THE Women Entrepreneurs Business Council (WEBC), one of nine Councils registered under the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF), in conjunction with the International Labor Organisation (ILO) hosted members to a Business Breakfast yesterday at the Grand Pacific Hotel (GPH).
The breakfast was for the soft launch of the Policy Paper for Diversity and Inclusion, a survey carried out by WEBC and supported by ILO.
WEBC chair Sharyne Fong told The Fiji Times, the breakfast was one of the outcomes of the Women Invigorating the Nation (WIN) Convention that was held on March 22, and 23.
“ILO, in partnership with us, we did a survey, and the survey was to get data and stats (statistics) around diversity and inclusion in the workplace, in women entrepreneurs, in private sector. So, the data that’s from there goes into these two policy papers, or publications, they call it, on diversity and inclusion,” Ms Fong said.
“The soft launch today is to bring out that data in these publications, which are still being worked on, and to get feedback from our members and from those who are invited to the breakfast this morning, to give feedback on some of the aspects that are part of these publications.
“So that’s really the purpose of us having this meeting.”
ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP) director Deborah France-Massin said they were happy to be supporting these publications.
“ILO has two roles. One is very much at a legal form, which is one of our core principles, is non-discrimination in the workplace. So, we look at it very much from a legal obligation that governments, employers, and workers have to strive to put it in place,” she said.
“But also, from a practical point in how we can work with organisations such as FCEF and WEBC to do the practical things, whatever other federations use, what’s going in companies, what’s worked in company X might not work in company Y, but at least by sharing knowledge and seeing what works and what doesn’t work, and we don’t have to start reinventing the wheel.
“The soft launch is today and I think it’s good because they want feedback from the members before launching and i think that’s good. It promotes ownership as well.”
While there’s no official launch date set for the publication, Ms Fong said there was a possibility of it being ready for launch in two months time.
