Honiara – Community awareness of human trafficking and gender-based violence (GBV) will be further strengthened thanks to a EUR 600,000 project “Protecting the Rights of Women and Children, Particularly Girls, in Migration-Affected Communities'' launched by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Family Support Centre (FSC) in collaboration with the European Union (EU).

FSC is a Honiara-based civil society organization that provides legal and psychosocial support to victims of gender-based violence. Its Provincial Volunteer Committees campaign to prevent violence against women and girls.

IOM has partnered with FSC to build the capacity of the committees, particularly in the areas of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. This partnership will enable the introduction of these new topics, while deepening participants knowledge of other topics falling under the FSC GBV training program, such as sex and gender, discrimination and domestic violence.

An important component of the project is the capacity building and training which will raise awareness on GBV and human trafficking at the community and provincial level.

Under the project, IOM and FSC will deliver trainings to Provincial Volunteer Committees in Gizo, Noro, Neo, Lata, Tulagi, Suaghi, Kira Kira, Kolotubi and Buala, as well as supporting the establishment of new committees, according to need.

“This training is important as it will deepen the knowledge of existing committee members and teach new concepts to participants who have recently joined. We want participants to

understand the messages so they can transfer them to other communities,” said FSC Community Educator and Training Officer Hendrick Barai.

For more information, please contact Angelica Neville at IOM Honiara, Tel: +67722536, Email: aneville@iom.int