Creating community-based systems of good governance at grassroots level: A case of organisational strengthening and capacity building among indigenous women in Talievu Province, Fiji

Abstract

Encouraging sustainable community development is a critical aspect of the work of agencies and communities and involves, in the case of contrasting indigenous and non-indigenous value frameworks, a range of challenges. This case study, involving the first twelve months of a Fijian provincial women’s project, illustrates the nature of these challenges. From initial planning to implementation, the case demonstrates that the process of empowerment and skills building is possible in a context where the methodology is adapted to meet the needs of the target community. An important aspect of sustainability here is encouraging those accustomed to a culture of silence to articulate and record their aspirations, their needs and their objectives. Thus, traditional dependence upon an organizational history locked in human memory needed, in this case, to be supplemented by transparent, recorded systems of governance and the development of complementary functions in simple organisational frameworks. This case is an illustration of an indigenous experience which has much to offer in relation to ongoing indigenous development generally and much also to gain from the broader framework of indigenous development experiences elsewhere.