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Priorities of the People: Hardship in Tuvalu

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What Can Be Done?

After listening to the views of the poor and understanding the nature 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. 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

Community fund raising and church fund raising were the two main community initiatives to address hardship identified during the assessment. Community fund raising activities were organized by local communities in the capital and outer islands to raise funds to pay for school fees, funerals, and community gatherings, as well as to fund community projects such as water storage tanks and sea wall construction. Church fund raising involved families contributing money for the pastor, church building, or mission support.

Some community members were aware of government initiatives to address hardship, most notably infrastructure projects and trust funds. Among these initiatives, the Tuvalu Trust Fund and the Falekaupule Trust Fund were the most commonly known among the communities. These were followed by water supply, education, livelihood, and harbor improvement projects in all six communities surveyed. The communities were aware of projects funded by ADB and the Canadian and Japanese governments. There was also a high level of awareness of the Government’s role in the facilitation of these projects.

When designing future development projects it would be useful to consider the community initiatives listed above and how the communities perceive government and donor-funded projects.

Most communities expressed their willingness to contribute land, labor, some construction materials, partial funding, and food for future projects. Project achievements can be sustained by more actively seeking community participation not only in construction but also in maintenance, a concern repeatedly raised by the communities during the assessment.

Coping Strategies

Communities have evolved their own strategies to cope with hardship, such as working as a community and utilizing family networks. 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, extended family, and their church as the most responsive and dependable during crises. They ranked their clan, community organizations, village/island councils, and government departments as secondary in importance. Members of Parliament were ranked third.

People said their immediate families are the first to provide food, money, or shelter, while churches provide spiritual support. The clan provides additional assistance similar to that of the extended family, although on a smaller scale. Community organizations such as women’s and youth groups, including nongovernment organizations like the Red Cross, provide assistance in kind and moral support. Village/island councils are seen to provide support in the form of organizing community activities, such as to support families that need extra assistance in tending their garden or pulaka (root crop) pits or fixing the water supply. Government departments, according to the communities, are the first ones to respond during natural disasters.

People’s Priorities

During the assessment, the communities suggested several priority actions to address hardship and poverty.

Economic Opportunities

• Expand income generation opportunities, particularly for women and youth, by improving the quality and appropriateness of education, access to skills training, improved production tools, and identifying additional markets for local products; and
• Improve cargo handling and lower freight charges, especially in the outer islands.

Access to and Quality of Basic Services

• Improve the quality of basic services in the urban areas and outer islands, particularly power, water supply, health, education, and communications through regular maintenance, assignment of qualified health and teaching staff, and reduction of service charges;
• Construct a vocational school for the youth;
• Provide access to housing loans to address the problem of overcrowding of households, particularly in the capital; and
• Provide sports facilities and equipment

Other Priorities and Capacity Building Needs

Other community priorities identified during the assessment were assisting local businesses, building a youth center, improving water cisterns and sanitation facilities, rehabilitating sea walls, tar sealing roads, providing welfare benefits for the elderly, and providing credit schemes.

There were five major categories of skills, according to importance, identified by the communities to allow them to actively participate in future development initiatives. These were:

• Gardening skills for food security;
• Home economics skills such as proper nutrition, sewing, cooking, baking, household budgeting, and making water safe for drinking;
• Income generation skills such as establishing and operating businesses, carpentry, piggery operation, and computer skills; and
• Management skills to strengthen community based organizations, including planning, communications, and leadership techniques.

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