A 27-member Pacific delegation is presenting Pacific-led evidence on preventing violence against women and girls at the SVRI Forum 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand, from 5 to 9 October.
The Pacific Community (SPC) said the delegation represents government, civil society, faith, sport, academia and development partners, and reflects more than 20 organisations working through the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls.
Delegates will deliver 16 formal interventions, including two panels, two five-minute presentations, one programme presentation and 11 posters, drawing on eight years of work through the Pacific Partnership. The forum is convened by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative and brings together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and funders.
SPC said this is the largest Pacific presence at the forum to date. Sessions cover prevention, response services, policy, financing and community-led approaches.
Work from Solomon Islands features through Rev Dr Cliff Bird, a Pacific theologian whose work on the intersection of sport and faith-based prevention is being presented at the forum.
"Sports and faith are trusted spaces in our communities. Bringing this integrated approach from Solomon Islands on Project Golkipa pilot to SVRI shows how prevention can be grounded in institutions and relationships that people already know and trust," Rev Dr Bird said.
Other sessions include a panel on rugby as a platform for prevention, featuring Olympian Rusila Naqasau and Fiji Rugby chief executive Koli Sewabu, and a panel on gender-based violence response amid climate change with speakers from five Pacific countries.
The Fiji Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection is presenting its National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against All Women and Girls (2023-2028). The plan's unit coordinator, Laisani Petersen, said it brings government, civil society and other sectors around a shared approach to prevention, and that Fiji will share what it is learning.
Mereseini Rakuita, Principal Strategic Lead for Pacific Women and Girls at SPC, is presenting on costing national prevention frameworks. Rakuita said understanding what prevention costs helps governments plan, resource and sustain action at national level.
Alison Davidian, Representative of the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, said the delegation reflects eight years of collaboration between governments, women's rights organisations, faith leaders, sport bodies and regional institutions.
Filiga Taukiei Nelu, founder and general secretary of Tuvalu Women for Change, is sharing experience from Tuvalu, including work at the intersection of violence against women and girls and climate change.
The Pacific Partnership is funded primarily by the Government of Australia and the European Union and is coordinated by UN Women and SPC, in strategic partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum. SPC said Phase II of the programme, running from 2024 to 2027, is worth US$19.15 million, with US$10.7 million from Australia and US$8.2 million from the European Union. New Zealand was a funding partner in the first phase.
SPC said the region records rates of violence against women about twice the global average, with an estimated two in every three Pacific women affected by gender-based violence.