RH Team at Emerging Leaders Forum
Sexual & Reproductive Health Education at the Fijian Women’s Rights Movement Forum
On Saturday the 16th of May, the reproductive health team from VSHC were invited to attend the Emerging Leaders Forum (ELF) to provide education on sexual and reproductive health and Pap smear screening.
The Emerging Leaders Forum (ELF) is a component of the Young Women in Leadership Project of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM). The idea behind this project is to support and encourage young women to develop their own voices – in their schools, youth groups, communities and religious groups. This is achieved by introducing young women leaders to issues facing women in Fiji and abroad and to allow for in-depth discussion so that their concerns, various issues and current affairs may be better understood and placed in context.
The Emerging Leaders’ Forum (ELF) is a year-long leadership program that focuses on developing leadership skills among young women. The ELF graduates then use the knowledge and skills to build their own capacities and that of other young women in their organisations, communities and educational institutions.
Participants from the ELF FWRM forum with staff from VSHC (photo courtesy of FWRM)
Dr Gyaneshwar (Medical Director), Amelia Ake (RH Nurse), Seremaia Koroi (Health Educator), Lucy Thallon (Australian Red Cross Volunteer), and Alyson Gilfillan (Medical Student) attended the forum. Education was provided on the health challenges for women in Fiji, the impact of reproductive health on the empowerment of women, cervical cancer, safe sex and STI prevention, family planning and contraception. The session was interactive, with the topics provoking a lot of discussion. Twenty-one young women participated, with some of them attending the make shift clinic for a Pap smear and individual counselling on sexual and reproductive health.
