Centre for women
IN 1976, members of the Pacific Women’s Conference set up a steering committee to establish a resource centre, according to The Fiji Times on January 1 that year.
Conference organiser Claire Slatter said the committee decided to locate the resource centre in Suva and advertised for a co-ordinator and two research officers to staff the new set-up.
The work of the centre was to collect and distribute information and skills to be used and shared throughout the Pacific.
Ms Slatter said the committee expected the resource centre to take three years to establish properly.
In the first year, those involved would concentrate on collecting information to form the basis of the centre.
This included listing all women’s organisations in the region. They listed women’s newspapers and other publications, found NGOs concerned with women’s activities and found out what government departments were concerned with regarding women’s interests.
The article stated the centre also concentrated on building a bank of skilled women who were available to share their skills, compile a bibliography of all written material on Pacific women and set up a library while seeking sources of funds for the centre.
The Fiji Times article stated the centre would disseminate information during the first year through a regular newsletter, radio programs, satellite programs, regular correspondence with women in the Pacific and visits by the centre’s staff.
Ms Slatter said that in the second year the centre would be expected to do more research, particularly on the subjects suggested at the Pacific Women’s Conference, and make recommendations or submissions to regional and international organisations; the third year would concentrate on building up a bank of skills and mounting a training program for women.
The committee estimated a budget of $24,000 a year for the centre’s operations and by January of 1976, it had about $14,000, including a grant of $10,000 from the United Methodist Churches of the US, one of the sponsoring organisations of the Pacific Women’s Conference.