Women in the Solomon Islands are reshaping their futures and bettering the communities they live in.

Live & Learn Solomon Islands recently conducted training for women in three different communities to help empower them with financial knowledge. Focusing on tailoring, fabric die, piggery management, basic agriculture (composting, seed saving and creating a nursery), food security and livelihoods, more than 50 women were involved in the training sessions, which supported them to improve their financial literacy and business skills.

Helpim Sista is a women’s economic justice (WEJ) project that aims to support women’s groups at community level, so that they develop skills needed to financially sustain their families.

The Income Generating Activities (IGA) training, conducted by Live & Learn Solomon Islands didn’t just provide technical training but also provided a space for women to connect and find strength with each other.

The Chair Lady for the Mosquito Community Women’s group, Lilian, said, ‘There are diverse capacities, expertise and abilities within the women participants of the ANCP Helpim Sista project that would provide economic justice to families. It was an opportunity for me to meet with IGA contract providers to build networks in supporting Helpim Sista project as time passes.’

One of the main sources of income in the Solomon Islands is basic agriculture.

Having found so much value from this experience, the Live & Learn team looks forward to more opportunities to collaborate on the overall goal of women’s economic empowerment in the South Pacific.

The Helpim Sista project is implemented in the Solomon Islands through a partnership between Live & Learn Solomon Islands, People with Disabilities Solomon Islands (PWDSI) and CARE Australia’s Pacific Partnerships Unit (PPU). This project is part of the Pacific Partnerships for Gender Equality Program and is supported by the Australian government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).