UN Women will fund the Tonga Women and Children Crisis Centre (WCCC) 24-hour helpline for the whole of 2018.
The helpline was launched last year and it provides a valuable service for women and child survivors of violence.
This toll-free helpline provides safe, confidential access to essential information, referrals, and counselling – and helps to ensure that women and children in remote and rural areas are reached and supported.
To assist staff operating the helpline, UN Women ran a training session in Nuku’alofa, as part of its ongoing commitment to support the work of WCCC. Training topics covered include Crisis Counselling on a Gender-Based Violence Helpline Training, Mental Health Consequences of GBV Training, and Suicide First Aid Training.
WCCC has also released 19 stories of resilience, to give a voice to rural Tongan women and girls online by sharing their stories.
The multi-media initiative, 'This is my story of resilience: Women of Tonga', was supported by UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, in conjunction with Australian Aid-funded WCCC psycho-social support work to affected areas