Women's Action for Change (WAC) as founded in 1993 by local feminist women. 16 years on, WAC uses theatre and the arts in gender equality, social justice, sustainable development and peacebuilding work around Fiji.
WAC is...
· A feminist community arts and social justice organisation, registered in Fiji as a not-for-profit charitable organisation since 1994
· Guided by feminist women’s collective made up of women and transpeople, and 12 local staff - 6 women, and 6 men.
· Working in 12 provinces throughout Fiji, as well as limited work regionally and globally as resources allow.
· Working for full gender equality and peacebuilding. There can be no peace without justice. Any individual, including women and girls, is not safe and empowered without full agency over our own bodies and environments.
· Using theatre and the arts as ways to communicate better with others –This includes scripted theatre, playback and forum theatre and other psychodrama forms, pantomime, mural creation, music, dance and a large range of processes and games.
· Working with groups and communities in rural, remote and urban informal settlements, villages, towns and cities in Fiji, especially women and girls. Great knowledge and skills are found in these communities, but they are sometimes ignored, blocked and unaffirmed.
· Providing active solidarity and support for emerging women’s groups in 17 urban informal settlements, and EPIC youth mediator network with groups in 7 schools;
· Working in primary and secondary schools, vocational and tertiary institutions, communities, and organisations in 12 provinces in rural, remote and urban Fiji, with links to diverse national, regional and global individuals, organisations, institutions and networks
· Working on national peacebuilding, restorative justice, feminist alternative development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, elimination of gender and sexuality based violence, women’s decision-making, children’s health and rights, and climate justice - as intersectional programmatic priorities.
· Convinced that progress toward a gender equal and just world means more sustained dialogue, transformational change, active nonviolence and peacebuilding, and always an engagement with the personal as political.
· Using community theatre developed from community stories in communities in the Pacific and around the world. These plays are full of local knowledge, humour, and gender equality and social justice information. These are complemented by post-performance workshops using over 100 arts-based games and processes, and skillbuilding programmes over extended periods of time.
· Sharing facilitation skills, information and analysis with networks, partners and supporters such as CCF, ECREA, FRIEND, SPC, Marie Stopes, Oxfam Vanuatu, IWDA, UNIFEM Pacific, Global Fund for Women, AWID, DAWN, and others - on a wide range of peacebuilding, social justice and gender equality issues.
· Funded solely by project grants and donations. We are currently looking for core funding. Some of our current and past funding partners include International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA), Global Fund for Women, Mama Cash, Ausaid, Oxfam Australia, Oxfam NZ, NZAID, Canada Fund, Artventure, Bread for the World, and others.
· Fundraising toward a warehouse-style WAC Community Centre as a much-needed base for all our activities, to provide a safe drop-in space, and to provide an accessible and useful community arts and peacebuilding space, in Suva.
For information on any of the above, please contact Noelene, at noelenen@gmail.com
