Our Team
Meet Our Team
The Mitingar Women and Girls Association consists of local and international leaders who are getting behind the aspirational goals of Women and Girls in Vanuatu.
Mary Jack
- Founder and Chair of Mitingar Board
Mitingar founder Mary Jack, has been a pioneering force behind women’s social leadership in Vanuatu for over four decades. Mary has held senior roles in the Pacific Institute of Public Policy. Here she facilitated the intersection between government, civil society and politics.
In 2016 Mary connected a network of 3,700 women on her home island community of Tanna in an initiative called ‘Women Toktok Tugeta’. In 2020 Mary contested the National General Election for the second time and pledged to build a platform to support, represent and promote women’s social leadership in every strata of Vanuatu society. Mary realised this vision with the founding of the Mitingar Women’s and Girls Association, bringing together both local and international representatives who can successfully drive Mitingar’s mission into the future.
Our Executive Committee
Emmeth Abel
Espelle Lakapas
Jenny Thomas
Martha Manoua
Seriana Maik
Our dedicated Executive Committee is the engine that brings Mitingar’s mission to life on the ground. With deep care for the work, they are taking Mitingar’s vision and turning it into practical action for building the strong, reliable foundations women and girls need.
Their mission is to expand Mitingar’s operational base, welcoming representatives from every province to join this hands-on effort. This steady, step-by-step progress serves Mitingar’s ultimate goal: to build a united, national network that connects and supports grassroots women across all of Vanuatu’s 65 remote, inhabited islands.
Our organisational Structure
At Mitingar, ‘Sister Circles’ sit at the very top to guide our organisational objectives and governance structure
Many grass-roots women have little access to mobile phones or money to buy data. No emails either plus printed materials in the tropics are hard to preserve and not all women and girls are literate. Mitingar truly understands the challenges, and the resourcefulness, of the women they serve. It’s members host, connect and train other women to host and extend their own ‘Sister Circles’. Through each of these ‘Sister Circles’, Mitingar resources are shared, and the needs of the women gathered.
‘Sister Circle’ networks grow in sync with the travel women ordinarily need to undertake to fulfil cultural and family obligations. In this way, the women can afford to particpate in growing their own support network. This ‘living’ network provides a two-way connection so that Mitingar reaches women and girls, in even the most remote locations, and then, based on their needs, advocates on their behalf for resources at the national decision-making table.
Our Inverted Governance Model
Mitingar operates on a unique, inverted governance model designed to keep our core purpose at the absolute foundation of everything we do. Mitingar’s Purpose grounds the entire structure, directly supporting the ni-Vanuatu Mitingar Executive Committee who manage our daily operations. This committee works hand-in-hand with a central Community Consultation Group to ensure all actions are deeply rooted in grassroots voices.
To resource and uplift this work, we are drawing on the best of both worlds, with input from local and international supporters, offering dedicated advice and resources. This structure ensures Mitingar remains proudly and completely led by ni-Vanuatu women, while securing the vital global and local support needed to fuel our locally led projects and grow our Sister Circles across the islands.
This structure provides multiple opportunities, at all levels, for people from all walks of life, and geographical locations, to partner with and support the social leadership aspirations of Vanuatu’s grassroots women.
