NAME OF ORGANIZATION:

Department of Women Affairs, Ministry of Health, Women and Community Affairs

ADDRESS:

Private Mail Bag
Ministry of Health, Women and Community Affairs
TUVALU (South Pacific)
Tel: 688-20-416
Fax: 688-20-405

STATUS:

Tuvalu Government

HEAD OF ORGANIZATION:

Director of Women Affairs

YEAR OF ESTABLISHMENT:

1999

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY:

Under the Tuvalu Constitution, Section 15 it states that all laws and acts one under a law must be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society that has proper repect or human rights and dignity. It does not state that a person cannot be discriminated against on the basis of sex (section 27 & 11).

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS:

Vision

Tuvalu women and men work together equitably in harmony and love to make a better Tuvalu for Future generations

Mission

The Department of Women of Tuvalu shall "support, promote, enhance and monitor the Equitable Gender Status in the socio-economic and political development of Tuvalu.

Tuvalu Government has recently established its Department of Women. I am now the new Director for the department and I am looking forward to working and hearing from you regarding updates for UN regional and sub-regional meetings for Asia and the Pacific.

Tuvalu is very much committed to implementing the Platform of Action that came out of the 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995 Currently the Government has ratified two very important documents which are:

(a) Tuvalu National Women's Policy and

(b) CEDAW

We are at the moment running a national workshop to design a Corporate Plan for the Department of Women for the next four years. This plan is the department's first step in the implementation of the National Women's Policy.

Despite our being fully engaged with our own national developments. I feel strongly that we the Department of women in Tuvalu should be notified on any developments concerning those regional and sub-regional meetings. We would like to participate in them if we can.

Plans and Major Programmes Undertaken for the Next 3 Years:

Since the Beijing +5 conference, one of the most important document that came out of the conference was the Platform of Action which requires government support in its delivery. With much advocacy from women nationwide, and also overseas organizations such as UNIFEM, SPC, ESCAP and UNDP the Tuvalu government was able to give its full support for women's development basing on the platform of action, by endorsing the Pacific Platform for Action in 1994, making an international commitment to promoting the advancement of women in thirteen practical and strategic areas of development.

In 1995 the convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in September. In June 1998 the Cabinet approved the Tuvalu National Women's Policy and in July 1998 Cabinet also gave approval to review the processes necessary to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Late June this year CEDAW was finally ratified.

Last week the Department of Women executed its first duty in taking the first step in implementing Tuvalu's National Women's Policy. A national workshop was conducted to design a Corporate Plan for the Department of Women. The Corporate Plan was developed to identify cross-sectoral concerns, which the Department can address in association with other professionals and stakeholders. This includes:

* engendered development to ensure sustainability of future policies, programme and projects and to ensure that these plans meet the complex needs of the people of Tuvalu.
* structural adjustment required for the provision of equitable opportunities for men and women in the socio-economic and Political Development of Tuvalu.
* The Corporate Plan contain key result areas and strategic which aim to address priorities and areas of concern as noted in official statistics and voiced by the Women of Tuvalu.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES:

* Implementation of Tuvalu Women's Corporate Plan which is a working document of the Tuvalu National Women's Policy.
* Gender Train Department of Women's Staff sectoral heads/local government heads and secretaries as well as community workers.
* Integrate gender into all forms of development at all levels of decision making whether in government or non-government undertakings.

STAFF:

BUDGET:

Personnel Project/Activities Total
1998-1999: 30,000 20,000 50,000
1999-2000: 60,000 30,000 90,000