Home 
Publications Catalog Online Publications Document
What Can Be Done?Work with those facing hardship to plan and prioritize action After listening to the stories of the poor and understanding the nature and causes of hardship, what can be done to address it? Working together with those facing hardship to plan, prioritize, and implement solutions has a good chance of leading to successful, lasting initiatives. During the assessment, people suggested the following proposed solutions. People’s Priorities
Sales and marketing assistance to support individual handicraft producers was repeatedly mentioned. In particular, the establishment of handicraft centers with good links to traders on Majuro and elsewhere was seen as a way to promote this form of income generation. A range of other economic activities were also mentioned, including fish-based and aquaculture products as important avenues for income generation on the outer islands. Increased educational and training opportunities were another high priority, including more places at high school, vocational courses, and re-entry programs such as the General Education Diploma. Unemployed Housewife, 25 Years Old
She left school because she got pregnant. She blames peer pressure and the lack of information about teenage pregnancy at the time. She said the situation has only become worse with girls as young as 13 and 14 getting pregnant. She now has five children aged 8, 6, 3, 2, and 7 months. Her husband works at the Laura Farm Technical Mission. Five nearby households draw on their well for water, because this water is not safe to drink, they must get drinking water from houses further away. They live in a one-room house with a small outhouse for cooking. She wishes they had a bigger and better house, with power, a water catchment, and a bathroom. She said that there was no difference between the poverty and hardship experienced on Majuro and other parts of the country. In giving her reasons, she pointed to the daily hardships she faces living with five children in their small, very run-down house without water catchments and electricity. She said that if she had some sort of talent or skill then maybe she could earn some money for the family to improve their house. For this reason, she has been learning handicrafts from some neighbors. Her main priority is her children. She wants a better home for their sake and also wants them to have a good education. She stresses the word “good” because she believes that the quality of education and teaching needs to be improved. She pushes her older children to go to school regularly and on time. She also expressed concern about the number of young men who do not have jobs and stay at home all day doing nothing and drinking alcohol. She thought there should be programs or jobs to help people make better use of their time. The problem, she said, is that when you have nothing to do, you tend to sit at home feeling bored and frustrated, and then you start picking on your children and other family members. This leads to fights and unhappiness. It’s hard to be respectful of others, she said, when you know you could be doing something better with your time, only you can’t. Youth organizations are also badly needed to provide more information about teenage pregnancy and activities for young people, so they don’t get caught up in peer pressure and stealing and drinking. She points to recent improvements due to the new basketball court in Laura and says that they need more sporting facilities and programs for youth. She also wants new educational opportunities and training programs for young men and women who dropped out of high school, but now realize the importance of education in terms of getting a good job. In all discussions of youth and child-related issues, the range of proposed solutions was similar, and included suggestions along the following lines:
Improved education and training are high priorities The need to improve services and infrastructure was identified as a major community priority during the assessment. There is a need to ensure the provision of basic services, such as solar power and water catchments, to all communities. Continued investment in public education and health services was also seen as a pressing community priority in most communities.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2009 Asian Development Bank Privacy | Terms of Use |
 Top of page |
Most
discussion centered on the need for agricultural and fishingrelated development
on the outer islands, as long as it is supported by greatly improved and expanded
transportation services. There was also considerable interest in agricultural
extension programs, particularly on islands close to urban areas.
Back