Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare launched an induction course for 33 newly recruited Family Welfare and Protection Officers (FWPO), this morning, at the National Women Development Centre, in Phoenix. The Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Devi Koonjoo-Shah, was present on the occasion.
In her opening address, Mrs Koonjoo-Shah congratulated the Officers for having been selected from more than 200 candidates who responded to the advertisement dated 30 January 2020 as regards this post. You will add up to this cadre where 133 Officers are already in post and contribute to enhance gender equality, child protection and family welfare in the country, she added.
Furthermore, the Minister highlighted that they have a very important responsibility as public officers to ensure the highest level of service that demands professionalism and commitment to quality in service delivery. They will often be called upon to reinvent themselves in order to face the daunting challenges that are ever unfolding, she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic, Mrs Koonjoo-Shah underlined, has also brought in additional challenges which will render their tasks even more challenging. In this context, reforms and transformation of existing structures have already started at the level of this Ministry and are being carried out to enable us to keep pace with the challenges and the changing demands of our economy and society which are impacting on our social fabric and affecting our families, she pointed out.
The Minister enumerated certain legislative reforms that were brought forward and which would be proclaimed shortly, namely: The Children`s Act; the Child Sex Offender Register Act and the Children’s Court Act. She added that she was also working relentlessly towards the completion of the Adoption Bill; the Gender Equality Bill and the amendments to the Protection from Domestic Violence Act.
Government, she emphasised, is faced with increasingly complex and cross-cutting issues such as gender inequality, child abuse, gender-based violence, adverse demographic trends and climate change, among others. On this score, the Minister stated that as FWPOs, they would be in a position where they would witness a number of challenges facing families and, in this context, their efforts would ultimately improve the quality of life of the nation, specifically, the vulnerable women and children victims of abuse and domestic violence.
Minister Koonjoo-Shah appealed to the FWPOs to work in collaboration so as to fulfil the mission of promoting gender equality and to have a society free from any kind of violence and discrimination and thus, ensure the protection of every individual living in the society. In addition, she stressed that at the Ministry, not only women, but children were also at the centre of initiatives. With the COVID-19 pandemic, complaints of child abuse for the year 2020/2021 are on the rise compared to that of 2019/2020, she said.
This training for FWPOs, the Minister indicated, is of particular relevance in an era where gender issues are at the forefront of international fora. Hence, making gender equality and women’s empowerment a reality in our Mauritian society through clearly defined strategies can enable us to attain our goals faster, she concluded.
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