On Friday 8^th of March 2013, a celebration for International Women’s Day was organized by the Women’s Development Committee in collaboration with Naifaru Juvenile and some other local NGO’s. Naifaru Juvenile helped organize activities for local women to participate in, and the afternoon saw plenty of sports and games being enjoyed by women of all ages. A banner featuring the slogan “Political Participants of Women” displayed Naifaru’s support of women’s participation in the decision-making process.

In accordance with this year’s theme of “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”, Naifaru Juvenile set up a stall under the banner of the SHE co-initiative. SHE is a national NGO focused on women’s issues such as reproductive health, rights, and gender-based violence, and Juvenile is its local partner and voice on the island. Representing these themes, we distributed information leaflets about gender-based violence, badges featuring both the international logo of IWD and a slogan supporting women’s role in politics, and throughout the day we relayed messages over the loudspeaker regarding women’s empowerment and leadership. To show their support for these principles, all the staff of Naifaru Juvenile wore orange clothing, as a symbol of opposition to violence.

Later in the evening, a public meeting was held in the island’s multi-purpose building, featuring speeches from invited government authorities based in Naifaru, active women and senior citizens in the community, and representatives from both the Women’s Development Committee and active NGO’s. We were proud to send Aminath Reema on behalf of Naifaru Juvenile to present a speech on young women’s role in the community.