“WOMEN auditors must have the courage to ask difficult questions, hold people accountable, and demand change from themselves before demanding it from others.
Balance of Power Executive Director Mereani Rokotuibau said during a two-day National Training of Women Auditors on the Kacivaka (announcement) tool (or Kacivaka Diagnostic Framework) at the Salvation Army Hall in Savusavu, Fiji, where leaders and volunteers gathered to strengthen accountability, transparency and leadership in their communities and organisations.
“Before we demand adaptability from others, we must really demand it from ourselves,” Rokotuibau said.
She said the training was intended to give participants space to “unpack, to test, to question, and strengthen” the Kacivaka Framework.
Rokotuibau said the framework was about directing greater attention to issues affecting adaptability, governments, operators and transparency.
She urged participants to approach the work with courage, humility, integrity and responsibility.
“We must have the courage to say no,” she said. “We cannot simply be something we demand from others. We must also be something we are prepared to give ourselves.”
Rokotuibau said the Kacivaka Tool was not simply about learning, but about preparing, making issues known and having the courage to say what needed to be said.
She encouraged women auditors to challenge their ways of working, culture and tradition while maintaining respect.
“Ask me difficult questions,” she said. “Have the courage to say so with humility, with a clear conscience and with respect.”
Rokotuibau said speaking out should not be about speaking for its own sake, but about using collective voices to strengthen leadership and institutions.
“It’s about using our collective voices to strengthen, not to tear down, to ask difficult questions, not to create enemies, to hold people accountable, not to shame them, and ultimately to contribute to better leadership, better institutions, and better teaching,” she said.
She urged participants to look beyond the training content and consider what they were prepared to change.
“What am I prepared to change?” she asked. “And perhaps most importantly, what am I prepared to change about myself?”
Rokotuibau said participants already brought voices, wisdom and experience from their communities, churches and organisations.
She acknowledged the Fiji Council of Social Services, the European Union and the Australian government for bringing participants together and supporting the gathering.
Rokotuibau also highlighted the importance of including humane outreach in the training and said the Balance of Power organisation was connected to the issue through its work.
The training brought together female and male leaders and volunteers working to nurture and strengthen accountability and transparency from the community level to the local, sub-national, and national levels.
FCOSS and Women in Media (WiM) co-facilitate the programme, with financial support from the Australia-Fijian Governance Partnership (AFGP) community engagement fund.
The WiM event is one of six pre-summit sessions being held ahead of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Summit, which officially gets underway on Wednesday.
