📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Internal Affairs Womens Affairs and Gender Equality Division Government of Tonga Japanese Embassy UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office MCO and the UN Development Programme UNDP is taking a dynamic step forward to respond to needs in the face of the COVID-19 community spread and aftermath of the volcanic eruption and tsunami. The Rights Empowerment and Cohesion REACH mission has been scheduled alongside the handover presentation of a storage container and equipment valued over 150000TOP funded by the Government of Japan in support of the REACH integrated mobile service delivery platform. Technical assistance as well as an additional 105000TOP has also been committed by UN Women Fiji MCO to facilitate the roll-out of the mission.The REACH service delivery project is implemented in Tonga by UNDP with funding support from Japan and UN Women Fiji MCO to strengthen governments public service delivery and assist citizens access to public services with focus on reaching the furthest behind first. It does so through convening service providers across sectors both from government agencies and civil society organizations CSOs taking services to the communities. In the pilot phase in 2018-2019 Tonga REACH platform raise awareness of 575 people about the services and directly delivered 2175 services in the communities.To curb the increase of community cases the Government has successfully implemented measures which include movement restrictions of the public with some necessary exceptions. Unfortunately movement restrictions inadvertently impact accessibility of services by the public. The REACH initiative will bridge this gap by ensuring that citizens can access public services in all aspects including administrative registrations civil and criminal legal procedures health social services related to gender-based violence including counselling and referrals education and business procedures with COVID-19 safety compliance in place. Pre-COVID-19 an advance mission would be conducted as part of a needs assessment however in lieu of that REACH will set up a helpline where citizens can contact a call centre state their needs.Following the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 Tonga closed its borders to the outside world. This closure contributed to the slow recovery from the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone TC Harold which hit Tongas main and outer islands in April 2020. Key infrastructure the tourism industry food crops and houses were destroyed during TC Harold. The volcanic eruption and COVID-19 community outbreak in 2022 have now further exacerbated overall delays in recovery.Minister for Internal Affairs Honourable Sione Sangster Saulala who leads the REACH initiative expressed strong commitment by the Tongan Government to scale up its public service delivery.The REACH platform enables the Government to assess the progress of our recovery and deliver public services to assist citizens who have been taking initiatives to normalise their daily lives. The REACH is a powerful platform for us to put our efforts together to reverse the setback and rebuild communities for the better.The REACH platform will also assist the Government in implementing cluster system response plans a National COVID-19 Plan including a vaccination strategy a health awareness campaign and a plan to support affected families and businesses. The REACH initiative has been adapted to fit the COVID-19 context for Tonga which includes the addition of necessary equipment and supplies such as full Personal Protective Equipment PPE suits including masks gloves hygiene items as well as power banks batteries dry bags reef shoes life jackets vests for community police. These have been shipped from Fiji to Tonga through a UN chartered cargo flight.His Excellency Mr. MUNENAGA Kensaku Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Tonga who handed over the equipment said The delivery of necessary services to the people is not an easy job especially for an island country like Tonga. The REACH project can facilitate timely delivery of services by the Government of Tonga even to the people in outer and smaller islands.The number of people who seek governmental assistances has been increasing dramatically under this particular circumstance with the recent disasters and the increase of COVID-19 community transmission. This is why this REACH project is more valuable than it used to be.Part of the REACH services is the legal aid services specialised for assisting survivors of domestic violence and gender-based violence provided by the Tonga Family Protection Legal Aid Centre FPLAC under the Ministry of Justice.Ms Sandra Bernklau Representative UN Women Fiji MCO said We all know that globally violence against women and girls increases after a disaster and in the last two years since the pandemic began we have seen an increase in the reporting of domestic violence cases across the globe. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began more than 2 in 3 women in Pacific countries have experienced violence by their intimate partners. Across the Pacific where COVID-19 has spread through communities crisis centres report a significant increase in calls to their helplines. Through REACH and in collaboration with our Government and CSO partners UN Women remains committed to ensuring women and girls experiencing gender-based violence are able to access survivor-centred services in a safe and timely manner.
