Vanuatu Women's Centre

Phone: (678) 25764 | 24 Hours Toll-Freeline:161

About Us

About us

The Vanuatu Women’s Centre (VWC) is an independent women’s rights and civil society organisation based in Port Vila, established in 1992. VWC’s goal is to eliminate violence against women and children throughout Vanuatu. To achieve this long-term vision, VWC has a national program to prevent violence before it occurs, and to assist women and children living with this problem now. This is done through the national VWC Network including.

In August 1992, the Fiji Women Crisis Centre hosted a regional meeting for women throughout the pacific who were working in (CAVAW) was set up in Vila.

The Vila CAVAW began organizing activities for the 16 days of Activism Campaign against Gender Violence in 1992. It was then agreed that the CAVAW should have a permanent centre to address the issues of violence against women in Vanuatu. The Centre was staffed by volunteers until 1994, when funding was provided by the international Women’s Development Agency (IWDA).

VWC’s goal is to eliminate violence against women and children throughout Vanuatu. In order to achieve this goal over the long-term, VWC’s program aims to implement effective prevention and response strategies to address the problem. VWC has always seen the prevention of violence and responding to it as closely linked and mutually reinforcing, particularly when engaging with local communities.

There are 5 Provincial Branches – Sanma Counselling Centre (SCC) established in 1995, Tafea Counselling Centre (TCC) established in 2001, Torba Counselling Centre (TOCC) established in 2011, Malampa Counselling Centre (MCC) established in 2015, and the Penama Counselling Centre (PECC) established in 2017.