Excerpt and Photo from undp.org

Lilian Falealuga Tine is an outspoken advocate for the rights of women in Tuvalu. She has worked for the Department of Rural Development; and she was the former Interim Coordinator of Tuvalu National Council of Women as well as Secretary General for the Tuvalu Red Cross Society.  Former Board Director for the Tuvalu Development Bank of Tuvalu and currently Board Director for the Tuvalu Post Limited.

She worked as First Secretary at the Tuvalu Embassy in Brussels, Belgium and was President for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Ambassadors’ Spouses Association and Patron of the British and Commonwealth Women’s Club, raising funds to address women’s needs in these regions, with the Tuvalu Disability Association (Fusi Alofa) and the Tuvalu National Council of Women as some of the beneficiaries.

This International Women’s Day, themed: “Invest in women: accelerate progress,” she spoke about the role of the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) in empowering women in the long-term. While the core element of the infrastructure-building project is to reclaim and raise land from the sea, protecting the community from sea level-rise – a critical component of the project has been about supporting women to speak up at the governing board and community levels.

The importance of female leadership role models