Access to information and women’s participation in holding government agencies accountable will be highlighted during a side event of the 8th Pacific Islands News Association Summit, which will be held in Savusavu from next Monday to Friday.
Fiji Council of Social Services Executive Director Vani Catanasiga says the Women's Accountability Media Lab Project will bring together community women leaders and journalists to assess how open and accessible government agencies are to communities.
The project, supported by the Australian Government through the Community Engagement Fund, brings together the Fiji Council of Social Services and the Women in Media Fiji Network to work on a grassroots social accountability project.
Catanasiga says it will be an opportunity to support the Fijian Media Association in discussing an issue that is critical to media organisations across the region.
She says the women will use the Kacivaka Diagnostic Tool to choose a government agency that is particularly relevant in their divisions and assess how open it is.
She says the tool, which was developed in 2021, has been simplified and placed on an online dashboard to make it easier for community women assessors and journalists to apply.
The assessment will focus on data collection and integrity, connections and services, and relationships and community engagement.
INSERT: Catanasiga on project 14th Sept
Catanasiga says the exercise will be citizen-led and based on observation and the experiences of women journalists and community women leaders when dealing with government agencies.
She says the project will also collect human-interest stories to show what happens when families and women are unable to access information or services.
She says the assessors will be prepared to apply the tool during the Savusavu workshop before carrying out the assessments later this month.
Catanasiga says the project will also pilot male allyship participation protocols, with male allies required to sign a commitment to participate.
She says the Kacivaka scorecards will eventually be used to conduct town halls in Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Levuka next year.
