Leadership Transition

Suva, Fiji  – After close to five years of being at the helm of the Women’s Fund Fiji (WFF), Fund Manager, Michelle Reddy, is stepping down in March 2022.

“While we are very sad to farewell Michelle, we are elated that she will stay within our community and continue to contribute to the feminist funding ecosystem. The Women’s Fund Fiji has matured in the last five years, under Michelle’s careful, empowering and innovative leadership,” says WFF Governance Board Chair, Georgina Naigulevu.

Michelle led the establishment of the first national women’s fund in the region. With the support of team members and diverse communities, Michelle facilitated the Fund’s core work of influencing the flow of resources to women’s groups, networks and organisations in Fiji.

WFFs’ key achievements during Michelle’s tenure as the Fund Manager include:

• Building a resilient team that serves rural, remote, and diverse women’s organisations, groups and marginalised communities
• Registering the first national women’s fund as a local charitable trust
• Establishing the Fund’s grants mechanism which disbursed 68 grants to 38 women’s groups, networks and organisations
• Securing funding from a range of funders to support the Fund’s granting mechanisms
• Building strong relationships within the feminist ecosystem with funders, sister funds, and local CSOs
• Initiating a team culture of collective self-care that inspires our partners
• Mainstreaming human-centered, empathetic and flexible approaches in all aspects of the Fund’s work
• Developing skills-based and resilient governance structures
• Managing multiple transitions, including changes in team composition, governance shifts, and localisation during the COVID pandemic

“The many achievements of the Women’s Fund Fiji are testament to the composition of its team, the Steering Committee and now the newly appointed Board of Trustees and Governance Board including the Grants Committees and the community of people we work with. I am proud to have led and set up a feminist fund that is empathetic, flexible, supportive, and collaborative. These values that the Fund embraces has guided my form of leadership, one that is transformational,” says Michelle.

Michelle is joining the soon to be established Pacific Feminist Fund (PFF) on 4 April as one of the Co-Leads. “This is a critical time for the new fund and Michelle will be responsible for co-leading the design, helping recruit her leadership partner and together they will set up a regional women’s fund in the Pacific, led by Pacific feminists in collaboration with our global sisters at Prospera International and our broader community,” says Yvonne Underhill- Sem, PFF Steering Committee member.

–ENDS–

 

 About WFF

Women’s Fund (Fiji) is the Pacific’s first national women’s fund that is led by the feminist and women’s movement in Fiji. The Fund provides financial and non-financial resources to further the work of feminist and women’s movement in Fiji to fulfill women’s rights and gender justice. The Fund began in 2017 as an initiative of the Australian Government’s Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women) Program with a commitment of AUD 10.5 million from 2017 – 2022. The Fund is a registered entity under Fijïs Charitable Trust Act.

For more information please contact the Governance Board Chair, Georgina Naigulevu on Gisakimi@gmail.com

About PFF

The soon to be established Pacific Feminist Fund (PFF) establishment is a result of the 2020 Scoping Study that was commissioned by the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights – Asia and Pacific (UAFAP)and the Women’s Fund Fiji “Where is the money for women and girls in the Pacific? Mapping funding gaps, opportunities and trend.”

The PFF will be the first regional women’s fund based in the Pacific and led by Pacific feminists. PFF intends to be a conduit for Pacific women’s organisations to secure funding; to represent and direct discussions within and outside the region; to amplify voices of organisations, and women and feminist movements in the region; to lead impact investing in women’s rights and gender based work; and to  engage with Pacific Leaders, role models, celebrities and philanthropic networks to support Pacific women and girls.

The work of the PFF is guided by a Steering Committee and Advisory Group.

For more information please contact Sereima Kalouniviti on pacificfemfund@protonmail.com