By Elisa Mondou –Pacific Girl Storyteller
As we commemorated the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in December last year, we honoured the lives of women and girls we have lost or who continue to experience violence, whether physical, emotional, or mental.
Each year, the 16 Days of Activism serves as a reminder that violence of any kind should never be tolerated, and that their wellbeing matters deeply, including for adolescent girls across Vanuatu.
The Vois Blo Mi project, implemented by CARE Vanuatu with support from the Pacific Girl Programme, has continued to uphold this message.
By creating safe spaces and learning opportunities, the initiative ensures adolescent girls can understand their rights, strengthen their leadership, and use their voices to influence issues that impact their lives. Through Vois Blo Mi, girls like Toupet are learning not only to identify violence but to stand against it, with confidence, with knowledge, and with one another.
In 2025, the Pacific Girl programme hosted a regional hybrid convening for adolescent girls across Tonga, Fiji, Chuuk State (FSM), and Vanuatu. While hybrid sessions brought the region together, each country also held its own in-person convening, ensuring accessible and culturally grounded participation for girls in their local contexts. This dedicated space allowed Vanuatu girls to gather, learn together, and reflect on their shared experiences while contributing to the wider goals of the Pacific Girl programme.
Among these girls was Toupet Samson, whose presence added to the spirit of unity and courage throughout the convening. While she arrived quietly, she soon found comfort among peers who, like her, carried their own stories, questions, and hopes for change. She joined other adolescent girls from Vanuatu to take part in discussions, activities, and creative sessions designed to amplify girls’ voices.
Over the course of the three days, Toupet took part in discussions on digital safety, leadership, gender norms, and girl-led advocacy. Being in a space designed specifically for adolescent girls allowed her to feel seen, respected, and empowered to contribute.
“Sometimes I read hateful comments online, and it automatically affects my mood; it makes me fear sharing too much on social media”, said Toupet.
The convening reminded her that even subtle forms of harm, messages, rumours, pressure, or digital manipulation can deeply affect a young girl’s wellbeing. It also reminded her that girls have the right to feel safe, whether they are walking in their community or speaking in a chat thread.
The convening gave girls like Toupet the opportunity to directly inform the direction of the Pacific Girl programme: from reviewing updates to the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Plan to sharing their ideas on knowledge products created for and about adolescent girls. Their feedback, insights, and creativity are already shaping how the programme is implemented into 2026, strengthening transparency, girl-led engagement, youth participation and access to information for adolescent girls, recognising that they must be equipped to navigate both community and digital spaces confidently.
For Toupet, being part of these conversations helped her see how her voice contributes to something larger. She realised she wasn’t just sharing her thoughts; she was advocating for girls across Vanuatu and the wider region. Toupet’s drawing, pictured here, is a powerful reminder that when adolescent girls are supported, included, and encouraged, they rise. And when they rise, they help shift communities toward safer, more equitable futures.
While the 16 Days of Activism for 2025 has concluded, we continue to celebrate Toupet and every adolescent girl across Vanuatu whose courage and voice strengthen the movement to end violence for good.
Vois Blo Mi is supported by Pacific Girl, managed by the Pacific Women Lead at the SPC programme and funded by the Australian Government.
