CTI Women Leader's Forum

The 1st capacity building workshop for the Malaysian Women Leader’s Forum (WLF) was held on the 13-15 October 2016 attended by 15 women leaders. The workshop covered: i) Effective Public Speaking & Presentation Skill, and ii) Non Finance to Non Finance People.

The group listed activities and plans for next year which will be discussed on Nov 7, 2016 with women leaders and CTI-CFF implementing agencies in Malaysia, and youth and community groups. The workshop was convened by WWF Malaysia and supported by the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Foundation (MWCF). The participants were from Green Semporna, Kudat Turtle Conservation Society. Wanita Pulau Omadal, Padang Kemunting Turtle Friendly Village Community, Balambangan Community and WWF –Malaysia Community Education and Engagement team.

On 19-20 July 2016, a WLF representative presented at the International Symposium on Capacity Building for Sustainable Oceans in Tokyo, Japan, hosed by the Nippon Foundation, the Government of Japan, and supported by TNC.

Ms Roziah Jalalid, Chairperson of the Omadal Women’s Association from Sabah, Malaysia represented WLF and shared how WLF allowed her to learn from other women working on sustainable marine and coastal management across Malaysia.

Ms. Roziah has been involved in community engagement, outreach and capacity building for marine conservation in Sabah, Malaysia since 2010. Roziah was first exposed to the CTI-CFF WLF in 2015, when a national level WLF event was held in Sabah, with support from WWF Malaysia.

As part of the CTI-CFF Women Leaders Forum launch, six grassroots women leaders were honored and awarded a small grant of US$3,000 to carry out marine conservation and sustainability project in their communities. USAID, DOI, CTC supported and managed the grants for PNG, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste while the Asian Development Bank supported the grants for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Four women leaders from Indonesia participated in roundtable discussion at the sidelines of 4th CTI-CFF Regional Business Forum in August 27, 2015 to inspire and engage women entrepreneurs to successfully catalyze sustainable and environment-friendly businesses that support and sustain marine resources across Indonesia.

By sharing lessons learned and highlighting best practices, the women leaders who each built their sustainable businesses that promote marine and coastal conservation aimed to inspire more women to pursue a similar path.

Environmental managers from the Solomon Islands gathered in Honiara on August 3, 2015 and agreed to form a network and develop a national work program that will foster closer collaboration among women, offer opportunities to share information, build capacity, and develop livelihood programs where women are supported and empowered to take a central role in environmental issues and actively support the marine conservation and sustainability goals of the Coral Triangle Initiative.

The CTI-CFF Women Leaders Forum, in collaboration with USAID, US Department of Interior, CTI NCC Philippines, Conservation International and Coral Triangle Center, participated in the 3rd Forum on Women Leaders in Biodiversity Conservation held in Manila on July 21, 2015.

The event highlighted the accomplishments of the women leaders to serve as inspiration in promoting biodiversity conservation and environmental law enforcement.

The CTI-CFF Women Leaders Forum Earth Hour Awareness talk was held in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia on March 28, 2015. Organized by WWF-Malaysia and supported by USAID, DOI and CTC, the talk had 40 participants and featured four women leaders from the proposed Tun Mustapha Park in Sabah, a globally significant priority conservation area in the Coral Triangle.

WLF in Malaysia hopes to serve as a dynamic peer-learning network that shares best practices in marine resource conservation as well as a platform to build the capacity of women as environmental custodians.

The CTI-CFF Women Leaders’ Forum Roundtable was held in Alotau, Milne Bay on March 24, 2015 where 25 women leaders from coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) committed to work together, share experiences, inspire each other, and find ways to strengthen their capacity in leading marine and coastal resource conservation projects during the first ever gathering of women engaged in marine conservation and sustainable fisheries. During the forum, the women elected focal points and a secretariat for the WLF in PNG. The PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Authority, The Nature Conservancy, USAID-USDOI-CTC organized the forum.

Sixteen women leaders attended a training on marine protected area management on November 3-5, 2014 in Dili, Timor-Leste.

The training was specifically customized for women and used creative ways of knowledge sharing, focused on strengthening the capacity of women from government, community, and non-government organizations to take a more active role in preserving and sustaining Timor-Leste’s unique marine and coastal resources. The women also developed a national network that will help coordinate activities and raise the profile of women leaders involved in marine conservation and management.

The US Department of Interior (DOI), with funding from USAID, worked with the Coral Triangle Center (CTC) to host women leaders from the six Coral Triangle countries to participate in a multi-faceted, peer exchange to the U.S. from April –May 2014.

The program involved state-of-the-art leadership training, professional development opportunities, field-based learning, and collaboration with other women leaders. Following the study tour, participants have helped organize and develop the roadmap of the CTI-CFF Women Leaders’ Forum.

Co-funded by Australian government and WWF's corporate partner John West Australia to improve livelihoods and food security of coastal fishing communities and small scale and artisanal fishers in Gizo, Western Province, Solomon Islands.

Innovative approaches to sustainable fisheries and fisheries management, linked to empowering women. Includes micro-finance and revolving loans for women to help develop small business opportunities for local fishing communities. Community-based fisheries work includes focus on women’s economic empowerment, recognizing this can help address some underlying socio-economic drivers of unsustainable practices. Micro-savings scheme has 738 savings club members who have saved over USD30,000; with 100 loans granted; and 70 new small businesses started.