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p. 5 of 6 BACK | NEXT Introduction Is Hardship Really a Problem in the Fiji Islands? What is Hardship? Who is Facing Hardship? What Causes Hardship? What Can be Done?

Priorities of the People: Hardship in the Fiji Islands

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What Causes Hardship?

The causes of hardship and poverty are complex and interrelated. Landlessness was identified as one of the major barriers, particularly for Indo-Fijians and indigenous Melanesians in both rural and urban areas, and indigenous Fijians who have migrated from rural to urban areas in search of a better life. Urban communities in the Central and Western Divisions added that limited opportunities to earn cash and limited or declining access to basic services and infrastructure were the main causes of their hardship. There was also the perception, particularly among Indo-Fijians and Melanesian communities, that ethnic discrimination over access to government services was a major cause of their hardship. Rural indigenous communities said poor quality or lack of sealed roads, transport, storage, and communication facilities made it difficult to sell goods and crops in the major markets, and they either don’t have health centers or professional health workers in their communities, or lack both.

There was a widespread feeling that declining respect for traditional values and elderly and traditional leaders by a younger, better educated generation has resulted in individualism “brought about by modern ideas,” and it is starting to undermine the strength of the community support system. Many also felt that community resources are largely wasted due to “laziness” or lack of strong personal motivation to improve one’s situation and maximize resources, particularly one’s land. “Wrong priorities,” such as raising funds for church meetings instead of community water supply system construction, were also cited as major causes of hardship in both rural and urban areas.

Specific causes were cited for three groups that are especially affected: children, the youth, and women.

Children

The most common cause of hardship for children mentioned during the assessment was parental neglect due to the breakdown of marriages and parents’ limited time for their children, due, for example, to drunkenness and kava drinking. This has led some children to drop out of school and have little interest in helping farm their family’s land.

The people surveyed said children’s diet and access to other daily necessities have worsened due to rising prices of basic goods and widespread availability of cheap junk food. Poor nutrition was also said to be caused by parents, particularly mothers, having little knowledge which foods are healthful, resulting in meals containing too many carbohydrates and very little protein and fiber.

Another major cause of hardship among children was limited and/or decreasing access to primary and secondary schooling. Affordability (especially beyond Class 8), lack of facilities, and distance contributed to reported increases in drop-out rates at the primary and secondary level, thus limiting income opportunities for the children when they get older. Children in rural communities had to walk long distances (10 km or more) with some having to cross rivers to get to school. During the rainy season, these children have to stay home since the rivers are often overflowing and dangerous to cross.

Youth

An increasing number of drop-outs and “push-outs” (due to too few schools), particularly for students entering secondary level, was cited as the major reason for the high jobless rate among the youth, especially in the urban areas. Most youths who cannot continue their studies go back to their villages without hope of receiving further education or training to access better earning or job opportunities. Many young people in the rural areas either become subsistence farmers, marry early, or migrate to the urban centers in search of jobs. Many of those in the urban areas stay in the settlements and marry early and depend on casual jobs, such as construction work, for income. Some get involved in gangs.

Several communities said that young and mostly jobless people waste time and money drinking kava and beer. In urban settlements, a growing number of jobless young men were breaking and entering middle class and affluent households in the capital. Some young women (and a few men) from the urban poor communities surveyed had turned to prostitution to earn desperately needed cash to support their families. Contrary to common perceptions, crime is reportedly also increasing in the rural areas, with the theft of chickens and root crops becoming a regular occurrence within rural settlements.

Women

In addition to their traditional role as homemakers, women have an emerging role as family income earners responsible for paying school fees and providing for their families’ daily needs, large extended families’ needs, and church and traditional obligations. Many women reported that when they don’t have enough cash for all of these needs, they feel community pressure to put church or traditional obligations above paying their children’s school expenses.

The number of single mothers is increasing

Women ranked low income and lack of jobs as the biggest cause of their poverty and hardship. They said there are too few jobs and they are often unable to meet the skill and educational requirements of the few available jobs. They also said that as women, they lacked business opportunities and easy access to markets. In the urban areas, most women work as shop assistants, domestic helpers, and factory workers, especially in the garment industry. In the rural areas, women earn cash by selling fruit and vegetables in the local market.

Single parenthood was said to be increasing, due to unplanned and/or teenage pregnancies, breakdown of marriages, and lack of family support.

Limited access to services such as water supply, education, roads, and transport caused women hardship because of their responsibility for domestic chores, including carting water from distant wells and rivers.

In spite of these difficulties, most women said they felt their situations were generally improving due to better education and access to skills training, and participation in the labor force. Increasing respect for women’s contributions to society and their role in the economy were also cited as positive factors. Others said women’s well-being had declined due to lack of land and disregard for traditional knowledge and skills.

Poor Service Delivery

Basic services were available in most urban and rural areas (particularly in the provincial centers), but had limited reach in remote rural areas and outer island communities. Power was the least accessible service in both rural and urban areas, while lack of access to safe and piped water was one of the most commonly cited causes of hardship for people in all the communities surveyed. The quality of these services needs improvement, particularly the roads and health facilities.

In the urban areas, lack of land titles was identified as a major barrier for people to connect to water supply and electricity. Thus, it was common in squatter settlements to see households along the main power lines using petrol or benzene lamps for light.

Markets were available in almost all the communities surveyed. Although markets were reported to be available and access was rated as “good,” rural communities were quite concerned about the deterioration of roads in their areas. This limited the number of trips possible to sell produce such as kava and vegetables. Due to the roads’ continuing deterioration, few vehicle operators were willing to service some communities.

Schools, particularly primary and secondary, were available in most sample communities. Two communities located in the Central and Western Divisions did not have a primary school; they sent their children to neighboring villages. Concerns expressed about schools related to the quality of education and affordability of school fees and other related expenses.

Communication facilities, mostly telephones and tele-radios, were available in 15 of the 20 communities surveyed. Although available, they were mainly located in the urban areas and were community phones, since few households could afford the cost and provide the required land ownership certification for a private line. Overall, communications services were rated as “good,” particularly in the urban settlements. However, for communities outside the capital, the telephone service was unreliable and expensive. Rural communities in both the Northern and Eastern Divisions, for example, reported that most of the time they can only receive incoming calls and only for a few hours in the afternoon.

Community water tap

Roads were available in 15 out of 20 sample communities. Of those with roads, eight had access to sealed roads and the remaining seven were limited to gravel roads. Most communities consulted expressed concern over lack of regular maintenance and continued deterioration of vital rural road networks, particularly in the Northern, Western, and Central Divisions. Therefore, they rated road conditions as “poor.”

Health facilities were available in 14 of the 20 communities surveyed. Only 4 of the 10 rural communities had immediate access. Those without walked for an average of 1-3 hours or more (in the Central, Northern and Western Divisions). Distance, lack of medical supplies, and poorly trained or lack of trained staff in the health centers, particularly in the Eastern and Western Divisions, were cited as reasons by communities for rating health services as “poor.”

Piped water was available in 14 of the 20 communities surveyed. Of the 14, 10 urban communities had piped water supplied by the Public Works Department and four rural communities had piped water from their own community water source, such as springs and streams. Although overall water supply was rated as “good” by most urban communities, most households in the squatter settlements and those living on traditional lands did not have access to safe water. Households could only apply to be connected to the water main if they could pay the connection costs and produce certifications from the landowners allowing them to apply. Since most occupied the land illegally, they could not get these certificates. Most got water for a fee from neighbors who managed to get connected. Thus, it was common to see one water meter providing water for three or more houses in the squatter settlements. A number of households from the Lau Group living on traditional leases in Kalabu Village (about 15 minutes drive from Suva), got water from a well.

Power was the least available service with only 11 of the communities having electricity. The remaining nine communities still rely on petrol or benzene lamps for lighting. Similar to the water supply situation, most households in squatter settlements could not get power connections due to connection costs and landownership requirements.

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