The Femili PNG’s Goroka Outpost Program Manager, Ms Elly Toimbo, represented Femili PNG at the recent 2024 Australasian AID Conference in Canberra on 3 December 2024.
Her successful representation at this important event was made possible by the Development Policy Centre – Australian National University.
She did not only attend but was given a remarkable opportunity to deliver an after-dinner speech during the conference, shining light on the life-changing work of Femili PNG at an international audience.
During her speech, she spoke with pride on how Femili PNG assists survivors of family and sexual violence (FSV), emphasizing more on our case management services, the Femili PNG’s mission and vision, core priority areas which include prevention, response and advocacy.
“We advocate for change with government. We try to get government organizations to take the problem of FSV seriously and to dedicate resources to it. This is the most difficult part of our job, but extremely important. We use our data to provide feedback on needed changes.
Femili PNG’s work on response, prevention and advocacy is not separate, but goes together. In PNG, most people respond when they witness or have evidence of something (we are like ‘’doubting Thomas’’ in the bible). Someone in the community assaulting his wife will continue unless he sees police arresting another neighbor for the same reason. As such, implementing the law is paramount for prevention. When we talk about awareness, we not only educate and train, but we encourage communities to take action, to respond,” said Elly.
Ms Toimbo further elaborated that on a national level, Femili PNG work in partnership with other organizations to advocate for better services and support for survivors. She said that despite negative news coming out of PNG, there are a lot of people taking action to improve things on the ground. At Femili PNG, we don’t only see the problems, we sometimes are part of the solution. And that keeps us going.
Elly said she was surprised that her speech impressed audience at the conference who had zero knowledge about Femili PNG’s work and the issues of FSV in PNG.
“People kept asking me a lot of questions after my presentation. They were keen to learn more about FPNG’s work in making differences in the lives of FSV survivors,” says Elly.
Elly made a strong call for support and urged the participants to respond to violence. She said: “Only when we respond, report and take action then we will help to reduce violence. Without response, there is no point raising awareness or doing advocacy. Australia is no different to PNG in terms of gender based violence, although some responses may be faster, violence is violence and we need to respond.”
Elly also participated at a question and answer session with the Development Policy Centre Director and Femili PNG Chair, Prof. Stephen Howes and discussed insights on the issue of family and sexual violence in PNG.
