FWRM believes that any process without young women's full engagement in national or local elections is not a democratic process. Strengthening the capacity of young women in various political spaces is democracy in action and encourages young women to bring about transformative change in their communities.
The IWLP has provided a Secretariat role that strives to facilitate constructive alliances between young women-led organizations to conceptualize the Fiji Young Women's Forum. This builds on the rich tradition of activism and feminism by Fijian women throughout our national herstory.
The Fiji Young Women’s Forum (FYWF) is now co-convened by the Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni (ELFA), FemLINK Pacific and House of Colours. These three organisations, along with former co-convener, Diverse Voices for Equality Fiji (DIVA) have demonstrated great leadership and solidarity in young Fijian women by producing five progressive outcome statements in five forums in response to barriers to young women's meaningful participation and representation in Fiji's democratization process.
The FYWF recognizes the unique young women-led space that fosters solidarity amongst a diversity of young women which includes young lesbian, bisexual transgender, queer and intersex persons, young women with disabilities, young women of both religious and non-religious beliefs, aspiring young women politicians, young women sex workers, rural young women and young women mental health consumers.
Recognizing that young women have been marginalized from the 2012-2014 democratisation process has motivated FYWF to affirm that Personal is Political, consequently creating visibility in this process. The FYWF has provided a strategic platform to motivate young women voters in the 2014 and 2018 Elections to raise awareness and the ongoing work to enhance active citizenship to hold national leaders accountable.
