Women in Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, are championing climate resilience in their communities, and they’re doing it digitally.
Previously, disaster reports in Santo were taken manually and were unlikely to reach authorities on time for them to make urgently needed decisions on disaster response. Now, women can advocate for their communities by providing much needed data to authorities in a way that is timely and accurate, empowering decision-makers to make important calls at-pace for communities most affected by disasters.
This has been possible through the Santo Sunset Women’s Environment Network (SSWEN), in 2022, trained more than 80 women from their community on how to collect information and file disaster reports digitally. The women were trained using a free and open-source data collection software – Kobo provided on 35 tablets with solar chargers to the communities in Santo.
SSWEN aims to promote gender equality and crisis response through an environment-focused gender empowerment program that emphasises the critical role women play in managing natural resources and achieving gender justice.