The governance and women's Leadership program is a prioritized area of work for the department of Women's Affairs with focus to support advocacy for increased women's participation and representation in decision making.

The Vanuatu women have been the back bone of a lot of the community and church activities in Vanuatu contributing significantly to building strong communities through their active participation in their various networks in the churches and communities . Nonetheless since independence in 1980 and in the 12th legislature only five women have won seats in parliament.In the recent snap elections, no woman was elected as am member of parliament, although there were only 10 out of 292 contestants who contested the 2016 snap elections.

The Vanuatu government has pledged to international commitment such as the convention of the elimination of discrimination against women(CEDAW), despite these commitments the reality continues to paint a challenging and difficult route for women with low participation and representation of women in higher decision-making bodies, such in parliament, the local provincial Councils.

the aim and objective of this program is to ensure that empowerment of women economically ,socially and politically so women are skilled and have the opportunities to participate in the developmental aspects by utilizing their full potential.

Much of the support of the governance program has come about through he support from Pacific Leadership Program( PLP ) with the support from the Australian Government had supported the women contestants,preparing them for the Municipal elections and in the past, supported the women contestants in preparation for the general Elections. 

Whilst there is the absence of women in the parliament, there had been achievements made form government to support the reserve for women at the municipalities. At present we have a total of 9 women elected into the Municipalities.