The Covalima Community Centre (CCC) was established in 2000 in close partnership with the Friends of Suai/City of Port Phillip - the CCC receives core funding from the City of Port Phillip for costs of running the centre.The CCC implements the Rural Women�s Development Program (RWDP) with funding and support from the International Women�s Development Agency (which is itself partly funded by DFAT's Australian NGO Cooperation Program).

The RWDP connects women with new ideas and markets for their produce, helping to create sustainable businesses and pursue collective action on women�s priorities and needs. The programme works to empower women leaders helps ensure women�s economic needs and priorities get heard when decisions on resource-distribution are being made at the village level. Specifically, the programme establishes women's groups, which work together on activities including horticulture, food production, weaving tais and handicrafts. These income generating activities allow the women to support their families� needs, including children�s education. The groups share their skills and knowledge and participate in training at quarterly forums at the CCC. Supporting access to market opportunities is a key activity and the RWDP team has helped groups to promote their activities and products through social media, events, brochures and training.