and containers, and the crops were uprooted then buried so the storm didn’t get to them first. Armed with a booming voice and a mobile phone, she warned her neighbours to get ready.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“It was I who was doing the shouting,” Volau said. “Where were the men? It was us women who
were doing that. For disasters, it is women who do everything.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Volau is part of a network of women bolstering disaster preparedness and response in rural
Fiji, where the threat of tropical storms and volatile weather has communities on alert throughout much of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#C00000">The Women’s Weather Watch programme, run by Femlink Pacific, a women’s media organisation
based in the Fijian capital, Suva, sends weather reports and preparedness advice by text messages to its network of 350 women across the country. They, in turn, spread the news throughout their often-remote communities, and feedback local conditions and needs
to a regular radio show broadcast from Suva.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="700" height="464" id="Picture_x0020_9" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D545FD.08EE8730" alt="https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/fiji-disasterwomen-12.jpg?UkI6jCFELiDcLqhduW2QFJIRodz.WKwm&itok=k-HF2B1x"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Irwin Loy/IRIN - Leba Volau’s home collapsed during 2016’s Cyclone Winston. She remembers pushing her grandchildren out of the house as the walls caved
in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">In a region battered by frequent disasters, humanitarian groups say women like Volau must
play a greater role in </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/interview/2019/01/09/qa-how-include-more-local-women-emergency-response"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">preparing for the
risks</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">. But within their own communities, they’re often
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/interview/2019/01/09/qa-how-include-more-local-women-emergency-response"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">sidelined</span></a><span style="color:#282828">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">when it comes to making key decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“Nobody comes and asks the women what you want or what you need. There’s nothing,” said Sarojani
Gounder, a local district councillor who is also a member of the women’s network. “It’s just: get the rations, stay inside, eat, look after your children. And that’s it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">The global humanitarian system is overstretched. In 2018, the UN asked for a record $25.2 billion to cover 33 emergencies around the world. But the funding gap continues
to </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/in-depth/ground-inside-push-reshape-local-aid"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">widen</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">as the price tag soars.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">This includes the Pacific Islands, where locals say they are often overlooked when it comes to international
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/news/2018/05/07/dial-help-surprise-hotline-helping-quake-survivors-papua-new-guinea"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">interest</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">and funding for crises. The region is home to some of the world’s most
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/11/07/eye-storm-small-island-states-call-action-climate-change-summit"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">disaster-vulnerable countries</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">.
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/in-depth/humanitarian-impacts-climate-change"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">Climate change</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">is expected to
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2018/12/13/nowhere-go-front-lines-climate-change"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">increase these disaster risks</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">as sea levels rise and weather patterns become more extreme and more intense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">What is local aid?</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">The global aid sector has broadly committed to an agenda to “</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/in-depth/world-humanitarian-summit"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">localise</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">”
aid – putting more power in the hands of locals working on the ground where emergencies hit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Why local aid?</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">The aim of of the “localisation” agenda is to improve humanitarian response by making it faster, less costly, and more in tune with the needs of the tens of millions of people
who receive humanitarian aid each year. Local aid workers are </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2019/01/17/venezuela-crisis-local-aid-groups-shift-tactics"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">closer
to the ground</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">, they have
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2018/06/07/ebola-congo-songs-radio-shows-community-awareness-helping"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">local knowledge</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">and
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2018/09/18/local-aid-groups-want-more-say-rohingya-refugee-response"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">skills</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">,
they can often </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2018/08/08/evacuee-humanitarian-aid-goes-local-conflict-torn-marawi"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">access areas</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">that international aid groups
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2018/02/15/how-both-sides-ukraine-s-war-are-losing-hiv-battle"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">can’t reach</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">,
and they </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2018/10/01/caribbean-local-aid-helps-tackle-surge-venezuelan-asylum-seekers"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">know the needs</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">of their own communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Who are local aid workers?</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Local humanitarian aid includes a broad spectrum of potential on-the-ground responders to crises and disasters: local NGOs, civil society groups and leaders, indigenous peoples,
local governments, faith groups, as well as people who are themselves affected by crises, including displaced people and the everyday volunteers working to help their own communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">In the hazard-prone Pacific Islands, it’s not a matter of if, but when the next disaster will
strike. The southwestern Pacific averages </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://reliefweb.int/map/fiji/south-western-pacific-tropical-cyclones-2017-2018-overview-dg-echo-daily-map-30042018"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">seven</span></a><span style="color:#282828">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">tropical cyclones each storm season, which typically stretches from November to April. And here in the western dry zone of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, consecutive
years of drought have also ransacked crops and the lifeblood sugarcane industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="608" height="415" id="Picture_x0020_10" src="cid:image012.jpg@01D545FD.5BB5EF30" alt="https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/viti_levu_fiji_crop.jpg?weYFh2qJH9kNST3YA3IDTmxWxW_BRFMb&itok=bQ7PhSJU"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Copernicus Sentinel/ESA - The western side of Fiji’s largest island, Viti Levu, receives less rainfall than the east, leading to frequent water shortages
during the drier months that follow the annual cyclone season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">It’s a volatile mix for families who depend so acutely on the weather for their livelihoods:
during cyclone season they fear the storms and too much rain; in the drier months they pray for more of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">The area saw nearly six months without a day of rain this past year, said Fane Boseiwaqa,
who works with Femlink Pacific and leads monthly meetings for about 60 women in the area.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“They need to be informed to prepare for any disaster,” Boseiwaqa said. “Women are leaders,
but they do not have access to adequate information and communication.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="607" height="402" id="Picture_x0020_11" src="cid:image013.jpg@01D545FD.5BB5EF30" alt="https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/fiji-disasterwomen-8.jpg?jJWHe2j1PLp56QJYU9G4GhQH6ccDPWdi&itok=jMnn5O2P"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Irwin Loy/IRIN - Fane Boseiwaqa places posters on the wall before meeting with a group of rural women in Ba, Fiji.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Frequent text message alerts, sent directly to women’s phones, provide some of that information,
and Boseiwaqa’s monthly meetings reinforce the lessons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">The get-togethers are part education, part community. The women discuss strategies on improving
the local sugarcane industry – many run family farms hit hard by the frequent drought – or learn about international rights treaties or Fiji’s progress on gender equality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#C00000">Sarojani Gounder on why women need to be involved in disaster response and planning.</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">When drought is at its worst, they trade ideas for cooking with what’s available or tips for
preserving staples; when storms approach, they remind each other how to prepare: bury the crops, store the food and water in containers, tie down the house.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Each session wraps with Boseiwaqa recording a short dispatch interviewing women about their
needs and concerns. The interviews are then broadcast from Femlink Pacific’s Suva studios.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">For many of the women, it’s the first time they’ve ever felt heard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“We women used to stay in the kitchen and we didn’t know how to voice up,” said Selai Adi
Maitoga, a soft-spoken 49-year-old who joined the network in 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“In the community, only the men speak. The men overrule everything. When we sit in meetings,
we are not supposed to talk. When we raise something, they say, ‘Who are you to talk, because you’re a woman?’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#9F3E52">First responders<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">The programme is tapping into an often-overlooked resource for disaster preparedness and response:
women. In rural Fiji, women run the households and make sacrifices to protect their communities – often in ways that men don’t grasp.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Consecutive years of drought and storms have shrunk crop yields and income for farming families.
When food stocks run low, Maitoga said she skips meals so that her children and husband can eat. When there’s no rain and the government’s emergency water trucks don’t show up, she treks two kilometres to a shallow river to fill a bucket. Gounder said women
routinely share what food they have and cook communally so that families don’t go without.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“Men don’t ask the neighbours. If they have money, they can go and buy food,” she said. “But
the women, we talk to each other. That’s why women are the first responders. We do everything first.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Women often face extra burdens and
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.sheltercluster.org/sites/default/files/docs/ll-care_tcwinston_rapidgenderanalysis.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">added health risks and gender violence</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">during and after disasters, as infrastructure crumbles and they take on a larger share of household responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#C00000">After Cyclone Winston, women were essentially first responders in their communities, particularly in remote villages that were cut off from food, water, and government help
for days, says Fane Boseiwaqa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">“Women were the ones going out looking for food to put food on the table for the family,” she said. “Men were trying to at least rebuild their homes again. But most of the
hours have been spent by women.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Humanitarian experts say these differing needs and burdens are often overlooked when crises hit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">The broader aid sector has also promised to “localise” humanitarian responses by helping local groups play
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/in-depth/ground-inside-push-reshape-local-aid"><b><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">leading roles</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">.
But these reforms aren’t always reaching </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/not-what-she-bargained-gender-and-grand-bargain"><b><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">local women</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:#EEEEEE">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">Most established local organisations are led by men, and
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.irinnews.org/interview/2019/01/09/qa-how-include-more-local-women-emergency-response"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">analysts say</span></a><span style="color:#444444">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#444444">donor regulations often see money rushed to these male-led groups, rather than funding and training more women responders and leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Many of the women now take the preparedness lessons they’ve learned in the programme and spread
them within their own communities. Gounder, for example, said she meets with some of the women from the 465 homes in villages near her own home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Jaimati Prasad, a 60-year-old sugarcane farmer, also brings the lessons to neighbours in her
distant hillside village.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="607" height="402" id="Picture_x0020_12" src="cid:image014.jpg@01D545FD.5BB5EF30" alt="https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/fiji-disasterwomen-13.jpg?T2aGgku2FYZx0xHyL9uvFPhUxxA4fcik&itok=YcotVnZv"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Irwin Loy/IRIN - Jaimati Prasad says two rooms of her home were blown away during Cyclone Winston. She believes more attention would be paid to what
women and children actually need if more women were involved in disaster response planning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="607" height="402" id="Picture_x0020_13" src="cid:image015.jpg@01D545FD.5BB5EF30" alt="https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/fiji-disasterwomen-5.jpg?4D.5ziBk_9OjQ.VCr7mG34sPmtO6IeC3&itok=xI8m7FwG"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Irwin Loy/IRIN - Urmila Kumar and her husband Uday Kumar say their sugarcane crops have dwindled after years of rain shortages in the growing season;
their rain-fed tapwater routinely runs dry: “There’s no rain. How can we plant? How can we get our income here?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">And when a disaster alert arrives on her mobile phone, Volau makes sure she’s the first to
warn her village, telling local leaders how to prepare the community’s evacuation shelter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“I told the village elders we should have access for people with disabilities too. The walkway
should be accessible to disabled. Not just steps. And the toilets, there must be two or three toilets,” Volau said. “They just looked at me. Because I’ve been to many workshops and consultations. It’s an eye-opener for me. So when I go back and tell them,
it is also new to them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#9F3E52">“Can I survive?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">In Fiji, the bar by which all disasters are measured is still Cyclone Winston – one of the
strongest tropical storms ever recorded.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Nearly everyone in Fiji has a story to tell about Winston. The February 2016 cyclone churned
a destructive path across the country, wiping out </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/06/30/world-bank-commits-50m-to-support-fijis-long-term-cyclone-winston-recovery"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">a
third</span></a><span style="color:#282828"> </span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">of the Pacific Island nation’s GDP. It landed a direct hit here on the northwestern edge of Viti Levu.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Volau remembered huddling with her family in her battened-down home, shivering as the walls
around her shook.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">The house won’t fall, her husband had told her, before the winds made it impossible to hear
anything else. But when she pointed her torch up to where the ceiling should have been, she found herself peering straight into Cyclone Winston’s fiery winds. The storm had ripped the tin sheeting off her home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“There’s no roof! There’s no roof here!” she remembered screaming. Then the winds changed
direction and the walls caved in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><img border="0" width="607" height="402" id="Picture_x0020_14" src="cid:image016.jpg@01D545FD.5BB5EF30" alt="A woman looks out a slatted window."></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Irwin Loy/IRIN - When food is scarce, rural women like Vani Tuvuki exchange ideas for preserving and preparing staple crops: “We share how to cook certain
foods, changing it so that our children won’t know that we’re eating the same thing over and over again.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">Each storm season brings another round of threats and worry. A near-miss marked the start
of this year’s season in early January, but Cyclone Mona still sent </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/fiji/fiji-tropical-cyclone-mona-gdacs-jtwc-fiji-meteorological-service-media-echo-daily-flash"><span lang="EN" style="color:#9F3E52">hundreds</span></a><span style="color:#282828">
</span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">to evacuation centres, and subsequent downpours have triggered flash floods and landslides.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">For Maitoga, each new storm warning brings memories of Cyclone Winston rushing back: hiding
her children under the table, watching the waters rise, wondering if her house would collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“It’s still in the minds of us women. We suffered,” she said. “But what if it happens again?
What will I do? How will I survive? Can I survive? It’s a question mark you cannot answer.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">That’s why she attends the monthly meetings with a studious fervour: taking notes; asking
pointed questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#282828">“I need to be prepared,” Maitoga said. “And now I know what to do to be prepared for the next
disaster.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>