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

Priorities of the People: Hardship in Tonga

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What Can Be Done?

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. But before planning such initiatives, it is important to understand the communities’ view of current assistance programs, how they currently cope with hardship, and most importantly, their priorities and suggestions for future action.

Current Initiatives to Address Hardship

Most of the current hardship alleviation initiatives identified by the communities surveyed were basic services and facilities, including water and power supply, health, education, wharves, road improvements, and market construction. The people said most of these were donor-assisted projects facilitated by the national government with funding from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, ADB and the World Bank; as well as assistance from international nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

There were three major community-initiated activities to address hardship identified during the assessment: (1) individual financial, food, or moral and spiritual assistance (home visits) to needy people in the community; (2) community development projects and training such as mat making, kitchen improvement, and cooking lessons among women; and working as a group to help those who could not clear and plant the plantations among men; and (3) community petitions to government to get access to land for housing.

Most communities contributed land, free labor, construction materials, partial funding, and/or food during project construction. This involvement could be used to sustain future projects and build more active community participation not only in funding and construction but also maintenance, which was a concern repeatedly raised by a number of people during the assessment.

Coping Strategies

Communities have evolved their own strategies to cope with hardship, such as working as a community to support children who could not afford to attend school, utilizing family networks, and depending on their environment for drinking water. Supporting the strengthening of these strategies and community capacity building will help communities be stronger partners in development to reduce hardship.

To help them cope during crises, most communities surveyed during the assessment ranked their immediate families, relatives, church, and village and island development communities as most important. Government ministries and departments, Members of Parliament, the Monarchy, and traditional hierarchy were ranked last.

This ranking indicates that institutions that are closer to the communities could be useful partners for the government and other institutions to effectively reach disadvantaged groups.

Capacity Building

The people consulted said the development of income generating skills, especially for agriculture, fishing, marketing, and business management, would directly contribute to the alleviation of hardship in Tonga. Organizational management skills such as organizational planning, communications, and leadership techniques were also seen as ways to strengthen community-based organizations.

The people also mentioned the importance of women gaining greater knowledge of matters such as proper nutrition, hygiene, cooking, sewing, household budgeting, and gardening. Being family managers and increasingly family providers, women’s knowledge of family planning was also seen as important.

People’s Priorities

The people of Tonga listed the following as the most important initiatives the government could act upon to reduce the level of hardship in their country.

1. Create more income opportunities through better access to land for those without an allocation; assistance with marketing produce, particularly on the outer islands; regular and affordable transport services; equipment; and capital.
2. Improve access and quality of available basic services, particularly power, water supply, health, education, and roads through regular maintenance, assignment of qualified health staff, provision of additional medical supplies, and reduction of service charges, particularly on the outer islands.
3. Broaden community access to skills training for income and lifestyle improvement.
4. Improve or construct village facilities, such as community halls for gatherings and activities, causeways, and wharves for improving the transport of goods to market and for people to access government services and income opportunities.

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