Rakiraki Women Market Vendors: Role Models for the Nation

Rakiraki Women Market Vendors: Role Models for the Nation

Rakiraki, 11 May 2012 - A woman has managed to open a bank account and deposit more than FJ$500 in a span of nine weeks, another has gained confidence and become a public speaker, while yet another has started applying smart business practices to expand her market vendor activity.

These are just some of the stories of how a nine-week training, targeting women market vendors in Rakiraki, has transformed their lives.

Speaking in the Fijian language at the closing ceremony of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) training programme in Rakiraki yesterday, Seravina Waqali shared her newly gained knowledge on financial management.

“Through this training I have learnt about customer service, how to budget, how to keep accounts and basically how to run a successful market vendor business,” she said.

Ms Waqali sells vegetables and root crops at the Vaileka market. She has already started putting her newly acquired knowledge into practice and has taken steps to expand her operation by opening an outlet in the neighbouring town of Ba.

Veronika Tuika shared how the training has boosted her confidence to talk and interact with people.

“I have generally been a shy person, but this training has helped me become a leader for the cash-for-work programme currently underway in Rakiraki. I have become a stronger person and I can lead my group in all types of situations,” she said.

Women Catalysing Change

Seravina and Veronika are part of the 25 to 60 women market vendors who attended 40 training sessions for a period of nine weeks. In these nine weeks, they have learnt techniques to improve business skills, basic financial skills including pricing and costing and saving money as well as market vendors’ rights and now have greater awareness on dealing with local government and town council’s rules and laws.

The training initiative, facilitated by UNDP in partnership with the Rakiraki Town Council, and the Vaileka Market Vendors Association, is part of the Strengthening Women’s Economic Security and Rights: Capacity Building Programme for Women Market Vendors programme, delivered through the UNDP Pacific Centre under the Millennium Market Project (One Country One Market) in partnership with UN Women. The main objective of the Millennium Market project is to strengthen women’s economic security and rights, especially for those in the informal sector who are usually the most vulnerable to economic setbacks, and these include the women market vendors.

Speaking at the closing of the training, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government, Urban Development, Housing, Local Government and Environment, Mrs Taina Tagicakibau said women were often the catalyst for change.

“Women make up about 87% of the market vendors in Fiji and income earned from markets has helped many rural and urban families from falling below the poverty line,” she said.

Dr Asif Chida, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Specialist at the UNDP Pacific Centre said that the women market vendors’ hard work had shown good results.

“The women market vendors who have been trained under this programme can demonstrate what they have learnt by implementing their new knowledge and becoming role models for others,” said Dr Chida.

Rakiraki Market Part of a Regional Programme

In addition to working with women market vendors, through this project, the Rakiraki market vendors will seek to strengthen their engagement with the local government to promote greater accountability of the services provided by the local government agencies.

“Next week, the consultation process for the development of a Citizens Market Charter will begin. The Citizens Market Charter will identify some areas in the delivery of market services as a first step in the development of market service standards. It will be used by all market stakeholders, like the market vendors, the town council and the consumers, as a tool for greater accountability and engagement,” said Dr Chida.

“UNDP is also planning to establish later this month a Market Learning Centre in Rakiraki which will be the focus of learning, communication, education and information at the marketplace itself. This we believe will provide significant opportunities for market vendors to learn and conduct business at their workplace,” he added.

The Rakiraki market is one of the four Pacific regional pilot markets for the Millennium Market initiative. The others include the Guadalcanal/Honiara City Market in the Solomon Islands, the ringroad market of Shefa Province in Vanuatu and the market in the Highland Province in Papua New Guinea.

ENDS

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