Tonga’s rich culture and traditions
Originally from Fiji, Karishma has worked in the Pacific region for her whole career. However, after living and working in Tonga for 2.5 years, she considers Tonga her second home where the rich culture, traditional values, natural beauty and the Tongan people have captured her heart.
‘Tonga is a Pacific Island nation with a deeply rooted and grounded in rich cultural heritage where traditional gender roles strongly influence social, political, and economic structures. While women play a crucial role in community resilience and informal economies, they remain underrepresented in leadership and decision-making spaces at all levels. Promoting gender equality and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) remains a key area of focus to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of all, especially women and girls. There are legal frameworks that exist to protect women’s rights but there is still a need for a lot of work to strengthen that,’ said Karishma.
‘Tonga is so traditional and cultural; a lot of things go back to church leaders in terms of conflict resolution. But I think the traditional structure at the community level makes disaster response easier, because they are the first responders of the community. So, to work through them through traditional structures – if you strengthen and influence those – it’s a very good entry point for a lot of gender work too… because long-term that would influence the way they would understand gender and protection in times of disaster.’
Listening to the community
As a Gender and Protection Advisor within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Karishma has taken a thoughtful and adaptive approach to influencing and strengthening gender and protection in Tonga’s humanitarian action, especially at the grassroots level. This has required working closely through the National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDRMO) to engage with communities through their ongoing programs and initiatives, creating opportunities to understand how gender and protection during disasters and emergencies are perceived and experienced at the local level.
‘Over my 2.5 years, we’ve explored different ways of working that are more suited to Tonga’s unique cultural landscape. What works in one Pacific Island country may not be the best fit here,” Karishma shared. ‘When I began, the focus was on relationship-building and testing approaches that felt relevant and respectful in the Tongan context. Through early trainings with first responders and disaster management teams, I came to understand that there were different interpretations of gender and protection, and sometimes misinterpreted or misunderstood,’ reflected Karishma.
‘Recognising Tonga’s deep-rooted traditions, we placed great emphasis on designing practical, culturally appropriate training. We worked to gently unpack and broaden understanding and developing tools and sessions specifically for first responders to see how gender and protection apply to disaster preparedness and response.’
'Recognising Tonga’s deep-rooted traditions, we placed great emphasis on designing practical, culturally appropriate training.'
For Karishma, understanding how the communities and disaster response teams perceived gender and protection has been an invaluable learning for her. Since recognising this, and tailoring it to different community’s needs, the training Karishma has helped develop and deliver on gender and protection in disaster response has been shared widely across Tonga.
‘It’s received very differently, and one thing I’ve seen the way gender and protection are introduced matters: At first, when the training was titled only around “gender and protection”, the interest was limited. But when we embedded it within broader disaster preparedness training, it resonated more. People could see how it fit into the overall cycle of preparedness, response, and recovery and how it relates to the people and the most vulnerable in the community. That’s been my journey with this work in the last 2.5 years, trialling and testing what works in Tonga and what works not only at the national level, but sub-national and grassroots level. It has evolved… Instead of us trying to ‘force’ our way into this space, people are requesting for more trainings around this. It’s been a journey, one of learning together and finding ways to build understanding and capacity in a manner that respects Tonga’s values and strengths I would say.’
Building coalitions, breaking silos
In October 2024, Karishma also supported Tonga’s delegation led by National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDRMO) at the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Philippines. With resources being so limited for Tonga, Karishma’s ability to build coalitions to advocate and champion for gender and protection was critical in supporting their participation at some of the side events.
Her unique deployment, being situated within the Tongan Ministry of Internal Affairs, has also worked in her favour, especially when it comes to breaking down silos. She has worked widely across the National Disaster Risk Management Office and other divisions of the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Disaster Management, Environment and Climate change (MEIDECC) as well as the Safety and Protection Cluster space (the most active cluster outside of disasters period or during peacetime) – which focuses on gender and protection of the most vulnerable.
‘The Safety and Protection Cluster lead is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with our Chief Executive Officer as the Chair. Given her many responsibilities, I’ve been supporting the implementation of the cluster workplan and ensuring gender and protection are integrated into other clusters. This includes coordination with civil society, NGOs, and faith-based partners like the Church Leaders Desk and the Tonga National Council of Churches. These relationships have helped ensure that protection considerations reach communities in a respectful and trusted way, beyond immediate disaster contexts,’ shared Karishma.
‘This work is not only operationally important, it contributes directly to Tonga’s national development and resilience priorities. It strengthens the implementation of the Tonga Strategic Development Framework III (TSDF III), the Disaster Risk Management Act and Policy (2021–2030), and outcome 5 of the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Tonga (WEGET) Policy. At the same time, it aligns with global commitments under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, particularly the Sendai Framework Gender Action Plan (GAP), and supports the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those related to gender equality, resilient institutions, and reduced inequalities.’ said Karishma.
Looking towards the future, Karishma’s dream for Tonga is to set an example for the rest of the Pacific in gender and protection in disaster preparedness and response: ‘A lot of the times when Tonga is mentioned in the Pacific context, Tonga is mentioned as the most traditional and culturally sensitive, but my dream in the future is to see Tonga set examples in the Pacific, showing that locally led, context-sensitive approaches can make a difference.’
'My dream in the future is to see Tonga set examples in the Pacific, showing that locally led, context-sensitive approaches can make a difference.’
Disclaimer: The information and views published here are the individual’s own and do not necessarily represent the partner organisation, Australia Assists or the Australian Government’s views, positions or opinions.