On 8 February 2017 Femili PNG launched an official partnership with the PNG Business Coalition for Women (BCFW).
BCFW provides tools and resources for its member businesses to help drive women’s economic participation and promote gender equality.
Through this partnership BCFW and Femili PNG hope to make the support services offered by Femili PNG accessible to more working women and men in Lae, in particular those employed by BCFW member companies, and to increase the reach and scope of services offered by Femili PNG to anyone in the Lae community who is impacted by family and sexual violence.
To mark the beginning of this partnership, BCFW and Femili PNG hosted an MOU signing ceremony at the Lae International Hotel.
The guest of honour at the launch was the Australian Consul General in Lae, Mr Paul Murphy, who was invited in recognition of the Australian Government’s generous support to both organisations (Mr Murphy’s speech is available for download here). The launch was compered by Professor Stephen Howes, Chair of Femili PNG. BCFW Chair (and Origin Energy CEO) Lesieli Taviri, and Femili PNG Operations Manager, Denga Illave both spoke before signing the MOU.
“More than a third of the BCFW’s member businesses are headquartered or have operations in Lae, PNG’s very important industrial hub” said Ms Taviri.
The partnership will seek to build strong and trusted relationships between BCFW business members and Femili PNG for the benefit of FSV survivors who work in those businesses. The partnership will also utilize the Lae business community to promote better access to and more services for individuals impacted by family and sexual violence in Lae and across PNG.
“We are looking forward to this partnership, not only so we can support business employees who are affected by family and sexual violence, but also so that we can build support for our work among the private sector, to help us to become a more financially sustainable NGO” said Ms Illave of Femili PNG.
About BCFW
The PNG Business Coalition For Women is a non-profit organisation made up of business members from across the PNG business community who recognize that investing in gender equality today leads to positive returns for businesses and individuals tomorrow. BCFW was launched in 2014, in response to demand from the PNG private sector, with the aim to help businesses create, share, and implement good practices to drive women’s economic participation and to promote gender equality as a smart business strategy in Papua New Guinea. There are currently 60 members ranging from various industries around Papua New Guinea. Given that the BCFW is relatively new, most of the work to date has been focussed in Port Moresby. Read more about BCFW at www.bcfw.org.pg.
Related media
PNG has high records of violence, says NGO, PNG Post-Courier, 9 February 2017,
PNGBCFW partners with Femili PNG Inc, PNG Post-Courier, 9 February 2017,
MOU to address violence, The National, 9 February 2017,
Australia i helpim Femili PNG long daonim violens, Radio Australia, 10 February 2017
Family violence affects health, The National, 10 February 2017
Research shows high costs related to FSV, PNG Post-Courier, 13 February 2017
Family & sexual violence costing PNG businesses, Pacific Beat (Radio Australia), 21 February 2017