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Good practice Imported

Weto in Mour — Marshall Islands Gender-Based Violence Support Service

Marshall Islands · Majuro · See the Marshall Islands profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 67% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

WUTMI, a national women's NGO in the Marshall Islands, opened the country's first dedicated gender-based-violence support centre in Majuro in 2016, replicated it in Ebeye in 2021, and later extended into police training, though intake remains a fraction of estimated need.

5 staff
Staff at the Majuro centre at launch (2016)
15 officers
Police officers trained in survivor-centred response (2022)
85 people
Young people reached in an ending-violence awareness session (n/a)
2-3 women/month
Monthly client intake (2017)
~1 in 3 women
Estimated lifetime prevalence of abuse among Marshallese women (n/a)
Weto in Mour — Marshall Islands Gender-Based Violence Support Service

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI)
Period
2016–ongoing (documented through 2022)
Keywords
gender-based violence, women's counselling and casework, community prevention

Context

Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI) established Weto in Mour ('A Place of Life'), the nation's first dedicated counselling and support service for female and girl survivors of gender-based violence. The Majuro centre launched on 21 September 2016 with five staff members providing casework services — counselling, safety planning and financial assistance — alongside community prevention work engaging churches and atoll leaders to shift reporting norms.

Activities

In 2021, the model was replicated in Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll. By 2022, WUTMI extended training to Marshall Islands Police Department officers across multiple outer islands in survivor-centred response practices, and an awareness session reached 85 young people on ending violence.

Results

The programme manager noted that intake of 'two or three women coming to us' monthly represented only a fraction of actual abuse levels, given strong cultural pressure discouraging reporting; roughly one in three Marshallese women are estimated to experience some form of abuse in their lifetime.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No budget or per-client cost data published; funded by the Australian Government's Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development programme (Majuro) and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative via UN Women (Ebeye)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Majuro centre launched September 2016; replicated in Ebeye 2021; police training extended to outer islands by 2022
Staffing & skills
5 staff at the Majuro centre (2016): 1 programme manager, 2 caseworkers and 2 prevention/community-education workers, run by WUTMI (a national women's organisation)

Conditions for success

  • Partnership with a national women's organisation (WUTMI)
  • Support from local government
  • Training from international partners (WHO, UNFPA, IOM)
  • Funding from the Australian Government's Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development programme (Majuro) and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative via UN Women (Ebeye)

Common failure modes

  • Significant underutilisation relative to estimated need — monthly intake described as 'just a drop in the bucket'
  • Strong cultural pressure discourages reporting
  • No independent programme evaluation or verified impact data on violence reduction

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-led / community organisation
Scale
national, expanding to outer islands
Income level
upper-middle income (small island developing state)

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Where it's been adopted

Documented replications and adaptations of this practice elsewhere.

PlaceWhenAdopterOutcome
Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands 2021 Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI) Replicated the Weto in Mour counselling and support model in a second urban centre

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