Fiji QAQA Grassroots Young Feminist Network

The Fiji QAQA Grassroots Young Feminist Network brings together Fiji’s young women and gender non-binary people from diverse backgrounds, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, and other identities, to investigate their own and collective politics and build nurturing, fierce and inclusive social movements to build social, economic, ecological and climate justice, using a local and Indigenous feminist movement-building approach.

The network will ensure that all young women engage freely and contribute productively in the areas of work in which they want to focus for change. Grassroots young women and communities often find it hard to find their spot in the broader social movements once they join women-led groups, and this often slows them down in their growth within the movement. QAQA provides a platform so that many more courageous, assertive and confident grassroots women become more recognized in the movement spaces, and where their knowledge, skills and expertise will be encouraged, and further developed as a peer group of young women in Fiji.

Fiji QAQA Grassroots Young Feminist Network is an outcome from the second Women Defend the Commons Annual Conference in Kadavu. This network is built to provide appropriate Support and accompaniment for local and grassroots young women who are already doing work on the ground to build communities and homes in more just, safer and inclusive ways for all young women and girls. 

QAQA Fiji Grassroot Young Women’s Network will be a bridge for intergenerational work, engaging with those women in youth groups, aging out of the youth age but yet to reach a certain age to be part of the broader women-led community groups. So far the young feminist Qaqa focus is on SRHR, Safe sex, Family Planning, Contraceptives, cancer, stripping off Patriarchy/Masculinity, Accessing services, raising more awareness on EVAWG, SOGIESC, and building feminist development alternatives.

Building young feminist knowledge and skills in leadership roles  to prevent sexual and gender based violence in Fiji and addressing injustice and ongoing patriarchal systems among us everyday, ensuring development justice snd human rights, and supporting other young women led networks for better visuality of Young Women’s participation in the broader Women Movement Spaces is vital .Young feminists have potential in speaking out and sharing knowledge and ideas, but at times without the proper movement building approach and accompaniment, this results in voices and experiences being left out of the national decision making process. With others, we are working to change this with the spirit of ‘Qaqa’ which means in the iTaukei language, resolute, steadfast, grounded and brave.