UN Women Australia and i=Change have joined forces to better highlight some of the harmful issues facing women in Papua New Guinea, in a bid to boost funding for programs making a difference on the ground.
Just four kilometres from Australia, Papua New Guinea is home to some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, with nearly 60 per cent of women and girls aged 15-49 having experienced some form of physical or sexual violence – almost twice that of the global average.
In fact, statistics show that there are 1.5 million victims of Gender Based Violence every year in Papua New Guinea.
To bring more attention to the plight of the women in Papua New Guinea, i=Change and UN Women Australia have partnered together to release exclusive content and interviews with the people working to make lasting change through programs on the ground.
i=Change CEO and founder Jeremy Meltzer spent a week in Papua New Guinea with the team from UN Women, meeting people on the front lines and seeing first-hand how programs are trying to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.
“To hear the personal stories and see the impact on women and girls is to realise Papua New Guinea is a global epicentre for gender-based violence, and therefore a significant factor holding back the prosperity and potential of the entire country,” said Meltzer.
“If we raise funding and awareness for those working on the ground, we can as Australians create a meaningful and measurable difference, help unleash the potential of women and girls, and accelerate the country’s development, like women in Rwanda have done since the genocide.”
From August 14 UN Women Australia and i=Change began sharing this exclusive content with supporters in a bid to increase education and understanding and increase critical funding for programs.
The content is being released to coincide with the official FIFA WWC semi-final dedicated to Ending Violence Against Women on September 15.
UN Women Australia CEO, Simone Clarke, said this was the optimal time to draw attention to such a critical issue facing the women of Papua New Guinea – particularly so close to home.
“The statistics are daunting, but there are brilliant local organisations working on the ground with UN Women to make a lasting difference. If we can use this moment of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with millions of eyeballs from across the globe fixed on our region, then we can hope to make an even bigger impact in the lives of women.
“We are grateful to work with i=change to not only driving funding for programs, but also work to bring greater attention and exposure to the most serious issues facing women globally.”
UN Women and i=Change have been working together since 2015.
i=Change is Australia’s fastest-growing social impact platform that bridges worlds between businesses and NGOs by making it simple for businesses to give back and accelerate their sustainability journey.
In partnership with over 400 brands like Camilla, Ginger & Smart, National Tiles and Clarins, i=Change has raised over $8 million, impacting the lives of up to 1.7 million people in Australia and globally. i=Change exists to accelerate the impact of extraordinary development projects focused on women and girls’ empowerment, and now also mitigate the impacts of climate change.
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