Groundbreaking Study Examines Cost-Benefit of Workplace Responses to GBV

Evonne Kennedy, Executive Director of the Business Coalition For Women, launches the Family and Sexual Violence Workplace Survey at Steamships Trading Company Limited over Zoom in November. The launch was attended by approximately 300 Steamships employees from across Papua New Guinea.

The BCFW are pleased to announce the launch of a pioneering 2-year study in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to:

1. build an evidence base for the costs to business associated with family and sexual violence; and
2. assess the benefits of providing coordinated and comprehensive responses for affected employees.

The study aims to motivate the private sector in responding to family and sexual violence in workplaces and encourage more businesses in PNG to bring in workplace support for affected staff, including by subscribing to Bel isi PNG, an organization helping those who experience family and sexual violence.

The two-year project, supported by the governments of Australian and New Zealand under the PNG Partnership, in collaboration with Femili PNG and the Oil Search Foundation, will also leverage the unique relationship between BCFW, its business members and Bel isi PNG. Under the PNG Partnership, IFC works with the support of Australia and New Zealand to stimulate private sector investment and reduce poverty in PNG.

The project will analyze data from major PNG companies including Bank South Pacific Limited, Nambawan Super Limited and Steamships Trading Company Limited, and from Bel isi PNG. Research will focus on the costs and benefits of employers providing support to employees experiencing family and sexual violence, including access to Bel isi PNG’s services, which include a safe house providing refuge for at-risk women and children and the only case management center in PNG’s capital Port Moresby.

While this research, to be collected over two years, is focused on PNG, the results are expected to inform policy responses to gender-based violence in other countries. It also aims to motivate private-sector interest in responding to family and sexual violence in workplaces and seeks to encourage more businesses in PNG to adopt workplace support for staff affected by family and sexual violence.

To discover more, please visit the links provided below for two IFC articles about this study:

• Pioneering Study to Measure Cost-Benefit of Workplace Responses to Gender-Based Violence
• Groundbreaking Study Examines Cost-Benefit of Workplace Responses to Gender-Based Violence