Vanuatu

Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) Meta-Review of Evaluations

This report presents the findings of a review of the evaluations of seven programs funded by DFAT through the ANCP and implemented by CARE (Australia and respective country partners).
The purpose is to identify and summarise lessons learned, areas for development and examples of good practice that will inform CARE Australia’s implementation of its new theory of change. The review is intended for both internal and external audiences, including DFAT. Read More...

The Vanuatu Pacific Partnerships for Gender Equality Project Baseline Assessment Report

Women’s economic justice is central to gender equality and sustainable development. Across the Pacific, women are fundamental to the subsistence and economies of their communities, however, women’s work in the Pacific is often undervalued, low-paid and insecure. CARE Australia’s Pacific Partnerships for Gender Equality program is a five-year intervention (2022 – 2027) designed to strengthen women’s economic justice and contribute to a resilient civil society in the Pacific. The program is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). Read More...

LEFTEMAP SISTA II: PROMOTING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN VANUATU

The Leftemap Sista II (LS2) project has been implemented by CARE Vanuatu since 2017 with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). The project purpose is “to support women, young women and girls, including those with disability, in rural and remote areas of Vanuatu to realise their rights to live free from violence, have increased economic opportunity and capacity to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives in peace time and disaster.”1 CARE International in Vanuatu (CARE Vanuatu) commissioned a formative evaluation of the project in November 2021. The formative evaluation was required to assess progress against project outcomes for promoting women’s economic empowerment and reducing tolerance of VAWG and to produce actionable recommendations to inform the design of follow-on programming in line with the CARE Australia ANCP Design Framework.

The LS2 project has been implemented in Tafea - the southern-most province of Vanuatu – in 11 communities on the islands of Tanna and Futuna. The Tafea islands are characterised by their geographical isolation, environmental vulnerabilities, including a high risk of natural and geological hazards as well as slow onset hazards such as drought, strongly traditional culture, and limited service delivery by national government across all sectors – especially on the outer islands. Since the project Mid-Term Review in 2019, the LS2 project has been implemented to deliver two long-term outcomes, focussed on:
Outcome 1 – Women, young women and girls in Women’s Economic Livelihoods (WEL) groups in Tafea have increased access to and control over decision-making on economic resources at the household level.
Outcome 2 – Reduced tolerance of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and better access to services for survivors. Read More...

A comparative study of Category Five Tropical Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu

Vanuatu is made up of 83 islands scattered across 1200 square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean, leaving remote populations isolated and making access and service delivery difficult. Vanuatu is well established as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, with cyclones, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, and floods among the hazards faced (UNU 2015). On 13 March 2015, Category Five Tropical Cyclone Pam (TC Pam), one of the worst cyclones to hit the Pacific region, struck Vanuatu and other Pacific Islands. TC Pam brought very destructive winds, storm surges, and flooding across huge areas of Vanuatu, destroying homes, schools, health facilities, crops, and livestock and affecting approximately 188,000 people, or 70% of the population (Government of Vanuatu 2015a). Read More...

CARE’s experience of Engaging Men and Boys in programming for Climate Justice: A learning review

While there is a substantive body of gender analysis documenting the gendered impacts of climate change for women and girls, understanding of the ways in which men and boys’ impact and are impacted by climate change remains limited. Environmental disasters caused by climate change also negatively affect boys and men in gendered ways that are, Executive summary in general, different from girls and women, and which can contribute to increased vulnerabilities and risks for women and girls. These differences reflect concepts of masculinity and the influence of associated social norms and processes of gender socialization on the attitudes, values and behaviours of men and boys.

Achieving progress towards Climate Justice is therefore closely and inherently linked to gender justice. Addressing the root causes of the climate emergency will require the engagement of men and boys as actors who are also vulnerable to climate change impacts as actors with agency to bring about transformative change by working alongside women activist allies.

CARE’s EMB model is based on the guiding principle that male engagement to challenge gender inequality involves working with men and boys to shift beliefs, behaviours and practices at household and community levels in support of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Engagement with men and boys contributes to processes of gender transformative change by reducing barriers women and girls face to building agency, addressing inequitable power relations and ensuring that changes in power dynamics and social structures are sustained. CARE’s work with men and boys is also broadly categorised in terms of three levels of male engagement whereby men and boys are engaged as participants, supporters and allies and champions of gender equality. Read More...

CARE in the Pacific PARTNERSHIPS RESEARCH REPORT

Partnership is central to CARE International’s global vision where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security. CARE International’s partnerships in the Pacific are carried out through CARE Australia managed country offices in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Vanuatu, and through the CARE in the Pacific team (which sits under CARE Australia) which manage partnerships in countries where CARE Australia does not have a country office. This currently includes Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. CARE Australia is in the process of developing its Pacific strategy. Central to this process is understanding its approaches to partnership and supporting local leadership with its partners in Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. CARE in the Pacific commissioned this Partnerships Research to document its partnership approach and reflect key contributions and gaps to advancing localisation for its partners in the Pacific. The research was conducted during September and November 2021 and involved CARE in the Pacific and 12 partners in Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

What this research report does
⮚ Documents CARE in the Pacific’s partnership approach and the key features of the partnership that are supporting locally led outcomes
⮚ Employs a qualitative approach drawing on the voice of partners through feedback captured during interviews, and secondary documentation related to CARE’s partnership and localisation practice, and current sector discourse on localisation to demonstrate how CARE in the Pacific is supporting localisation, and approaches hindering locally led outcomes
⮚ Identifies actions and approaches for CARE in the Pacific for charting a more strategic course for partnership and localisation by building on existing positive practices and considering areas for improving partnership practice to better support localisation

Key findings
Partnership findings
⮚ CARE’s partnership can be characterised by long-term and short-term partnerships. The long-term partnership is guided by a high-level partnership agreement with sub-agreements developed for project or program specific engagement. Capacity strengthening is focused on supporting organisation-wide learning and growth. The short-term partnership usually begins with CARE either securing or identifying a funding opportunity. Based on consultation and shared objectives, agreement is sought to work together and co-design proposals/projects. A sub agreement guides the engagement. Capacity strengthening (informed by due diligence assessments) is largely focused on ensuring partners can meet CARE’s program quality, administrative and financial requirements, including donor compliance requirements.
⮚ Both long-term and short-term partnerships are contributing to positive change, in advancing CARE’s strategic objective of achieving greater impact through partnerships, and for partners, helping to achieve positive change at organisational and community levels. Having both short-term and long-term partnerships allow for flexibility in the partnership and as partnering is also influenced by the amount of funding CARE has available to support partners. A long-term partnering approach would better position CARE to achieve its broader partnership goals for transformed partnerships in the Pacific for reduced poverty and inequality. A key consideration is for CARE to articulate how it will support partners who want to transition to long-term partnerships, the strategy to engage long-term partnerships and with which organisations it will establish such partnerships.
⮚ CARE’s approach is grounded in supporting partners to achieve their mandate and objectives, working within partners priorities, and partners strengths. Partners perceive CARE is taking a partner led approach that is based on shared values and complementary vision, and a strong commitment to partnership. This approach together with the provision of quality technical support in gender, disaster, and humanitarian programming is helping establish CARE as a partner of choice. This is noted by partners as a core strength of CARE’s partnership approach and an area that CARE should continue to build on.
⮚ CARE has strong foundational policies, processes, and principles in place for partnership, but these are not being consistently applied outside of project implementation. CARE has strong processes and principles in place for partnering but these are not being fully maximised, with the focus more on assessing project delivery and results and not partnership outcomes. This approach to partnerships is potentially hindering achievement of more meaningful partnership outcomes, including more effective programming. There is a desire from partners to have more conversations and participate in processes that are focused on assessing the partnership.
⮚ CARE is directly investing in partnerships in several ways: recruitment of dedicated staff and consultants to the CARE in the Pacific team including a Partnerships Coordinator, Gender, and Inclusion Senior Advisor (Fiji), Program Quality Coordinator, Finance & Grants Coordinator and Project Coordinators. CARE is also demonstrating ongoing financial investment in partners by mobilising consecutive funding with the majority of its partners. It will be important for CARE to consider and plan for future resourcing that may be needed to support a long-term partnering approach, acknowledging that CARE largely operates on project specific funding which directly influences the parameters of support CARE is able to provide to partners as this support has to fit within project budgets. Read More...

“Because She Is Important” Concrete Actions for Gender Equity in Rural WASH: Solomon Islands

Read More...

Cyclone Pam Vanuatu Rapid Gender Analysis

In the aftermath of Cyclone Pam, Vanuatu has declared a State of Emergency across all six provinces. Shelter, food, health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are key needs. The United Nations estimates that the majority of Vanuatu’s population, spread over 22 islands, has been affected by Tropical Cyclone Pam. Understanding the impact of Cyclone Pam on women, men, boys and girls is crucial to deliver an effective response.

CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu analyses the different needs, capacities, and coping strategies of women, men, boys and girls. CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis is built-up progressively; using a range of primary and secondary information to understand how gender roles and relations may change during a crisis. CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis of Cyclone Pam, including its recommendations, will be revised as more information becomes available. Read More...

Tropical Cyclone Harold Rapid Gender Analysis

Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold crossed land on the northern island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, in the afternoon of the 5th April 2020. With winds up to 235km per hour, TC Harold was graded at Category 5, the largest cyclone to hit Vanuatu since TC Pam 5 years ago on 13 March 2015.1 TC Harold travelled straight through the Sanma, Malampa, Penama and Torba provinces and also affecting the Shepherds group in Shefa province and a total population of 159,474 (78,142 female, 81,332 male ).

Any cyclone in Vanuatu creates difficulties for the population particularly in relation to food security for a country where 75% of the population live in rural areas and are reliant on subsistence agriculture. Vanuatu is currently also responding to the very real threat of the global pandemic COVID-19 and so disaster response mechanisms have to refocus to respond to the effects of a category 5 cyclone affecting around 58% of the nation’s population. TC Harold could disproportionately affect women and girls in the Northern provinces impacting their shelter, food security, nutrition, health and protection. In Vanuatu, women have the prime responsibility to ensure that the family has food, they are also the primary care givers for children, the elderly and the disabled who if displaced are at risk of health and protection issues. Maternal and sexual reproductive health (SRH) needs continue in an emergency, but can be overlooked or deprioritised. Women are also responsible for caring for children especially in response to the COVID-19 school closures in Sanma province so if schools are damaged by the cyclone then this will add an extra burden to women’s already considerable workloads. Read More...

CARE Rapid Gender Analysis COVID-19 Pacific Region, 26 March 2020 [version 1]

Globally, including the Pacific, development and humanitarian settings pose particular challenges for infectious disease prevention and control. For the Pacific, COVID-19 presents a range of contextual challenges. These include multiple islands, vast distances and limited resources. In most Pacific Countries, access to quality health services is limited, due to a lack of infrastructure, equipment, and qualified personnel.

This preliminary Rapid Gender Analysis has the following objectives:
● To analyse and understand the different impacts that the COVID-19 potentially has on women, men,
girls and boys and other vulnerable groups in the Pacific context

● To inform humanitarian programming in the Pacific region based on the different needs of women,
men, boys and girls with a particular focus on Gender Based Violence (GBV), Health, Water,
sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Read More...

Filter Evaluations

Clear all