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Priorities of the People: Hardship in Samoa

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What Can Be Done?

	Loan assistance is needed to start and expand small businesses

After listening to the stories of the poor and understanding the nature and causes of hardship, the next question is, 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 consultations, people prioritized the most important actions that government can take to alleviate hardship. The government has identified a number of strategies in the SDS to address the people’s priorities.

People’s Priorities

When asked to prioritize the most important actions that the government can consider to reduce the level of hardship in Samoa, people in the communities developed the following list, in order of priority:

• Reduce the cost of living
• Provide access to loan assistance
• Support agricultural development
• Improve access to basic services, particularly water supply, schools, markets, and roads for disadvantaged communities
• Provide access to housing assistance

Most groups recommended that the government reduce the cost of living by reducing taxation of goods sold locally. They asked for the creation of jobs in the urban areas and support for agricultural development in the rural areas (including access to markets, know-how, and lower cost of inputs). They also suggested that information on health and education be disseminated more widely, and funding for community projects be provided. However, they said there is also a need for families to prioritize their spending, i.e., for education instead of faalavelave.

Most communities expressed willingness to provide free labor, land, food, and materials as their contribution to support government community development programs.

Capacity Building

The people consulted identified the following capacity building needs to strengthen community efforts in addressing hardship.

Business management, cattle farming, and fundraising skills are needed to support the development of local entrepreneurs. Knowledge of school improvement activities is needed to raise the quality of education, while better understanding of nutrition and water quality issues would reduce preventable illnesses and promote overall health standards for families in the villages. Knowing how to use computers would facilitate access to opportunities provided by information technology. Improved road maintenance skills are needed for securing and maintaining village access to markets and services. Lastly, improved management skills for village councils, particularly the village mayors (pulenu'us), would improve living conditions for families in the communities.

Although the people consulted are seeking outside assistance, they do not see their situation as hopeless. They believe there is always hope that support will come from relatives in town or overseas, donors, and government.

Roles

Everyone has a role to play in alleviating the hardship faced by some Samoans. By working together to agree on priorities, establish roles, and monitor progress, real improvements can be made in the people's daily lives.

In addition to the priorities for government action listed above, the people consulted suggested the following roles for the communities and nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

Communities can participate in plantation development, particularly among the unemployed youth, improvement of the village mayors' performance, and establishment of youth councils to provide representation for the youth both at the village and national level to help address causes of community hardship.

NGOs can form partnerships with village leaders and government to provide youth program development, better access to loans, and services for women, children, elders, and pregnant women.

Participation of the community in development is important to insure that all sectors of society have a voice in decision making and a stake in the success of the initiatives.

• Community consultations should be a regular part of the government's planning, implementation, and monitoring processes, particularly during the review of SDS implementation in 2004.
• Community participation should be part of every development project, such as providing land, labor, or cash.

Learning from the Past

Before planning new initiatives, it is useful to consider how people perceive what has been done in the past. Most people in the communities were aware of programs to alleviate hardship, including those run by the government, NGOs, and international donors. They were also aware of whom to ask for assistance to access needed services, except for transport. However, they indicated a high level of frustration due to non-delivery of key services needed for development, such as sealed roads. Most said they receive no help from the local or national government authorities, so they depend mainly on relatives and friends.

Most people view their family, the Village Council, Women's Committee, and Youth Committee as the most important institutions in the community that they depend on during crises. Elected government officials such as Members of Parliament were seen as least important since the people in the communities have little contact with them and see them as distant. The government may want to take these concerns into account when developing new initiatives.

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