My first Magazine UNDP REACH Impact Stories v13 web_FNL | Page 30

Government Services
will Leave No One Behind
February 2016
Suva, Fiji – Seventy three officers from the Legal Aid
Commission and the Ministry of Women, Children
and Poverty Alleviation have brushed up their skills of
rights awareness raising, to facilitate improved service
delivery to people in Fiji.
The Legal Rights Awareness Raising workshop was
organized by REACH Project from 11 - 14 January.
The Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion (REACH)
for Rural and Urban Fijians Project, aims to promote
peacebuilding, social cohesion and inclusiveness
through awareness of rights, access to services,
provision of legal advice and institutional capacity
building in Fiji. The three-year REACH project is being
implemented by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of
Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation and the Legal
Aid Commission and supported by the Government of
Japan.
Christine Fowler, REACH Project Manager reported that
between September to December 2015, mobile teams
comprising of officers from the Ministry of Women,
Children and Poverty Alleviation and the Legal Aid
Commission conducted 17 days of awareness and
service delivery to 48 villages and settlements in 10 of
the 37 districts in all three provinces of Bua, Cakaudrove
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and Macuata in the Northern Division, reaching 1,127
people including 464 women, 507 men and 156
children.
“These mobile teams also delivered 729 services
such as advice on eligibility for poverty alleviation
schemes, information on women and child rights, and
legal advisory services,” she said. “For the majority of
the missions, representatives from the Commissioner
Northern Office and Provincial Councils also
accompanied the mobile team and responded to many
enquiries raised by community members.”
“Awareness and service delivery were conducted across
all three provinces in the Northern Division, to remote
and difficult to access areas, including outreach to
maritime areas, with the end result being that these
communities are now empowered with information
and knowledge of their rights and also provided
with services by the Ministry of Women, Children and
Poverty Alleviation and the Legal Aid Commission right
at their doorstep to access such rights,” Fowler added.
The REACH Project started the New Year with a workshop
to get the officers ready to go to the communities, raise
awareness and provide information and services. The
REACH Project will now commence throughout Fiji,
commencing the mobile services in Central and Western
IMPACT STORIES Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion (REACH) for Rural and Urban Fijians Project