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1 This publication has been produced with the assistance of the German Women s World Day of Prayer, DFAT / Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development, Global Fund for Women, GPPAC, International Women s Deveopment Agency and the UNDP Pacific Centre Election TOK Special Edition, September 2014 The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FemLINKPACIFIC and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of these development partners. Publisher: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director, FemLINKPACIFIC FIJI S WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT HIGHER THAN REGIONAL AVERAGE It all began with a shared vision as the founders of FemLINKPACIFIC On Monday 22 September the Fiji Women s Forum congratulated the eight women who have been elected into Fiji s House of Representatives. Five of the new women parliamentarians are members of the ruling Fiji First Party while three will be part of the opposition that includes one from the National Federation Party and two from the Social Democratic Liberal Party. These 8 women represent 16% of the 50 member Legislature. The Fiji Women s Forum (FWF) views this as a success for women in national political leadership because it s a 45% increase from 2006 when only 8 of the 71-member lower house were females, said Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director of FemLINKPACIFIC one of the four FWF co-conveners. Comparatively the latest effort by the successful women candidates means we have surpassed the regional average of 13.4%. This is a big win for women in politics but since Fiji and the region still lags behind the Arab States, there is still a long way to go, said Fiji Women s Rights Movement Executive Director, Virisila Buadromo. Female candidates received 15.65% (77691) of the total final tally of the valid votes cast : 2.87%of Fiji First votes were for female candidates (8438 out of ) Jiko Luveni 2296 Lorna Eden 1869 Mereiseini Vuniwaqa 1175 Veena Bhatnagar 874 Rosy Akbar 990 Jilila Kumar 824 Adi Laisa Tora 236 Luisa Waqanika % of votes for SODELPA were for their female candidates (58360 of ) Ro Temumu Kepa Vani Seruvakula 1701 Mere Samisoni 1719 Salote Radrodro 2300 Nanise Nasuguca 1255 Penina Ravulo 945 Losena Salabula 552 Laisani Qaqanilawa % of votes for NFP were for their female candidates (4842 of 27066) Tupou Draunidalo 2966 Eci Nabalarua 564 Sant Mutri 258 Anishi Chand 208 Fay Volatabu 176 Shiromani Singh 158 Leba Nabou 137 Ansu Lata 113 Kalesi Ratuwara % of PDP votes were for their female candidates (2773 of 15864) Lynda Tabuya 1375 Adi Sivia Qoro 438 Varanisese Ligalevu 291 Salochana Devi 231 Adi Sivo Ravuwale 136 Nazia Khan 120 Amele Wabale 98 Mereoni Tuvou 51 Suruj Mati % of FLP votes were for their female candidates (1431 of 11670) Monica Raghwan 509 Lavinia Padarath 335 Laisa Bale 312 Pasepa Lagi 199 Paulini Waqaniboro % of OneFiji votes were for their female candidates (792 of 5839) Makareta Rosi 524 Asenaca Batikara 148 Fine Ditoka 120 Independent candidate Roshika Deo secured 1055 votes The FWF is proud to have worked alongside many of the 44 women who put themselves forward in Fiji s first democratic elections in eight years, and we hope to continue to work alongside all of the 44 women candidates by providing them with a space to share their experience and knowledge to either mentor future politicians, re-strategize for election 2018 or work together in developing and implementing gender responsive laws, added Buadromo. The Fiji Women s Forum, which was initiated in 2012, has worked to increase the number of women in Fiji s democratization. FWF worked with women candidates and women voters. FemLINKPACIFIC, the Fiji Women s Rights Movement, the National Council of Women Fiji, and the Soqosoqo Vakamarama Itaukei jointly convene the FWF. Election TOK Fiji: The quest for sustainable peace and development By Sharon Bhagwan Rolls Since FemLINKPACIFIC launched its community media network in 2004, a national programme partners meeting several years later agreed that the 3rd Wednesday of every month become the designated day for the local network meetings. The day was identified at a time when women were free from their monthly club activities and also enabled our correspondents, who are also our network convenors to produce radio programmes and complete the monthly Women s Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. The 1325 day is one day that brings women leaders together in 5 rural centres in Fiji Tavua, Ba, Nadi, Nausori and Labasa. Earlier in 2014 we asked older to compare how they participated in and prepared for elections. The responses were not surprising. Many admitted that they were not as politically active and mainly relied on information from their elders or their husbands. Many could not recall who they had voted for in previous elections. It has been clear that with a gap of almost 8 years since the last parliamentary elections and the political upheavals we have faced as a nation, civil society efforts such as the Fiji Womens Forum and the Young Womens Forum have been an opportunity for women to reengage with the political process. However in the lead up to the September 2014 elections, FemLINKPACIFIC like other CSOs had to seek approval from the Elections Office (under Section 115 of the Electoral Decree) to enable us to share voter education information. With an organized rural network we have been able to continue to document how women have been able to prepare themselves as voters while not losing sight of their daily realities: As we journey through the month of July into August the political narratives arises, the voices of politicians echoes all around with local media, at their campaign talanoa sessions in villages and communities, along the streets meeting places. When we enter villages settlements and communities the lines of conversations are threaded around the upcoming elections, the new electoral processes and most of all the retelling of stories from political candidates and parties and their manifestos, the differences and similarities, the questions and impacts of their decisions, the challenges, fears and even anger arising in their stories voicing priorities and concerns at different level of citizenry about the future of their country. I journeyed within the rural women s networks, sitting around with pocket groups, men and women s groups in the villages and communities and listens to their cries their joys and pains, reflects Adi Vasulevu our convenor in Vanua Levu It goes without saying that many of the women are well aware of how important their vote is: I would say elections are very important to me. This election we will elect a government which I want to take Fiji back to democracy says Bulu Ratu in Nausori This Election is very important to me so that I can understand and know what kind of Government is going to lead me in my future, says Karalaini Naitiro, a member of Balata Multiracial Womens Club in Balata, Tavua. While some have had access to voter information mostly through mainstream media with television and print media the majority of the women have not been able to get voter education, and there are still many unanswered questions: Yes! I have attended in Tagitagi Sangam and I (found) some difficulties with numbers, said 36 year old Ruci Adicabenalotu a market vendor in Tavua who like many voters is still trying to understand the new system while 40 year old Unaisi Bakewa the Vice President of the Tavua Disabled Peoples Association wants to ensure her members are ready and able to vote. While she has attended a voter education training she is well aware that many of her members have not been able to attend the training. The lack of access to transport in one reason why they are not attending and she is worried that this may also prevent them from voting. It is very important to have women up there in parliament, as a mother, grandmother. So we have to break that barrier and come out and show yourself, says Nanise Cakau of Nausori. It is important for rural women to vote on September 17th because we are going to elect our Democracy Government and another thing women s voice will be shared. If you miss, you miss your chance, It is very important in these Election all the women rural women they should cast their vote, because your voice will be put in the new government, says 69 year old Satya Wati Nand, the President of the Sanatan Nari Sabha in Tavua In Vanua Levu, our monthly network meetings have been limited to the women in and around Labasa town and for there is a need to increase resources available to women s networks to reach out to more women: I visited women s group and facilitated development projects and management, conflict analysis and mediating existing conflicts and also prioritising building a consistent focus paving the way forward for women and their development to peace and security. I visited the Naleba Multiracial Women s group, Mataniwai Village Women s Group, the Vunicuicui Multiracial Women s Group, Nubunikavula Vanua Women s Group and Tawake Vanua Women s group. Within these 5 groups of around 120 women in total, we surfaced reality and issues of priorities that beneath the political banner of conversations the struggle is the same or worsen. For their small cooperative projects established 2 to 3 years ago, barely surviving based on evolving high costs of running a business during this new system, the different licence (fee) costs and rising cost of food and transport. These elections, she feels are not just about the events of For many communities they are seeking to resolve issues stemming from the events of 1987 and generations of under-development: As a woman peacebuilder I facilitate, listen and communicate with women helping them make decisions as well as well also listening to the issues such as land, resources, ownership and identity which are again emerging. It is this listening. It is the use of peacebuilding practice within FemLINKPACIFIC s community media network that enables her, and other convenors to recognise the need to address the silence and understand the signs which are linked to the fragility of peace in our country. Is this the fragility that is also being echoed by women in other rural communities in Viti Levu? How will existing economic insecurities affect this fragility? The priorities of economic security, food security, environment security (climate change) are the regular challenges. As 38 year Anaite Sivoi who is back harvesting cane has related to me. This is a woman who wakes up at 4am, fetches water from the well, cooks breakfast for her children to them then leaves home at 6am to cut sugarcane. During the midday break she is still working trying to catch fish or gather shellfish for her family s dinner. She gathers firewood on her way home and then is back in the fields after 3pm to load the trucks with the men. As a cane labourer she does not earn enough to meet the weekly grocery expenses which have tripled in the last 5 years. The reality for many of the rural women in our community network is that elections are important but so are the daily struggles to meet their children s basic needs for a safe secure and healthy community. They know elections are important but they also do want to simply be swept away in the political campaigns. They want a democracy that will make good on the promises not just to provide water and roads but to also give them a voice and reaffirm their leadership and support the ongoing development of women s Election TOK Special Edition, September

2 Election TOK Fiji leadership because as Unaisi Bakewa of the Tavua Disabled Peoples Network says it is not easy for women to participate in politics and there is an expectation that an elected government will be inclusive and compassionate: They should be understanding and sympathetic to the challenges and problems faced by the people of Fiji especially from the grassroots level people. They want and deserve sustainable peace and development. Looking Forward to the Political Future for Women (Fiji ) By Sharon Bhagwan Rolls With just 14 days for the parliament to be convened after the announcement of the results of Fiji s general election results in September 2014, the final day of the Fiji Womens Forum Candidate Capacity Strengthening Workshop looked to the future and the role of a Member of Parliament. The whole of my different careers I have worked with men a lot and I just stood up to speak out against only men chairing (parliamentary) committees, said Losana Salabula: You have to stand up and don t shy away. Be yourself and stand by your principles. People will respect you more. New parliamentarians must also prepare themselves for anything unexpected (like the coup). Parliament is a place to serve, not to make money, in a discussion on experiences of women in parliament. We can build on the cooperation we have built this week, said Mere Samisoni Looking at the role of an MP in line with Fiji s 2013 Constitution includes Legislative Power and Outreach including ensuring that the Parliament proceedings are conducted in an open manner, including public sittings of parliament and committees including facilitating public participation and the convening of oversight committees. The legislative burden will be high on the agenda when parliament is convened. One of our important roles will also include engaging with the media to maintain information with the community, said participant Salote Radrodro It is also important to recognise that 75% of the members of the house (parliament) is needed to reform the Constitution added Monica Raghwan A Code of Conduct for Parliament is critical said Lavenia Padarath. A role of the women s parliamentary caucus says Padarath, a former Minister for Women could include taking responsibility for progressing compliance with CEDAW. A caucus, the workshop heard would demonstrate how women can support each other across political and personal differences to create a stronger democracy and advocate for greater gender equality within political parties as well as within parliament. Co-facilitator Dr Lesley Clarke reminded the workshop that this has to be more than just about women s business. In the spirit of the Fiji Womens Forum the 5 day workshop has brought together women from across Fiji s political spectrum including 4 political parties freely sharing their experiences and welcoming new women entering the political arena: Now I m empowered, the older candidates really made everything clear to me and have encouraged me as well, said 23 year old Roma Romika who was representing the Be the Change campaign: As I am new to all of this and this is the first time I am voting I have found the workshop really helpful for me and my community, In the north we don t know much about civic education. I did not know all the procedures and the techniques for campaigning. This week has been inspiring and educational, It has been one of the best seminars I have ever attended and I have felt empowered and uplifted and this has positive impact for me both personally and professionally, said Veronica Thoms of the Fiji People s Democratic Party as she affirms the solidarity: (what will follow) is the women have agreed to continue the relationships and support (each other) when they all get into parliament. The workshop has covered a range of issues including engaging with the media, campaign tips and public speaking and developing effective campaign messages. With the learned experience of co facilitators Dr Lesley Clarke and Dame Carol Kidu it has affirmed the role of women to be able to influence change. Sant Kumari Murti a National Federation Party candidate who travelled from Labasa for the week said she is also feeling empowered as a result of having the opportunity to gain skills to support her campaign as well as understand better the provisions of the Electoral Decree: (Especially) setting the scene right to know the rules for the elections, organizing your campaign, managing your budget, media awareness and interview sessions were beneficial and good guidance. The workshop has also addressed the barriers to women s participation in Fiji s parliamentary future: Women have been left out of the Constitution, said Padarath, adding there is an insecurity of employment and that the coup culture in Fiji is also a deterrent. Being informed about their party s manifestos, finalizing a campaign diary, collaboration on fundraising and strengthening their spheres of influence are strategies participants are taking home with them to assist them in overcoming election challenges such as having a single national constituency. A competent, trustworthy and organised campaign team is also part of having a strategic campaign plan. The Fiji Womens Forum has been convened by the National Council of Women, Soqosoqo Vakamarama I Taukei, Fiji Women s Rights Movement and FemLINKPACIFIC since April At a networking event, FWRM s Executive Director - Virisila Buadromo highlighted the preliminary findings of Perceptions of Women s Political Participation Research undertaken by the Fiji Womens Forum. Election TOK: Fiji Votes! On September 17 we produced a series of election updates via our media and correspondents team in Ba, Tavua/Rakiraki, Nadi and Nausori Following a series of rural network meetings and community radio consultations, we talked to women from our network and other voters to reflect on the historical elections which usher in the return to parliamentary democracy. By the end of polling 57 women and young women and 3 young men aged between 19 and 74 had been interviewed in Rakiraki, Tavua, Nausori, Tailevu, Ba, Nadi, Suva and Lami Ba The 10 women interviewed said their voting experience was pretty good and most travelled with family or were able to walk to their polling station. All found the voting process easy to follow and the only concern was the wait to cast their vote there was mention of long hours under the hot sun. All the women said they went to vote with a candidate in mind and voted accordingly, citing that their preference was for someone who would address their local development priorities. Recommendations for the future would be to attend to the specific needs of the elderly and shelter for the people while their waited. Rakiraki &Tavua Women from Tavua, Vatukoula and Rakiraki were interviewed. Several women organised a carrier as they were concerned about the lack of available public transport. Some women had access to private vehicles. Others relied on carriers. One of the 10 women was a first time voter, who felt the process was easy. Most of the women felt coordination at their polling stations was good and they did not have long to vote and they were able to follow the voting requirements. A few voters in Rakiraki found the ballot paper hard to understand so it took them time vote. All the respondents said they had also gone to vote with a specific candidate in mind and voted accordingly, also citing that their preference was for someone who would address their local development priorities. Recommendations for the future include the provision of free and easy access to transport and better provisions for persons with disability. Nausori 17 women aged from Nakaikogo, Koronivia, Buretu Village, Naivakacau Village, Naselai Village, Kuku, Bau Road Waituri,Vuci Road, Raralevu,Korociriciri, Naduru, Verata, Nausori Village, Davuilevu Housing were interviewed. 100% of the women had voted Most of the women were within walking distance to their polling stations. For some women it was a 5-30 minute walk. Several women highlighted they had to organise their families and children as well. The women got up early and prepared breakfast, some even went so far as getting lunch ready as well before leaving their homes. A few of the women had to ensure that their grandchildren were organised as well. Sheleni Lata, 40, Waituri: I have a sick daughter and have to tell her I am going to vote The rural women in Nausori were excited, happy and felt it was an amazing and new experience especially for the women who had previously voted: I waited only 3 minutes to cast my vote, said Tokasa Sai, 46, Naivakacau Village Ana Prasad, 32, Raralevu I had a different polling station from my husband so I went by myself and waited 2hours. My husband was faster. Surprisingly majority of the women voted for male candidates. Recommendations: More preference to be given to the elderly, expecting mothers and the disabled. Shelters to be provided at polling stations. Nadi A good turnout was noted at three polling stations, with long queues as soon as polling commenced. There was a large turnout by young people as well as older men and women. Three respondents all stated they had voted for a female candidate. Suva & Lami 17 female voters between the ages of 19 to 25 and one 40 year old were interviewed. Three male voters aged were interviewed at the St Joseph High School, John Wesley College, Suvavou Village, Qauia Settlement, Statham USP CAMPUS, Raiwai. A 19 year old first time voter who is a boarder at a high school was given home leave to vote but highlighted the lack of information to assist her and students like her to understand the political party platforms as well as their candidates. She found making a choice difficult: I was still confused who to vote for, because you know we in boarding school didn t receive much information on this elections. A 20 year old USP student indicated that she had to travel home to Sigatoka yesterday afternoon to be able to cast her vote and then return to Suva today to be back for classes tomorrow. The majority of respondents were able to catch a bus to their polling station or some simply walked with friends and family. All the interviewees at the John Wesley College and USP Statham campus highlighted the need to have more shelter for voters as well as seating arrangements: Oh my goodness, it was crowded, we were in the sun for long I wished they had more tents and chairs, yes chairs we were standing in the sun 1 young woman from Qauia indicated that despite the explanations from the officers at the polling station she was still unsure on how to cast her vote. All the respondents however felt there was good organisation and that there was good assistance for the elderly particularly as they were given preference to vote first as well as the assistance for persons with disabilities. Only 1 persons actually voted for the person he had in mind. The rest all changed their mind at the voting booth with some admitting that they randomly voted for a candidate from their preferred party. A 20 year old male from Lami indicated he preferred a woman and voted for a woman and 1 young woman indicated it came down to one s features to win her vote I didn t vote for who I had planned to vote for, I changed my mind at the voting booth, but yeah it was a woman I prefer a woman, you now I m a guy, and I know guys, men, same thing you know its transparency and I know woman work with transparency, yes its transparency I think its most important that s why I voted for a woman I voted for a woman because of the policies her parties had put out I voted for a man I believe he ll do well There was just not much information we got. I still didn t know who to vote for, so I chose a good looking guy. I just randomly chose this man from my preferred party Overall all the respondents recommend improved communication regarding the political parties and their policies as well a candidate profiles which should be available through the media particularly to reach voters at community level, in boarding schools and informal settlements. 2 Young women thought that it would be great to having electronic voting by the next elections. Reflections from Vanua Levu By Adi Vasulevu, FemLINKPACIFIC Convenor - Vanua Levu I woke up early this morning with some level of excitement and preparedness for the long awaited event, the Fiji General Election. It was not like any other morning, the whole household had only one agenda in their hands and that is getting ready for the polling station to cast our vote. Although for us here in Labasa polling stations were in walking distance, many found their names in other polling stations where they needed transport to travel to. The roads were extremely quiet this morning and women dressed up in bright coloured clothes walking up to the polling. I visited 2 polling stations the Guru Nanak Secondary school. Voters were lined up from 6.30 to 7.00am. We stayed in touch with our rural network leaders, in Naleba, Mataniwai, Vunicuicui, Vuniyalayala and Naqai; they mentioned that the lines and queue at all their polling station were filled with mainly women in the first part of the morning. The men came in and sat on the side waiting for the lines to get shorter and attended to vote later. The Naodamu community hall polling station is a double story wooden building and I found it very unfriendly to the elderly and with disabilities. Not long after the voting process started in the first 30 minutes, the team was informed of the situation that there were women and men that cannot climb up the staircase. There was a team member of 6 working, inclusive of presiding officers and polling day workers. The process was stopped and they came downstairs to attend to those that could not walk up. The queue by now was right around the building, and during the change of process, all stood with observation of the unorganized process team performance attending to the elderly. There were no Election TOK Special Edition, September

3 Election TOK Fiji confidentialities, and the presiding officer attending to everything from step x to y as her team stood around watching. The process became very slow as the people continue to turn in with the crowd and lines not moving at all. Concern was raised about the communication style especially with the prolonged wait. I observed that it took close to 2 hours for 20 elderly to vote. By 9.00am I was still standing on the very same spot I started off and after hearing everyone s complaints I called the election office and raised my concern and subsequently there was some movement. However, after arriving at 7am I finally cast my vote at 11.30am. During the whole month I had been sitting with groups of women men and youths with talanoa sessions, interactions formal and informal conversations, hearing and listening to the expectations of election process and concerns for example the types of leader they want and why including values, hopes and fears. Working with FemLINKPACIFIC as the convener for the Rural Women s Network in the north has also given me the opportunity to work closely with women at all level, to brainstorm with them and create safe talking spaces and together with the 84 rural women who have attended the consultations during the past month we have found clarity with our thoughts that has helped informed our decisions as we take those steps towards casting our votes this morning. After our participation now we look with eagerness towards a people elected democratized government that is for me a leader with integrity that has the capacity to work consistently and accurately across the table with an opposition party. This for me is a transparent honest responsive and committed leader realized. Pre Elections Preparations FemLINKPACIFIC is committed to gender equality and women s rights, where women are heard and fully participate in all development and decision making processes. It is the mission of the Organisation to become a local, national and regional catalyst for change in Fiji and the Pacific. Since the elections in 2006 FemLINKPACIFIC through our rural community media network meetings, consultations and community radio broadcasts has provided a participatory and interactive process to link rural women s networks with initiatives such as the Fiji Women s Forum and other women s rights groups to also provide relevant support to enable rural women to engage proactively in process of democratization, including organizing around the Constitution making process as well as in the lead up to the elections of In 2012 in response to the announcement of the Constittuion Making Process and as a co-convenor of the Fiji Women s Forum, FemLINKPACIFIC revived our Not Just Sweet Talk campaign of 2001 and 2006 to enahnce its current media outputs of the organisation s rural community media network on UNSC Resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security) particularly to enhance the visibility of women leaders on television and mainstream radio. These media initiatives also inform broader civil society action. Following a series of community media network consultations from January 2014, FemLINKPACIFIC was able to continue to convene our monthly network meetings from June September ahead of the 2014 elections which enabled us to continue to track network members access to voter information programmes organized by the Fijian Elections Office (FEO), political parties and their candidates (subject to the Political Parties Decree) as well as civil society activities (which were subject to Section 115 of the Electoral Decree). As FemLINKPACIFIC is a duly registered community media organisation with the Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA) we also undertook additional media productions with the political parties and female candidates. Podcasts of these radio programmes as well as other Election TOK Fiji programmes can be accessed: femlinkpacific Election TOK features can be accessed: femlinkpacific?sk=notes On August 27 rural convenors invited a total of 199 representatives of community women s groups and clubs for a follow up consultation and radio programme production. This paper highlights the findings. Participation Analysis of participants by age: Ba Labasa* Nadi Nausori Tavua Totals >18 years What the Women Said: Ba At the Ba Seniors Centre all respondents were registered voters however the majority of the respondents had not receive any voter education and voiced concerns about how to vote as well as information about the candidates and political parties. Development priorities included the rights of senior citizens, education, employment, poverty reduction (cost of living associated with access to basic services such as water and food prices), peace and unity and respondents highlighted that they would voter for leaders who attended to these priorities. The senior citizens also identified with the specific needs of young women/youth particularly as the elderly are reliant on family support and can see the impact of the poverty as well as lack of jobs. All the senior citizens interviewed agreed that having more women in parliament increased their own access to people in power and decision making structures and that women would better represent the needs of their community better: We want more women because we can learn more things and we want equal rights and we can talk straight to women better than men. Labasa, Nausori, Nadi and Tavua How important are these elections to you? They were claiming their freedom to vote for leaders who would best represent their development priorities and issues of concern; Elections represent the freedom to elect the political leadership of Fiji: Now is the time to have a good government in our country because for a long time we haven t got a good government since so many years, from 2006 and now it s time to have a god government to serve our country and a good leadership Well for me it s very important, because we have to choose our own government for our own future needs. This election is important for us because it is time for us to vote and choose our government (and) which can lead and take our Fiji Islands forward. It is important to me because this election is to (choose) a good leaders to help people in our country the labourers and workers This would return the country to parliamentary democracy and they would have an elected government as well as elected members of parliament: It is important because the last Election was in 7 years ago I am Fiji Citizen, as a woman I m able to voice out my concern and need to decide my future. This election is really important to me so that I can voice up my concerns on whatever I want or whatever I need and whoever that may represent me in to Parliament. This election is important to me because as a mother it will determine the future of my children on education and health They were having a chance to hear from a wider political perspective as there were now functioning political parties: This is important for me first I listen everyone s manifesto then we we ll choose and it s determined our future This is not the first time, I have already voted. It is very important because my vote will be counted and first of all I have to listen everyone s manifesto then choose to whom I want to be a leader (committed) to good governance The elections also symbolized an opportunity to end the coup cycle: The elections is important to me because we want an elected government, because of the past 8 years we have the government who was (part of the) coup culture, and we want freedom to choose a government to lead us. This election will be very important for me because it determines my tomorrow, that is safe and coup free. Young women who were voting for the first time raised their priorities such as scholarships and also affirmed the value of their votes as well: This election is important for me because I am participating with how government can lead us to the future. This election is very important for me, because I am going to vote, I will be voting. (Leaders) That will listen and care about what we young women want and decide It is important for me to vote for the one who will lead us our future time or the one who will take care about our nation. It is important because I have to choose or tick the right person to look after my concerns my vote so that my party and my leader will also be good one. I have to think properly because it is my future in Fiji. It is important that we vote. Have you been able to access voter information and training? In Labasa of the 38 respondents: 10 said they had not accessed any form of voter education 9 had accessed voter education conducted by the Fijian Elections Office 5 said they had accessed voter education via political parties and NGOs In Nausori of the 43 respondents: 8 said had accessed voter education conducted by the Fijian Elections Office 1 respondent accessed voter education via an NGO Majority of the respondents accessed information via the FEO media campaigns In Tavua of the 43 respondents: 11 had accessed voter education conducted by the Fijian Elections Office 1 respondent said she had accessed voter education via an NGO Majority of the respondents accessed information via the FEO media campaigns In Nadi of the 34 respondents several mentioned that their clubs had organized training: Yes we have done some training and all our members aware of it and they know what they are going to do in the polling station and also umm we members don t know the numbers so we have to know what number we are going to vote for. However there were also several respondents who highlighted that they had not participated in any training: I have never been to any training or workshop regarding this election and even in my community I can tell most of the members from my community we haven t been to any of the training or workshops regarding this voting training. Concerns about elections day included: Insufficient information and time to understand the voting process and access information about the political parties: My main concern is about voting on the 17th because the time is near and listening to so many parties and different manifestoes and we re not sure if they re going to follow their manifestos this makes me confuse On the 17th I think myself we are not ready for the voting, not even my community, we are not ready since there is totally know nothing, even a polling station for us to go vote in or whom to vote. Like we know parties, who is going to stand for each party but for us on process on how to vote I can tell we are still behind in that. Yes with the process of voting, there is the numbers only and does not come with the names, we only have to see the number and vote. We can t write the number on our hand as some of us will forget and they will be checking. We are not allowed to wear anything that is written with from other parties, names, a band cap and T-shirts with the party. We are not allowed to shout any party names inside the polling station as your votes will be invalid. There is only one day election with only one tick. Child and elderly care and family responsibilities: I m facing one challenge, because election day it is a public holiday and my son is going to be home and also my mother-in-law who is 75years old we have to take both of them with me to the polling station, so I don t know how long I m going to stand there, so they are going to stand with me. My concern is the public holiday, 1 day election and how I am going to get into the election poll and then there will be no transport provided like in the previous election(s). So how if I m disabled, how am I going to get to the polling station? And this is my concern, one day, holiday and who will look after my children home I m being a woman, prepare their food. So they should provide transport for everyone that go to the poll Access to and affordability to use public transport: They re only concerned about the transport for that day, elections day how they re going to travel from home to the polling venue My only concern is for the new voting system for the old people (and) how they get to the polling station. How long they will be there? Whether refreshments will be provided? And if they will understand the new voting (system) Logistics: My concern is that I don t know when the voting will be start, to whom with I have to go with because my husband s polling station is different and mine is different. I m concerned about how long it will take to vote at the polling Election TOK Special Edition, September

4 Election TOK Fiji station because and only some schools in a settlement and there is a lot of people in the settlement so it might take long for you to vote My concern is I don t want to stand in a queue waiting to cast my vote My concern is the one day voting is not good. From our group discussions one of the ladies was saying that there will only be 500 voters at one polling station, in one area if there is more than 500 an extra 100 where will we send the extra 100? What are the qualities of leaders you will be voting for? The majority of respondents highlighted general qualities of leadership highlighting accountability to women and gender equality as well as community level development and responsive to the specific needs of youth. A few mentioned religious values: The quality we are looking for is the people we trust to look after the government, particularly in our areas, the women s community.we need a government that will take us forward especially for us women. We need to raise our views, our voice to be raised up to the government that will take us forward. Leaders should be accountable and transparent and they should be to come down to the grassroots people and listen to their concerns and take their issues to the parliament and then come back again to the people and tell them whatever is the outcome A good leader should be faithful, respectful to indigenous rights, and honest. I want a leader who will work for all citizens of Fiji and move our country forward through accountability and transparency and equality. The leaders or political parties who will restore the true democracy, who will form the next government of national unity, a government that will rub on what different races, religions and organizations believes or say. For us as young people listens to our voices, honesty, good leadership and transparency. I want to vote for a leader who hears that whatever we want either we are in the village (or) in town All the political parties are releasing (or have released) manifestoes. What are the 3 development priorities you would like the elected government to address? Respondents highlighted accountability to gender equality, disability and the rights of senior citizens as well as the specific needs of young women: these issues is also important to young women in communities because most of our youths are unemployed and even we re educated there s no job opportunities Free Education up to Tertiary Level, Social Welfare. To voice out my opinion about Scholarships, provide Jobs for unemployed people... Due to Unemployment we are facing so much hardship here in Tavua because there are no jobs here because there are no jobs opportunities here in Tavua. It is very important if Government can give Scholarship to poor people and training unemployed people so that they can get jobs. Top development priorities were: Rural and urban infrastructure including road improvements, transport services, water supply and drainage improvements Job creation especially for young people Reduction to the cost of living Access to affordable and high quality education Health improvements Several respondents also mentioned environment security, police services as well as access to land Respondents discussed the election of women and also addressed the challenges or barriers women face: Yes women candidates are important to be elected because they will address women s issues in parliament and they can better understand women s issues (in fact) whatever issues is there they will be able to address it properly. I know that particular women will take my views, my points and hear out our voice women. They understand women s problems and all I can say is equality is suppose (d) to be there, especially most of the time men are there in the parliament. I will be very proud (to) see women to out there. I think women make better decision and they can voice out the decision, women s views. Women are good and dedicated leaders, and are good with managing budget and are passionate. Many of the respondents noted and addressed the barriers or challenges for women s political participation included the need for women to be more assertive: We should be, our voices should be heard and we must have freedom to speak and at the same time we should be empowered and especially we re the grassroots ladies in communities. (S)sometimes our voices is not heard, so we need some women to be elected so it will be easier for us to share our views, women would be more understanding of our problems in particular areas. come out from your shells. Do not stay in your home especially rural woman to come out from there and speak for yourself because women are the best leaders, best financial controller, and they are the best teachers. I think women are more sensible than men. All the women should elect for the women candidate to sit in the parliament because a woman understand(s) the problem of a woman. we need to overcome and we need to attend club meetings, to socialize, meet people and join other women s club so we can learn, share more Other barriers included the inability of women to access traditional governance systems such as the perception that women are not allowed to talk in their own Bose vakoro and other local meetings. Women also need to overcome barriers within their families and often lack resources to support their leadership or participation. There is also the culture of silence and persistence of patriarchy: To be actively involved in politics, training (for) more women so they can be actively involve and really try to understand politics. More education, more consultation awareness in the community and more (opportunity) to participate Election TOK: January September 2014 In Ba - Seniors Have a Say By Dorothy Bali, FemLINKPACIFIC Convenor and Correspondent in Ba: It is always wonderful and fulfilling to see the lovely smiling faces of the elderlies here at the Ba Senior Citizens Centre. At this month s FemLINKPACIFIC network meeting (20 August) 25 members attended our 1325 meeting. And also I had the opportunity to speak to women of other communities as well. Of course the most important topic is the upcoming elections. Concern has been raised on preventing any political unrest post elections. We do not want this said the members. Seniors are looking forward to voting but they would like more information and clarity on how to vote and also who to vote for especially as there is only one national constituency. Members are trying to understand who will be their local MP. We hope some of the political parties will make time to visit our members at the Centre as they are not able to attend meetings at night. Development priorities for the seniors include: Review of Family Assistance Allowance for the elderly as well as single mothers. Availability and affordability of medicines at the government pharmacy (this is an ongoing issue); Special provision to be made for the elderly citizens while attending to banks or even in the hospitals. Retirement age to be shifted to 60.Also there is this land issue, here in Badrau/Clopcott. This is where the land is now being subdivided and given to the tenants who have been living there. The plea of some of the members is if they could be given extension to pay the required amount for the land. While talking to the other women from various communities the issue they pointed out was the number of unemployed youths roaming around the streets. We hope that there are more employments created after the new government is formed. There is also much excitement for the construction of the new hospital being made as it might create more employment for the people and women might get opportunities as well to work there or even run a canteen said Losana, vice president of the Badrau Womens Club. Peace please say rural seniors At our International Day of Peace event in Ba (10th September), 20 members of the Ba Seniors Centre participated in an interfaith peace vigil remembering the Fijian peacekeepers held captive in the Golan Heights as well as their families and colleagues and shared their peace messages. A week away from the elections, obviously everyone is thinking about the elections and the peace they want during and post elections. Here s what the seniors had to say: Babu Ram: I think election is good for all also for poor people and I want that government to be elected to thinks of the betterment of all people. I want the country to go on well and I want people to live in unity and peace, to love each other. Uttram Wati: Peace is love towards each other, be humble have love in your heart, don t think negative things. Meet each other with love. We want all the parties to be in peace in this upcoming elections whoever wins should rule in peace and think about us citizens. Ved Mati: During these elections we have to be at peace and also whoever you think is the right person who thinks of the people we should vote that person. Ram Rati:. I want each and all to be peace. Gyan Mati..I come from Sarava and I am 71 years old. I want peace, (to live in) peace. And about the election go and cast your vote but don t say here and there that I have given vote to this person or that person just be quiet and whoever you think is right you give vote to him/ her. Whoever is elected I would like to tell them to handle our Fiji with peace and love. Uday Raj:. Firstly I would like to see that our soldiers that are being held captive be released. I want them to come back be with their families again. I want us to do things with peace so that the (election) outcome can be successful. If we don t have peace other things does not matter. We should not be racist. Aisha Bibi: (As) the elections are here we have to give our votes and let us all pray together for peace. Sogra Bibi:.I want the elected government to think of us. And also I want all to live and love. Meet each other with love and spread love amongst each other. Gyan Mati: all I want to say is that all to go well. Maya Wati:..whoever wins may rule our land with peace. We want peace Rashidan:..firstly I pray for the protection of (our peacekeepers) that are being captured. And we don t want any fighting to go on during these times. Asha Wati: I want all to live together and I don t want any fighting. Kamla Wati:.I don t want any fighting. Let s all stay together in peace. Tammul Nisha:. we want things to be peaceful like it is now. Prahalad:.. I am a pundit and I am retired my message is that the elections to go in peace and whoever goes to vote may think twice before choosing their leader. Kamla Devi:.we want each and every one to stay in peace and love Narayani:. I want our little Fiji to be in peace. Let us help each other help the poor and encourage each other to move forward. Sriram: Peace is a good thing I am happy for the elections. Putting Human Security First in Labasa By Mere Moto & Sharon Bhagwan Rolls With the review of the Millennium Development Goals (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, develop a global partnership for development) we are part of a global campaign calling for a strong emphasis on human security (community, economic, environment, food, health, personal, political) to ensure that the needs and capacities of people and communities are taken into account development processes and priorities must be defined from the community level up, particularly to prevent conflict over resources. Since Fiji ratified CEDAW in 1995, women of Fiji have a political commitment to the rights enshrined in CEDAW which broadly cover all aspects of women s lives including political participation, health, education, employment, marriage, family relations and equality before the law and the specific rights of rural women. Whether it is the right to political participation, health, education, employment, marriage, family relations and equality before the law and rural women CEDAW provides an international benchmark to ensure women are supported to communicate their development priorities. In Labasa recently FemLINKPACIFIC s community media team spoke to women who had joined our 1325 network meeting. Putting Human Security First The Human Security Framework is closely linked to the articles of CEDAW ranging from economic and political security to access to Election TOK Special Edition, September

5 Election TOK Fiji services such as health and education. Take Mariana Delana a 25 year old woman. Having graduated from the FNU she is still without a job and living at home with her single mother. Human security for her is defined through economic opportunities in her community to support herself and help her family. While her family is benefitting from the state provisions of free bus fares and education subsidies and she feels positive about the return to parliamentary democracy especially if it brings more job opportunities for graduates: It is in lacking of income in my family, not enough food to feed my family, I feel insecure, says Melania Raitabe of Bulileka and Sovaia Sadrugu feels the same. Each woman struggles to provide nutritious food for their families and with the increase in food prices is not making it easy. Sovaia is a 28 year old single mum with the responsibility of looking after her parents and, three younger sisters still attending as well as her four year old son. Her father is the sole income earner in the family. In 1963 women gained the right to vote during the elections conducted between 17 April and 4 May. Mariana voted for the first time in 2006 and she was proud to know that her vote counted. Because she only lives 2.5km away from Labasa Town it was easy for her to access voter education and awareness programs and she also kept track of the campaigns and parties to ensure that she voted for one that will fulfill the needs of the nation. In 2014, Mariana sees that a lot has changed but her political priorities remain the same: The party or candidates that I would vote for to ensure that in years to come I would guaranteed a better life, free of corruption, free of fear and free of violence. As my life experience changes my priorities remain as it is says Mariana, For the September 2014 election I expect after the election well to have someone who is neutral with us someone who will listen to everyone not only men but women and children and people with disability as well and someone who is there for us. While there have been very few women who have contested and won in Fiji s national elections, Mariana feel there is a need to empower more women to stand in elections to raise concerns about women s issues. Sovaia also voted for the first time in 2006 but that is where the similarities end with Mariana. In her community of Bocalevu in Wailevu there was hardly any voter awareness or voter education so she had to rely on information from the radio or her friends. She even asked her parents and followed their choice in candidate has been different for her as she is seeing more awareness and voter education reaching her. Sovaia s choice will be for a party which brings an end to unemployment and listens to the voice of women. In Nadi: Political Security means Peace By Losena Derenalagi Nadi Convenor/Correspondent 15 rural women leaders came together at our Nadi network gathering ahead of the 2014 International Day of Peace sharing peace messages and observing a vigil for the safe release of our 45 peacekeepers. They shared peace messages and produced peace banners and reflected on the upcoming elections: Sereana Berwick: The importance of this election to me is that I could confirm to myself that I am going to have an elected government or a government which is elected by the people. My concern about voting on the 17th is that they should make sure the election is done properly Women should be elected because they have brighter minds and are very good in observations Sera Buka: This election determines what our future holds. I have been able to access voter information and training through workshops and from media. 3 development priorities I would like the elected government to address is to reduce the price of food- cost of living, education, health and drainage problem. This is important to young women in my community as they are jobless; rate of teenage pregnancies is rising. I think it is beneficial to vote for women because I believe they make better decisions and can also voice out women issues. Yashmin Khan: Being a mother of 5 children, I think it is very important to have this election so I can choose the right government for my children s future. I have hosted many candidates meeting and also attended trainings to work for elections. To my thinking, I just know that a good leader knows just the right wall to lean the ladder and I am eagerly waiting for the Election Day and hope everything turns out good. The 3 major priorities that I think any government should look into is the equal rights for women in all decision making or rather I should say gender equality, prices of goods on the important daily necessities of life, good and better medical services. It is obvious anything regarding gender equality reflects to all women, young or old because these young women are also going to be mothers and will be making decisions on their own. To my knowledge, women should be elected in the parliament as they are more concerned about the wellbeing of their families and the country and also women have proved to be better decision makers. Anesha Lata: This election is important because it will determine our future. I would vote for an honest leader, not selfish and well educated to understand and look after the people. I think women should be elected because they can understand other women s issues. One of the main concerns I have on the 17th is transportation. The polling station that we have been assigned to is not on a walking distance and I m worried because it is a public holiday and there won t be any buses. Anita Devi: This election is important for a better future, better governance and for our rights and concerns to be heard. One of my main concerns on the 17th, is that children will be at home since it ll be a public holiday and no one will be looking after them. Some of the qualities I would like to find in the future leaders are to be accountable and transparent, they should come down to grass root level and listen to the people s concerns. We should listen to all manifestoes before choosing who to vote for. Peace and Security is what we want in Nausori Reports by Polin Fong FemLINKPACIFIC Correspondent and Convenor, Nausori Peace and security for all was the message at the Nausori 1325 network meeting on September 10 when we commemorated the International Day of Peace bringing together 11 women leaders, young women and persons with disabilities from clubs and groups in Vuci Road, Waituri, Korciriciri, Nakaikoqo, Nausori and Naselai Villages. These are the women who want access to information with elections on September 17th and they are all committed to making their vote count. There is a need to have women in parliament, because women can ensure peace and stability. An interfaith peace vigil remembered the 45 Fijian peacekeepers held captive in the Middle East and prayers were also offered for a peaceful transition to parliamentary democracy We need leadership that will prioritizes food and nutrition security Whether it is the right to political participation, health, education, employment, marriage, family relations and equality before the law and rural women CEDAW provides an international benchmark to ensure women are supported to communicate their development priorities. Women gathered around the microphone to discuss the priorities they would like the incoming government to address. While food security emerged at 1996 World Food Summit; with the emphasis being on individuals enjoying food security and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), defines it as when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life for women across our network it is closely linked to having access to land as well as the affordability of food high in nutrition value: Food Security means to me we access to healthy food, having access to land where you can plant your backyard crops for own consumption says Vasemaca who is the secretary of the Vunivivi Methodist Womens Group. To provide healthy and good food to my family from my own garden agrees Teresia who is a member of the Catholic Womens League. And it is not just about affordability to buy but access to land and seeds to be able to provide household food security. Some family cannot afford to buy and they need land to plant which they don t have, says Bulu Ratu. We have to have access to land to plant our own and food has to be affordable if it is expensive then you won t be able to buy, adds Vasemaca Asenaca feels there is a simple solution to solve two problems What I think is plant a lot of food and buy less from supermarket. According to Bulu Ratu, too often the burden of food security is placed on the women and Teresia stresses that this is not just a role for women, but the family or community as a whole: I can see where I m staying I can see young man with young family doing their backyard gardening like planting cassava, dalo, small farming like cabbage, tomatoes around their area or in the small land they own, says Teresia This means investing time in planting and tending to the gardens everyday says Praveen the President of the Nakaikogo Mothers Club. Changes in the weather including the increasing devastating impacts of floods and cyclones means there is a need to better organise and prevent damage especially for communities who live in the delta area like Laisani the Coordinator of the Naselai Women s Group For me I stay near the river. I plant near the river too when floods come up it damage the crops. FemLINKPACIFIC s Women s Weather Watch campaign continues to advocate for the equal participation of women in decision making whether it is Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security programmes or Disaster Risk Reduction and this means ensuring there are specific programmes which not only recognise women s roles as producers and managers of household and community activities: Create more awareness on training and educating women in decision making so that this leader can train members in their own villages at their organization, says Lydia who as the President of the Catholic Womens League in Nausori knows too well. Looking ahead to the September 17 elections members of FemLINKPACIFIC s Nausori network have high expectations for the new members of parliament: I expect after the election well to have someone who is neutral with us someone will listen to everyone not only men but women and children and people with disability as well and someone who is there for us, says Vasemaca and Ashwin agrees: Our expectation is really high because we want someone to look for women and men equally and make our country a wonderful country. Meanwhile 63 year old Asenaca, the President of the Tikina Buretu Women s Group, feels the time is now for young women: I need young women to stand up for this election so that they can lead us. Community Leaders Take the Lead in Nausori FemLINKPACIFIC s rural network activities, particularly the monthly 1325 network meetings, rural women leaders in Nausori are being supported to step up and to move forward as leaders in their communities. There is also greater visibility of these leaders through women s networks as well as broader community level. Take for example Manjula Devi, the President of the Korociriciri Mothers Club who organised a voter education programme in collaboration with the Fiji Women s Rights Movement who explained her outreach is very simple: I walk around the community to inform all the residence to make sure that they show interest and make the effort to come, says Manjula. The voter education programme should involve at least 50 women and men: Opportunities like this should be taken up in all the communities as our valid votes will bring about the change we all want, she says Meanwhile a recent workshop focusing on ways to enhance the lives of people through community engagement and education, sport and healthy activity workshop discussed the importance of Promoting Positive attitudes, the inclusion spectrum as well as the benefits of sports for persons with disabilities. A main feature of the workshop was the sharing of real life experiences. The purpose of the workshop was to enable people including children with disabilities to play sports with abled bodied children and people and included a sit down volleyball game. Other sports organisations present included members of the Fiji National Sports Commission, Fiji Rugby Union as well as table tennis, cricket, football and swimming and it is now up to these organisations to see how they will involve persons with disabilities to be involved in their sports! Meanwhile women at the Nausori Market are looking forward to moving to the new Nausori Market Centre and amidst the excitement they also have to become familiar with the new bylaws something we are all interested in as this is more than about the opening and closing hours! Elections TOK: Nausori By Mere Moto As we approached the General Elections 53 Satya Mani of the Korociriciri Mothers Club was looking forward to having members of parliament represent her interest. So was 50 Vijay Laxmi because as Praveen Lata of Nakaiqoqo says Because our future can be changed by our vote Recently FemLINKPACIFIC s correspondent and convenor in Nausori, Po Lin Fong talked to women leaders from the Korociriciri, Nausori Village and Vunivivi, Monoca to talk to the women about the elections and to identify what women s expectations were as the country returns to parliamentary governance. These women represented the Korociriciri Mothers Club, Soqosoqo Vakamarama, Draumikita Group of Nakelo, Nakaikoqo Mothers Group, Manoca/Vunivi Community groups and Sheetal Sharda Club in Waituri. Elections mean a change for 39 year old Shalini Chand, the Secretary of Sheetal Sharda Mothers Club in Waituri: It is important for me as I am looking forward to vote and I want to see that there are some changes and I want to make a change she says. I want a leader who will encourage and empower, says 46 year old Savita Chand of Korociriciri Mothers Club. Vasemaca Ketewai who is the secretary of the Manoca/Vunivivi Election TOK Special Edition, September

6 Election TOK Fiji Community wants to be assured that education grants will continue. Ahead of the elections women like Leena Reddy of the Korociriciri Mothers Club would like to see more voter information before September 17 and she also expects the manifesto commitments to be implemented: What promises they make should be fulfilled. 54 year old Manjula Ram a member of the Korociriciri Mothers Club hopes that more women will be elected as well, despite the challenges: For me women understand women better so if they are elected they can address women issues and they can take to parliament and discuss that and bring it back to us. Leena Reddy feels that more women can be supported from her community to be active in political decision making, it all just requires some good old fashioned support: If we have educated women in our community we must encourage her so that we ladies can have our say Education, Health, Gender Equality and Job Creation are development priorities these women leaders need an incoming government to priorities in the 2015 national budget We need more workshops because most of the young women and mothers are not working says Atelaite Cakau 29, from Nausori Village. Living by the river she is also concerned by the increase in pollution and improvements to infrastructure. I want my village to be developed, says 63 Nanise Cakau also of Nausori Village. This means local level improvements such as drainage and infrastructure especially for school children, improvements to the education system as well as health services: We want our health services improved and since I m a health worker too we are really poor with our medicines into our village, health standards to be really improved. Focus on Rural Ra By Frances Tawake and Mere Moto It makes me count, to be able to decide who leads my country. It is my responsibility to choose my leader so that I am accountable to its strength or downfall, said 60 year old Salanieta Serukalou from the Methodist Womens Fellowship of Ra. Ladies in the rural areas face more problem because we don t have access to a lot of development opportunities says Chand Mati, The lack of information that comes to us is very limited and most of the time we are not included in a lot of opportunities. It was the second day of FemLINKPACIFIC s consultations and today Salanieta and Chandra were part of the 22 rural leaders representing a total of 1525 women from groups including the Red Cross, Methodist Women s Fellowship, Mataiwailevu, Rakiraki Mothers Sangam and Colasi Mothers Club came together with the focus once again being the upcoming elections: (the upcoming) elections gives an opportunity to the citizen of Fiji to choose and it also gives them a right to freedom, said Anita Kumar,46 of Colasi Womens Club. Maybe it has been the short time frame for the rollout of voter education that is making these women leaders also feel that despite the interest and anticipation to vote, there remained an information gap: We only see on TV, said 36 year old Saleshni Sen of Colasi Mothers Club suggesting there is a need to invest in more public outreach and inter-personal communication in addition to the use of mainstream media and flyers. As none of the leaders had been able to access voter education training as registered voters they would like great clarity on the counting process and allocation of seats: What if only 5 reach 5% can they run the government asked Salanieta Serukalou while 54 year old Kelera Ratu is apprehensive about the single day voting: Will they be able to finish the voting for only one day, she asked As women leaders, they also have key performance indicators for the incoming members of parliament. These include being wise, educated, a good decision maker, honest, understanding humble, hardworking, someone who will promote gender equality and be accountable to rural women: (give me) a government or leader who will advocate for and end violence towards women and girls says Kelera Ratu. I want someone who is intelligent, honest and listen to pleas of people in rural Fiji, says 26 year old Elenoa Nabeca of the Naivakanawa Youth Club. Rural youth like Elenoa and Taraivini Nakure need employment and this is one reason why they want more young women to value and use their vote on September 17th. All agreed they want to see women elected: Woman will stand for rights of other woman. Some man do stand for woman but not enough, one is not enough. And other woman can feel comfortable talking to a woman, man don t understand, said 40 year old Vikash Mala Singh Putting gender into development for these rural women would mean provision of water and electricity, improvements to roads and bridges, increasing economic opportunities including jobs: Water is the main problem. We use boreholes and plenty people use so all the time we have problem, says 50 year old Chand Mati, 50 a volunteer of the Fiji Red Cross Society in Nanuku which is 15km from Rakiraki Town. We have water but it is expensive and the meter is near the main road and far from the house. I have bought it up before and still waiting, adds 45 year old Seserina Naliku of Yaladro Community Club. An elected government she says will need to be supported by rural development councils which not just listen to women but have equal participation by women Through the Eyes of Women in Tavua By Frances Tawake and Mere Moto in Tavua I have the right to elect the government who will look after myself and the people that I represent. I am just concern on how will the disable community will be able to cast our vote. I m concern of how my brothers and sisters will be escorted or be guided on the booth. It would be nice if their guardian from home or the people they trust to be there. I m just wondering if the people who will be there to assist knows how to communicate in sign language or knows how to guide a blind. Disabled women face the challenge of participating because of their physical status. People judge us on how we look like but not what we can do, says 40 year old Unaisi Bakewa a member of the Fiji Disabled People s Federation in Tavua. A technical disruption to the scheduled community radio broadcast in Tavua today (5/8/14) did not hamper the spirits of Unaisi as one of the 29 women leaders representing 580 members who came together from clubs in Waikubukubu, Yasiyasi, Nadelei, Vatukoula, Tavualevu, Tagitagi, and Colasi as well as the DORCAS group. High on their discussion agenda was the participation of rural women in the upcoming elections: I want a fair government to lead us ahead, says Mereoni Maikeli 52 years from Nadelei who is a market vendor but concern is how they will be able to participate in the elections. Despite being able to access information through the current mass media campaign, in particular radio and television only 9 of the 29 women having had access to voter education, many remain concerned about the electoral changes: We need more training before the elections. We need more of that to come over to our doorstep, says 38 year old Titilia Kafoa of Vatukoula. Manu Devi summed it: We need training because we don t know anything about voting. What is also creating confusion is how accessible designated polling stations will be for communities who rely on public transport: There are people living in isolated areas that do not have transport as we are being urged that this is one day voting and I am concerned about how they will be travelling to the polling stations, says Adi Laite Savui from Waikubukubu and Manjula Devi agrees: Yes if we will not have any transport than how will we come for vote, we are living very far. All the women would like to see women elected: Woman know about woman. So in Parliament woman is there woman problems can be solved, says 68 Satya Wati but she is well aware of the obstacles women face including the fear of violence, lack of financial security: Violence prevents them from contributing and benefiting from because it limits their choice of ability to act and utilize their skills. Putting these challenges aside the women were keen to discuss the leadership qualities they are looking for in a member of parliament: Good leadership is helping people especially poor and old people, says 50 year old market vendor Asena Lewatai. Other qualities the women identified included a commitment to grassroots people, public service and someone who will abide with no race or gender discrimination. And the women want elected officials who after the elections will invest in their development priorities including roads, water, electricity, education, high cost of living, housing, accessibility for persons with disability. Rural Insights By Fane Lomani, Tavua - Convenor and Correspondent It is important to have women elected because women know the process of running the family; to have good family as her Priority, she can prioritize running a good government for the wellbeing of the Nation says Salote Naisei 19years of age from Nadelei Village. On August women, young women and students representing 793 women from Yasiyasi, Qalela, Tagitagi, Tavualevu Village, Toko, Nadelei Village, Vuqele, Vatukoula Back road, Vatukoula, Naitamusu, Balata, Natoalevu Village and Waikubukubu Village. These women travelled as far as 18-20km to attend to a community radio roundtable on the upcoming elections. Earlier in the month, we had found that only a few women had been able to access Voter Information and Training and still were facing difficulties on understanding the new voting system this was of greater concern for the elderly and persons living with disabilities. Development priorities our network members highlighted included: Access to Health Facilities and Health Services, Roads, Water, Social Welfare Assistance, Fair Distribution of Scholarships, More Job Opportunities for Graduates, Electricity, Transportation, etc. If Women can Lead in the home; why not in Parliament Women play major roles in the family, why can t they be given a chance to Lead says; Sainiana Adi 38years representing Tavualevu Womens Club. Sangeeta Devi 43 years old President of the United Multiracial Womens Club, said the elections were important to her as it will decide her future, and the future of this country: And we are looking forward to a better and peaceful country. The elected government ha(s) to be the right one to move us forward. Here are the Women: by Sharon Bhagwan Rolls & Mere Moto Ahead of the 17 September elections, FemLINKPACIFIC spoke to Sivia Qoro, Priscilla Singh, Monica Raghwan and Losena Salabula who had all previously contested parliamentary elections in Fiji. But in 2014 it was close to 8 years since the country voted and this time with a new Constitution, new electoral system, a single national constituency and for some a new political party. The full-length interviews will be available via podcast mixcloud.com/femlinkpacific.and on our You Tube channel Losena Salabula was a candidate for the Social Democratic Liberal Party. She had previously contested and won her seat in the 2001 and 2006 elections so after being overthrown by the December 2006 military coup, we wanted to know why she was intent on returning to politics and how different was it to campaign in 2014: For me the 2001 and 2006 General Elections from the campaign aspect of it, it was not very difficult it was easy because we were free to do whatever we wanted to do. We were able to publish our own flyers and posters without any restrictions on it and also the money that we raised was not restricted; we can get money from NGOs and friends from overseas and we do our own fundraising without having it to go, into the main party bank accounts. We were very free in our campaign in 2001 and 2006 whereas in 2014 there are so many restrictions we can t do our own things, you know, like the flyers and the posters; that has to be authorized by our General Secretary and we have to state who paid for all the publications we do and the restrictions on who to give us money. Salabula added that these obstacles were exacerbated by the fact that she had been unemployed for almost eight years: This is not an easy exercise to run with a very restricted amount of money. General Elections you want to stand and run for- run the campaign is a very expensive exercise you have to look at 10 to 20 grand. So with the financial burden why contest? This is a very important election for us in Fiji, we need to live in a country that is free, free of speech, we want a free life and we want a democratic elected government in the country and we need to work together on this and not many people, for example, in the SODELPA not many people was prepared to come out of their little shells when we first asked for interest who was, you know, for those who were interested in politics or to stand in SODELPA to come out and to apply. At first that was not successful and then later on people were applying and with us we were particularly interested in women, you know, to apply. We got about 3 or 4 women at the beginning and then we had to go headhunting. Until now we have about 9 to 10 women candidates in as nominees. We were interested to know how they were fairing with a single constituency and more importantly what was the strategy they were using to campaign: 2001 and 2006 elections we have constituencies so it s easy for us to organize our campaigns and it s easy for us to even to put down our campaign plans whereas in this one there is only one constituency and it s not easy. So what we have discussed that we have to have a base where we will able to campaign and we make the people feel the ownership of a candidate so that is what we have now that we are divided- we divided our own constituency amongst ourselves. So I will be taking up part of my old constituency the Laucala Open and that is where I will be campaigning. So I have already started visiting them and uh and I m not new to them because the two General Elections already and this is the third time, I find it a little bit easier to work with them because there is no need for me to tell them more about me and try to convince them to trust me. We have known each other, even my Indian communities, we have already established you know the friendship and the trust that they will vote for me in this General Elections. We wanted to know whether the campaign trail was also a voter education process. After all it had been almost 8 years since we had elections and there had also been limitations placed on organizing since the military coup. Did she feel voters were informed enough about the 2013 Constitution, the Electoral and other decrees? Election TOK Special Edition, September

7 Here are the Women A lot of them are wondering, you know why is this election like this and why there are so many restrictions and you know, it s very hard for even for them to hear about what we are doing and it s interesting that the people, on the ground, that they are very familiar with the situation, social situations eh? They can see the difference from 2006, 2001, 2006 and They said that in the papers over those 3 different times we see the papers publishing everything equally amongst the parties and, you know, then they said this time there s only one paper publishing something about. We have to strategize. We have to work out ourselves in a democratic way. So I always discourage them from thinking of civil disobedience. Salabula s sense of political activism is linked to her work with the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre: I have learnt a lot from the situations in Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, on how - even in the Philippines - on how the civilians have been, you know, they are the innocent victims of the activities of military and the politicians and I thought it will be a good idea if I join politics. We have to sit down, we have to dialogue that is very important and um all the time I always wonder about, you know, whether this will happen in Fiji and now I m just sitting in the middle of all this things and what I, you know, at times I end up in crying when I never dream that Fiji will reach this stage. Despite several offers to migrate she chose to stay: That is another reason or the very reason why I want to join politics to continue with this politics because I was told you can go to US, you can go to anywhere in New Zealand, Australia and you get your PR right away and you get all this and I said, no, I ll stay in Fiji and I ll fight the battle until the end, even if I have to die, I will stay here. We asked Salabula whether she thought peace-building is possible through politics: When people come to realize that there is no other way that we could solve the problems; there is a way out. We are Christians and we believe in peacebuilding. Remember that there was a Ministry of Reconciliation in the last SDL government. We tried to build peace and establish peaceful relationship with the- and unfortunately not many people were cooperating (supporting). What I certainly believe that there is a way out that we could do, you know, through peace-building in our country to bring us peace and democratic, you know, to lead us to democratic elections. There is unfinished work. You know that I am an indigenous Fijian and I stand for my people: the indigenous people. I interact well with different ethnic groups and my very feeling that if indigenous Fijians are not stable in what they want, you know, like- we don t- we just want the security of the land, the security of the qoliqoli and, you know, we claim that, that belongs to us; those belong to us and that does not mean, you know, you have lived here all your life, that we don t share that. Unfortunately, the differences in Fiji is only noticeable up here at political level. You remember that our government was pushed out because, was thrown out because of the qoliqoli bill and and I think that is our right, you know, to own our own qoliqoli, as I said, you know, our people we don t use it ourselves, we share it with everybody else in here. As long as we are the owners of the qoliqoli; that is all that we need. We don t discriminate. Salabula would like to see an increase in the number of women in politics: What I want to achieve is to see the increase in the number of women to join politics. I always encourage the young people to come in when we still have some older ones, you know like myself and our party leader, still around that we can share with them, you know, how we relate amongst ourselves and we relate with the older ones yeah and the younger ones. They will learn from us and we learn from them; it s a exchange of learning ideas and then I think that is why is, you know, I am here, as I said, to have more women to come in and also to have the young people to come while some older one are still around so we can exchange There is a big generation gap (in politics). Even the younger ones that are working and they have families and they think about the security of their families and it would be risky for them to come in to politics while they are still raising their young families. So the way I look at it, it will be quite a gap between us today and those that will come in, in the next general election which will be in the another 5 years time. Reflecting on her days in parliament Salabula says she felt that she persisted with the principles she has always worked to uphold: You have to make your stand (show) that you are a person of principle and stand by it all the time and you can influence the male-folks to support the issues that you want to raise; the women issues or you know women issues are cross cutting issues that need be supported by all of us regardless of gender. So I look at women issues as issues that develop the whole society. It s not just linked to or not only for the women because it s for all of us. As I said, you know, the male folks, they have a lot of respect for women, especially in both our cultures and they respect women more if they know that we are people of principle. And I think with me I have never been offended. Her experiences during the military takeover in 2006 did not deter her: You know that I was taken up to the military barrack. After (I was taken up to the army barrack) I just (kept) going (with) my normal life everyday. I thought it won t look good if I leave everything behind because I was in Parliament that time and I have to stay and answer questions if people ask why this happened and you know and I will have you know the courage to talk to the people because I did not want to go away I want to stay, when they suffer I suffer too so that was my belief and my thinking too. I know that were cut off with from our pension for 6 months I can t remember the year 6 months we had to live on whatever little money we still alive now. She agrees things did look positive following the High Court ruling in 2009: I was happy with the decision of the court, so that everybody in Fiji would know that coup is illegal. Coup is illegal; there is no two way about it which also have to teach the people if you have to change the government you have to wait until the ballot box that is the proper way to change it but to change it through the you know through the barrel of the gun is not the proper way. So that was one thing that I was very happy about when the decision was made the judgment made that the coup is illegal. According to Salabula the biggest obstacles to women s political participation in the Pacific include cultural and financial barriers: I think number one is the culture. Politics is like a male culture at any level and decision-making at village level, town council; say village level, is mostly male for a very long time. Only males they take part in that. Again that is culture. When it comes when we come to town councils and all level. Salabula believes that with great exposure through education, employment and participation in civil society more women are seeing themselves in political spaces: One thing with women with us women in the Pacific we focus more are on our families because in many cases when women were not in the workforce (they were dependent) on males to finance the whole family activities. And now the women of the Pacific are a bit exposed we know that we meet different women from different Pacific Island countries at some international meetings and that it has encouraged us to come back home and then we see that we have to join politics. We need finances in any elections and I think that is another one and also the exposure. We need to be exposed and our being exposed we need to be empowered, we need to participate in all political levels, at village level town councils and even national politics and regional, we have to be part of this regional fora. A women s caucus is key to sustaining women s political participation: I think is another way to sustain all this is to have a women s caucus within the parliament regardless of what political party you are in. We need to have a caucus and then we have to maintain these women caucus and we have to continue with it. And even empowerment, while you are in parliament is still needed and we need to have that. We asked Salabula about how women s civil society efforts could be linked better with the parliamentary process: I feel that there should be more interaction between the government and the NGOs.When I came in to work as an NGO person, we look at each other as enemies like rats and cats then when I made the decision to join politics I thought this is a better way we need to bring in NGOs to have more time to talk with the government people. There are issues that need to be shared with the parliamentarians that most of them they have no ideas about. This is my very personal experience. Salabula also has a message for young women: My message to the young women, they have to prepare themselves and to join politics to join politics and they have to - when I say they have to equip themselves well in all aspects of life and before they come finances they have to remember is one of the most important things they need to prepare themselves before they enter the politics but I encourage them to come in and join politics. In 2006 Monica Raghwan successfully contested the General Elections with the Fiji Labour Party and we met up with her again on the campaign trail and asked her to compare the two experiences: 2006 we were in a time of democracy put that way; very much a time of democracy and so everything was quite open. You didn t have the fear; you didn t have these decrees that ruled you- you did not have a constitution - a new constitution - you had one that had been through a couple of elections at that point in time. Now eight years later we ve all grown; we re eight years older In terms of the difference 2006 was one where I had close to about 20 days to work on my campaign and I was fortunate to have a good campaign team and they basically did most of the groundwork for me and my job was to make sure that I picked up the stuff, learnt everything got myself organised and was basically thrown into a lot of these, debates and interviews and things that I had not done before. So it was a time of learning but pretty quick; quick learning. This time around we re sort of running again with, you know, the minute our feet hit the ground we were running again. It s been a little bit different because just over two years ago the Public Emergency Regulation got lifted so prior to that we couldn t really meet Election TOK Special Edition, September

8 Here are the Women and have these meetings and you know discuss these things. So two and a half sort of odd years ago is when meetings started and that would have been with when we started the United Front for A Democratic Fiji. Parties began to sort of pull- members, supporters in. At that time it was slow, very slow moving. People were still frightened; they didn t know what to tell, what it meant to join or be seen or be seen for that matter with a political leaders. So it s been a bit of a journey. Raghwan also agreed that the new electoral system particularly with the single constituency approach required new strategies on the campaign trail: I think one of the first things you ll look at is Fiji as one constituency and then you ll look at, you ll look at where your groups are probably whether it s family groups, whether it s friends, whether it s any other groups that you re associated with. That would have been one way of looking at it and then figuring out whether you could reach out in a certain area or not and then as the numbers began to grow we realised that most of us had family or friends virtually all over Fiji. So while we can still reach out to these little groups it was wise to give us areas and so apart from my previous area which was Samabula- Tamavua Open last time I stood on the open. I ve also decided to take the Namosi- Navua range that area just going out and see what I can do, so that we can leave some of the easier and closer places to the newer candidates, because they need the assistance and help whereas some of us have had a little bit of experience so some of us can carry- shoulder that for the time being. On the campaign trail after eight years Monica Raghwan found herself not just engaging on a range of issues including the overall electoral process: We re able to engage on issues because they just want to know how to go out and vote; that s it. I don t think it interests many of the electoral about the process, they- all they want to know is how to go and vote. Generally when we go we speak about our manifesto. So I think people are aware that we are on a campaign trail and they do know that they are going hear from us and many of them have questions. They have seen the picture that s been painted, in the last eight years. There s been a lot of impositions on what we can say; what we can t There is also now a new generation of voters which requires a different method to be able to engage with them: There s been a bit of a difference because some of them come up very enthusiastic. Like we had a group, I think it was eight of them, just walked in through the door on a Saturday and just said, we want to come and support Labour and I was at a camp for youth which I do every year. So we made a time and when I came to speak to them most of them had ideas but (some) don t even know who to vote for, who to choose because the parties haven t been that visible in the last eight years. Raghwan chose to remain with the Fiji Labour Party because of the founding principles of the party: I believe in democracy and I think, basically, the fact that our country is made up of working class and whether it s employer or employee it comes to the same thing for me. So if you re going to have to make good decisions you need to have both. I ve been on both sides of the fence, if you like, I ve been an employee for many years still am. It s trying to come to a place where you have the rights. If we can influence that in the positions we are in a better way for both. Of course, being part of Labour the rights of our workers come in very much up front and the right of many people - not just workers - people generally. I have a passion, though, for a couple of things and one of them is environment. sustainable agriculture. Back in 2006 Raghwan embraced the responsibility of a Member of Parliament: I think the first thing I thought was I ve got so much to do now. You know, the thought of the responsibility at that point in time I think came in quite heavy. But it was like there s a lot of people counting on me so which meant I had to get my act all together. You look after your health. (discipline) I sleep early and I get up early. But also when you re in Parliament making sure that you read your material as they go around. So what I used to do - I used to tag everything; you know, everything that needed to be put aside, everything that needed worked on or handled or given to somebody, everything got tagged and would try and do most of the reading within that time and then try and finish whatever we had to do within that time, within the day. You see, we had several areas to look at - our electoral constituency work, our branch office work, we had the Parliamentary work, we had our party work to do. We had of course our personal life to balance off then of course we had all the other commitments that sort of come with being an MP. You needed to accede to questions, write, do our own research, speeches, et cetera. There s a whole range of things and of course the research; early morning you d go into the library and if you need things, you need to find (lucky there was a research unit, so you know they could do some of your research for you) and then I d put it together and so it does have a lot of, you know, it s not an easy task. Also having to decide which invites you (accept) Working on issues across the parliament floor was also important: and if there were something that we could all talk on, talk about we would do that. Not that we had a forum at that time but towards the end we had come up with that forum whereby all of the women MPs got together, including the women Senators and we were going to start that women s caucus. I think we must have had a couple of meetings on that and as for the men- I recall one of them coming and saying to me, so, you know Monica, there s only a few of you, you know there are women s issues, you ladies agree to something and pass it onto us and I m sure you ll have no problems. She dealt with the military coup of December 5th 2006 somewhat pragmatically noting that she was lucky she had her family business to fall back on however along the way she also recognised the potential for dialogue and there was a glimmer of hope as well in April 2009 although she was not surprised with the purported abrogation of the Constitution, however she felt a responsibility to remain in politics: Well look in 2006, when we stood up there was support and I had a responsibility. Whatever happened thereafter I still had a responsibility and even till today I just feel that I have a responsibility because I was chosen at that time and whether the 5 years were over or not I had engaged myself into political activity in Fiji; I had given my support for a party and I m at that age where I can continue. As she continues she is also mindful of the challenges women face to take a step into the political arena and that includes the legacy of coups dating back to 1987: I found that most of the time, even when we ve gone out looking for woman candidates; a lot of hesitation. It comes down to the women themselves; whether they want to or not. It d be nice if they did come forward. I think the word politics is played down as something that is not I think it over the years they see it as, you know, like a dirty word, like, you know, things go wrong, things, you know, you re in the public eye. They re looking at the atmosphere what s happening the environment and they re looking at it and saying, this is probably not the time and that to me doesn t come down to anything else, it comes down to a woman s choice and also whether the family would be able to support them at a time like this. I think, being a politician, the lifespan is quite different. The journey is very different; it depends how you take it, it depends you know which direction you decide to take it in. You can be complacent, you know, you can decide okay a term, a term is enough and I ll finish with one term and that s fine. Others may have a longer journey thinking that I need to achieve this during this time, this is what I d like to achieve. Well I think school area is one and the other area you ll find a lot of women who have retired, mainly from civil service I think. They usually have aspirations because they ve gone through the mill and they recognise things that can be done, they ve got experience behind them to see how government wheels and everything run. But to sustain it I think at the end of the day you need people who are really interested; if there is no interest, you can t sustain it. You need to get those women into Parliament who have those aspirations who have those visions who know what they re talking about. They need to come into Parliament you can t do anything from outside. The only reason why you go on the inside is to try and make the change or to make something happen, it can happen but it will happen slowly. And finally a word for young women: Finish school. You study, if you haven t been able to do well in a particular year, don t drop out. Go back repeat because no one is going to look after you apart from yourself at the end of the day. Get out there, educate yourself. Do well in life and dream. Dream and try and achieve them whichever area because the world s a big playground and there s lots of areas that we haven t actually explored. Don t get stuck in a box learn to respect one another as women and to men and children and I think women have lot to offer in terms of being resilient in so many ways. Explore but do well in of each one, you know you do well, find your ground. Priscilla Singh has been on the campaign trail with National Federation Party for more 20 years and we were interested to know how she first got involved with the National Federation Party: It started off with me being very active in the union movement (with the airlines). I received a call from none other than the Honorable Jai Ram Reddy because I was very involved with the NFP in its women s movement and I worked very closely with Chandra Reddy his wife who has been a mentor for many years until today. (so) I left the world of being in full paid employment and actually started volunteering for the NFP and eventually I was given a position and I worked under the leader of the opposition Justice Jai Ram Reddy for a good 6 months and one of the first things I was assigned to do was to look for women to stand in 1996,to identify women to stand in the local government elections and thus my journey began. I went from banks, to lawyers, to doctors, to business women, you know, you name it I went and approached many, many women, to participate in local government. To my dismay there weren t many but if you go back on the records 1996 was the year when most women stood and NFP women won. We had I think 8 women in different local governments all over the country and towards the end of the campaign for local government when I couldn t find too many women Mr. Reddy not asked me, he instructed me to stand. I was very reluctant at first because it was a new area not in the-not in terms of the understanding the issues but actually playing politics Election TOK Special Edition, September

9 Here are the Women and being in a male dominated space; that was a bit daunting and very challenging Singh is mindful that she was given the opportunity from an early age to learn about politics: I used to accompany my dad to the political meetings as a little girl and I used to accompany him to meetings and I would just sit there and listen and observe a lot of things. I think that that needs to be inculcated at a very early age; the fact that you need to be conscious of the people around you, it s not only about yourself. According to Singh, political insecurity and economic barriers are one of the biggest barriers for women s political participation: I think that is the biggest factor for women, you know, that the political arena is so unstable - it has been since 87 - that women don t think it s worth their time, their effort, their energy because they also look after the home-front remember, you know, they have responsibilities with children, with the elderly, with the extended family, so women, when it comes to weighing things up, they believe - they accept to a great degree that their role is really not in the public sphere. They agree with that themselves. How do you expect me as a young mother at the time to attend meetings, you know and be present in those meetings when I have a young family back home? Singh acknowledges the support of her husband Attar Singh throughout her political journey as well: I think it takes that kind of partnership and that kind of understanding from your spouse or your partner to be able to do this and understandably a lot of women don t get that kind of support so at the end of the day you re a woman, you still do your part in the home and that becomes quite a bit for women to handle. So they choose to say well you know we ll do our job then we ll go home and we ll be comfortable there. With close to a decade of experience in local government she made the decision to contest the 2006 parliamentary elections: My constituency was the Nasinu-Rewa Open. So that was from the Seven Miles bridge up to the Rewa Bridge on your right if you re going from Suva. So it was all of that area and it was huge. The experience was a good one, in that I didn t win the election but I actually learnt the ropes around national election campaigning and what was needed so that this time round I m well aware of what is needed at ground level and what I need to do, what strategies do I need to employ if I am to be successful has required a nationwide approach: It s a real challenge, it s a difficult journey if any one told you otherwise I d like to know what they re doing different because it is very challenging. You have to basically you have to go all over the country. It s a very difficult election but I think that the good thing about this election you know people all over the country, so you draw on those people and draw on those networks. So it is time consuming, it is difficult because you need resources; you need money for this. Whilst people do understand it takes a lot of time. So it s very time consuming trying to unpack all of that and to explain why you re party is doing some of the things that they re doing. So that takes close to an hour just explaining that to them and then you re going to give them question time; to ask you questions. That takes another half an hour. There s been a disconnection. Political parties were not allowed to go and meet with their people, their branches. We re reactivating those branches, were trying to get our message across. It s quite a process, it s a long process so you, you re sitting there and explaining things and by the time you ve finished you ve been there for about 3 hours and given the fact that it s a single constituency and you ve got to move around and explain to people taking how many hours is there in a day? You re effectively doing is say, in a day you re doing about at the most two to three meetings and that for me is quite difficult because as I m moving around the country, I m talking to women, I don t want to do you know, how they say you do just a superficial kind of campaign. I want women to understand; I want women to understand their role in the whole scheme of things how certain policies of the regime has affected them, why it has affected them that way and give them the opportunity to ask questions because I don t want to undermine the intelligence of our voters as well. Because they need to ask questions so it s very time consuming Singh is pleased with the representation of women within the National Federation Party for the elections, including as the President of the party: We have about 8 women contesting and they all have come with different expertise. The important thing is to recognize the fact that women, given the environment we re in, have come forward and to sustain that we will need support groups for them. We must form a pool of women that can come together every now and then prepare papers, do research bounce ideas off each other, brainstorming around important policy matters. If there s a Bill in parliament, you know, what are their thoughts around it? So we will need to have that cadre of women also because, having women in parliament is one thing but to have people support them with this kind of research, writing knowledge from different sectors is really, really essential I think. I was a young woman too, when I started 20 years ago. I simply chipped away at the block to say this will happen, eventually it will happen. It may not happen in my lifetime but you know I m going to pave the way forward but I don t expect others to think the way I am thinking but I think that when you ve come with a bit of experience it s easier in this arena. You ve been around, you ve seen the dynamics, you ve seen how men think and how they. As I said earlier I ve been in a male dominated space for 20 long years and I m now seeing results of that. I don t expect every woman to do that but that was my commitment to what I m doing and I believe that you ve just got to remain persistent, you know because some of these things take quite a while to change. You can t have a revolution and change it; it s evolutionary and it takes time. I see my 20 years as a very progressive journey. I wasn t stuck in one place. I progressed through the ranks I sit on the Management Board of the party and I also believe, as you said, that you need to work from within. You can t always effect change from the outside. You need to get into the existing system, try and change structures from within and that is what I have been able to do, I think, very successfully. Yes, temporary special measures is the way to go and I think that if I get into parliament that will be one of the first things that I will be pushing for because I want to see 50% of parliament being women. Singh has been an adviser on women in politics initiatives including as a focal point of the Asia-Pacific Women in Law and Development which has assisted in establishing the Pacific Women s Caucus: I think that once Pacific women realize that we are at 3 % and that all the empowerment, all the workshops, all the training that we have done has not really made any change. I think that we need to do start working at that regional level where women, who are in places of influence, come together and really make a concerted effort to put into effect all those documents that we ve signed over the years. Singh also reaffirms that there also needs to be an important link between women s NGOs and parliament: I think that women leaders in the NGOs should step up and come into the political arena because you are the one who are the most well-versed about what is really happening on the ground. We ll also have to decide what is political and what is not political because every time we talk about any issue regarding women s peace security, domestic violence - you name it, any issue - they want to engage with political parties but they say they re apolitical. So I think we really need to be able to discern where we re going to draw the line on this issue of how much do we want to engage with political parties because some of us, hopefully if we get in you don t even have to come to us. But I think that women in the NGOs will really have to start getting smarter about how they are going to engage with political parties and not only do it at the time of elections. I think there s got to be an ongoing mechanism of sorts where we if we get elected and form government - we are going to have this ongoing consultations with NGOs that there s just no question about whose going to come, whose not going to come. We should be able to identify which areas are needed and how we can draw on the expertise of the NGO community because it s huge the potential is just the expertise out there, the potential of young women is so huge out there that I think governments don t realize - and for people like us who have worked in the NGO sector we know that a wealth of knowledge is out there and policy making will be so much more effective if we had your input. It depends on who wins and who forms government. But I think that even if it was a conservative government and did not want to involve NGOs, NGOs will have to decide within the NGO coalition grouping on strategies as to how they want to engage with government. How do you bring young people in, educate them? If you go around the country, as I ve gone around, political awareness, political education is so badly needed and NGOs are the only ones I think - apart from government, you know state responsibility. I think it is also Non- Governmental Organizations, who handle political issues, you know, must start looking at how they are going to engage people for the next election and educate communities out there. Adi Sivia Qoro contested the 2006 elections as a member of the Fiji Labour Party but has been instrumental in the formation and leadership of the new People s Democratic Party: Basically in 2006 I was just a marked candidate and therefore I concentrated solely on my constituency and that s another aspect of it whereby now we have just one constituency for the whole of Fiji, whereas in 2006 one was given a constituency and you concentrate within that constituency. So in terms of the coverage and the depth of that coverage it was quite intensive whereas now Fiji as being one constituency you are now having you re required to appeal to a greater voting population, than would have compared to 2006 and therefore that makes a lot of difference. Now also the difference that I have is that I m now in a leadership position where the party is concerned and therefore in terms of having a leadership role and playing that leadership role one has to spread yourselves throughout the nation and that requires time, resources in terms of money and just the energy to be out there to be able to cover a wider geographical area as compared to the There is this kind of geographical, physical differences that one experiences. Now in terms of where the voting population is concerned I am - there is some difference but then again there is not that much difference I would say. When in terms of issues, I find in 2006 I had stood for an open seat and now you have one big open seat and therefore the approach to where our itaukei voting population is concerned, as compared to the those of our Indian brothers and sisters, that is something that is still - there s still a lot of differences there. I find from this campaign trail you still have to talk to people about the issues for them to have an appreciation and understanding of the issues that there are more so now with the 8 years gap or the 7 years gap that we have gone past and with the media being they are not being as free as they should be and therefore the issues that we need to talk to them about is some of them they are not aware of the issues. You really have to sit down and talk to them about the issues, linking the issues and also what it means for them when we have inflation and all this they hear about these big issues but what does it mean at the end of the day when you having to put food on the table for their children and shoes on the feet of their school children? Qoro was concerned with the lack of voter education especially processes were not finalized when they commenced voter outreach: And it appears in some of the places that we ve been to we have been told repeatedly that we are the first party that has come around. So we attempt, we make every effort to try at the end of raising the awareness on issues and how important their votes are, we also talk to them about how their vote matters and how their vote will be dealt with or counted towards you know when in terms of elections and who may be the winning candidate or party will be. In addition to addressing the lack of awareness with an eight year gap since the election there was also a need to kindle political interest: We are telling them it does matter and their decision through their ticks or through the crosses and the circles that they make, it does matter. At the end of the day the decision that they make does impact their lives quite substantially in terms of everyday living, in terms of just forward looking with were they re concerned and therefore they need to engage in this process. It does not mean what I ve always encouraged them that you really need to come on board, make that decision. We get the question what about if it happens again? I say, well we have to keep on making the statement that you know the integrity of democracy and what we believe in is what we need to continue to uphold no matter what. So in that particular respect, yes, there is still a lot - there is a lot of awareness raising, educating our voting population in terms of democracy itself, in terms of human rights itself. At the same time, we need to also talk to them about parliamentary democracy. Despite the military coup, Qoro sees politics as a calling: I have a passion for serving people and when you have a passion for something it just does not evaporate because something happens. I deeply believe in serving people and making a difference in people s lives, it s not a cliché, it s not something that you say to your press people. No. For me, I suppose in a way I m shaped by and conditioned by the environment that I grew up in. Both my parents as leaders, serving people is not something that you know, it s a job it s something that you know you re required to do. It s a long term vision that I had. And when the coup happened in 2006, there was some level of disappointment because with a multi-party cabinet it had a lot of potential, there was a lot of potential and for the first time the two races were brought together by choice it was through their choice that they elected the two major parties and according to the constitution they ve had to form a multi-party cabinet. So I think there was a lot of potential there and there was a lot of good that could have come out of it. Events have taken place and that derailed that whole system. As Qoro says she chose not to throw in the towel but re-emerged within Election TOK Special Edition, September

10 Here are the Women the leadership of the People s Democratic Party: There are a few fundamental principles that I believe in that is good governance, transparency, accountability. In fact, when I was interviewed as a candidate in 2006, I was asked the question whether I had because Labour Party was seen as in the majority being an Indian based party and I was asked the question that I had turned my back on the traditional system and the answer that I gave, I said no because first and foremost I m part of it so I cannot turn my back on something that I am intrinsically part of. However at the same time the answer, the response that I had to that question is that for every person that s out there, that s including the itaukei, they are - they would like to see transparency, accountability and good governance. So to me the party, the Labour Party stood for those principles. Now things have happened, it s not as true. The formation of the People s Democratic Party it s with the fundamental belief that these things people are still do aspire to. You know, they want - you ll see our manifesto it says that we want a clean government, we want a government that is accountable to the people, we want a government that s transparent, we want a government that comes and serves people and actually meet their needs. For me that s the drive, that s the passion that I have. We need to make a difference in people s lives. So the values and the core principles that I believe in continue, I believe I continue to maintain and sustain and it s now articulated through this new article. The political process must engage more women in to the decision-making process says Qoro: I mean since us (Fiji) ratifying CEDAW (in 1995) we still have not managed to get the 30% that we have what is it that s happening? We need to re-look at the structures, we need to look at the processes, we need to look at more women coming into the decision-making. Also you are just not tapping into that half of your productive capacity where human resource is concerned. So there is a definite need to increase the numbers of women to come into the decision-making and I heartily believe that. And let me just add because of that belief and because of that commitment towards gender equality where I m concerned and where members of the other parties are concerned, it is reflected in as far as our constitution is concerned. Now when you compare the other regional countries to where Fiji is concerned they don t have a strong political party base as we do. We have a very strong political party base and that s why maybe some of them are standing as independent candidates and do not see themselves aligning themselves to other parties. Where Fiji is concerned, I believe that there is because we have a strong party base system, there is a need to engage a lot more women but I think it s not only engaging women I think it s I believe the difference is engaging women at the decision-making level. When you have women at the decision-making level you know you re able to open the door wider than would otherwise be and therefore I believe that that s one factor that can actually increase or engage a lot more women to come in and participate at the political level. Now the other aspect of it is structural you know you have political parties that may not be aligned or necessarily be thinking along those lines and therefore there needs to be mechanisms put in place to open these doors wider. I think for me my and it comes from a real deep conviction, I see the other side of the coin is really where women are concerned seeing ourselves as very capable to be able to come in to the space, to engage in that space and to articulate those issues that we may want to articulate. I think that s where to me that s where I apply myself. I know we need to come into that space and engage. So I think that s where women need to cross that threshold and come in you know and see themselves as you know another very capable, potential candidate that there is. That you are able to come out and speak about the issues that is relevant not only to women but to the population as a whole to the whole nation. Local level governance is a valuable political space: I think one of the things, because there is a level of engagement at that level you know you need to engage women who are already community leaders to come in and be part of that process. I think it s that level of engagement and bringing them up to that level where they can see themselves as being able to make that difference. I think those are very fundamental things and everybody knows about it but it needs to be continued to be articulated but I think also its one of the entry points that can be very easy for women. But it s one of the entry points that s very hard to get to because of the attitudes and perceptions at that level you know it s quite stringent where women are concerned. So whilst you have on the one hand it s very close to where people are concerned, it s a decision-making level that s very close to where people are concerned but at the same time the access to that will be quite difficult because of that existing attitudes, the belief system and all that. You need to tackle it at a two-pronged level both at national but at the local government level but I would like to focus on the local government level because at the local government level the numbers in terms of just visibility. If you focus on women s participation at the local government level where the numbers are more and also might I add that there is also already enabling mechanisms at that local government level we are just not looking into it, we re not tapping [into] it, we are not using it. I would imagine it will be a natural transition therefore to the national level. So it s working on both sides, the structures, the mechanisms that there are but also working where women are concerned; that they need to be engaged, they need to come in and know they can participate in these decision-making levels. Advancing women in politics also requires a strategy to engage with men however she says there is also a need to continue to engage women to enter: We need to have them to be interested in terms of the political decisions that they make. I think there is this dichotomy where women think that politics is separate from other things and it s not you know every decision that we make has a politic I want to believe that every decision that we make has a political dimension too and therefore women need to know how important it is to engage at the political level just as they are engaging at other various other levels. One needs to look at the policy making processes, one needs to see the budgetary processes but I think also you know just focusing where the development part is concerned I think there is something here that I would really want to highlight that is about using our own people as mentors you know for other women candidates sometimes we need to build up this critical mass of people. We ve had a lot of women who ve gone through parliament, they ve had this experience, they ve won in terms of running for elections and there s a lot of experience to draw out of these women candidates but not only that let s not confine ourselves with where women candidates are concerned, let s step into how men have been successful. We tend to kind of think in here as we need to be thinking cross-boundaries; that there is also a lot of maybe benefits or lessons to be learnt where men is concerned. There may be some things that are not maybe good but let s pick up what the positive elements of it, let s pick up what is value added rather in terms of just trying to engage more women in to the political process. I think that s what we need to do, we need to value our own people, we need to get them to engage. Participation of young women requires several approaches including ensuring they are making the connections with their political awakening to make the connections, to remain engaged and to ensure the education system responds to these needs: I think also its looking at the whole context of it the whole dynamics of it we need to look at our education system, we need to look at how further training that can be done where the young women are concerned. Now the other part of it is again I see where women like you like me and others that are out there how do we mentor these young women coming up to be political leaders at the end of the day sooner or later one has to exist and the new ones are coming in? Now, who opens up that space for them, you know? People like us needs to open up that space for them, we need to engage them to come in and political parties need to engage that space for us, other organizations that are working in this area where gender equality is concerned need to start opening up that spaces. I think it s more than tangible the kind of impact that you make. You know this whole talk about you know engaging young women and it s not demonstrated by tangible activities out there; to me it s quite a concern and still is a concern. WHATS ON FemTALK 89FM Suva Morning WAVES from 7am on weekdays Rainbow Connections from 10am Monday Wednesday with the Haus of Kameleon and Oceania Pride Look at My Abilities from 10am on Thursdays Friday Forum from 11am to 2pm & 2-7pm FemTALK89FM Labasa On Air 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday Tune in to our Podcasts: Search: FemLINK Pacific on Mixcloud FemVID FemVids & on YouTube FemVIDs Catalogue: Watch FemLINKPACIFIC s Communicating Peace and Development: Her Stories TV programme: Communicating Human Security: Time for a Time Out: watch?v=uvjs6n-ppv4&feature=youtu.be A Tribute to Moushmi: watch?v=gzavafqxduw SOGI and Environment: watch?v=xhy12nob3qk Youth and UNISDR: watch?v=bvb2gx02hd0 International Day of the Family: youtube.com/watch?v=sjmid-jrw9i Mother s Day: watch?v=kw6atkiufsc Women and Health: watch?v=9dyso-3ojew & watch?v=1czhyyc2hcm Election TOK Special Edition, September

11 A Look Back at the 2006 Elections 29 women contested the 2006 elections in Fijis 7 as candidates for the National Alliance Party of Fiji, 7 as candidates for the Fiji Labour Party, 5 representing the Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua, 3 as candidates for the National Federation Party, 2 are candidates for the United People s Party, the Vanua Tako Lavo Party has a single female candidate and two women are contesting the elections as Independent candidates, and this includes sitting MP for the Suva Open constituency, Ofa Swann. Incumbent MPs of the SDL Government were Ro Teimumu Kepa, Nanise Vunisere Kasami Nagusuca, Adi Asenaca Caucau, and Losena Tabunavau Salabula. Fiji Labour Party stalwarts Lavenia Padarath and Akanisi Koroitamana were also keen to return to the mainstream of political decision making and also complete a full term as a Member of Parliament. Both women were held hostage as members of the People s Coalition Government when it was illegally deposed on May 19, They also have a chance to mentor two new contenders in Fiji s national politics arena, Monica Raghwan and Saniana Rokovucago. Pacific women s networks will recognize Sivia Qoro, the former SPC Pacific Women s Bureau chief in the FLP line up as well. Long time Suva City Councillor and then Vice President of the National Federation Party, Priscilla Singh is building on her experience in municipal politics to vye for a seat in National Parliament, together with Ro Miriama Cama who was contesting the national elections for a third time. The third NFP candidate in the west was Nadi s Sushila Rameshwar who was offering her years of experience as a teacher and contributions to the Nadi Community especially with rural and under-served women. The United People s Party had media/communications professional Bernadette Rounds Ganilau contesting in Suva while one of the 2 women who has ever served as a Mayor of a municipality in Fiji, Josephine Williams of Nadi is hoping that the contribution she made to Nadi Town during her two terms as Mayor will transform into votes for confidence for her potential to lead at national level. The formation of the National Alliance Party brought about a new team of women into the political arena. They include retired health professional Erini Saukelea and longtime community and social worker in Lautoka Rosemary Satanji alongside Fani Tago Vosaniveibuli Meet the sole female candidate of the Vanua Tako Lavo Party: Vilisite Qera Vilisite Qera s name will be familiar to anyone who has traveled along the Queens Highway in Fiji. You would have noticed that over the last 13 years her name has appeared on several local businesses a restaurant and now a boutique and Backpackers accommodation in Korolevu, and in the heart of Sigatoka town she operates a popular pit-stop for travelers including two milk-bars and a restaurant. Even though Qera only went as far as Class 8 in primary school, she has been acknowledged for her contributions to Fiji s economy through the Westpac Women in Business Awards. She is also involved in women s groups such as Soroptomist International and opens her heart and her doors every week to women who are looking for counseling advice and support. With her family support and her proven track record in her local community, Qera is hopeful that she is able to bring her years of experience in building her business network to the national decision making arena and the response to date has been very positive whether it is men in town or rural communities. With all she has done, with all she continues to learn and write about every day, Qera wants to be able to focus on improving the status of rural women in particular: What motivates me is working with women in the rural areas and what I can see is what they lack and what problems they are going through, what is missing in their daily life. If I can stretch my hand and help the rural women in Fiji. Many women, she says, work hard to earn a living for their children, yet they continue to struggle in Fiji society today, much of which is linked to the rapid change in society, from a subsistence way of living to adapting to a market driven economy which is putting a lot of pressure on families to conform to contemporary or modern Fiji society. She gives the example of people choosing to buy fast food for lunch or sliced bread rather than taking packed lunches to work or school or baking their own local bread. In fact, some of these problems can be addressed within the home, says Qera, to equip young people, in particular, with simple home-management skills, so that if they are unable to finish formal education, they can still manage their homes, plant food gardens and also set up and manage income generating projects for themselves: If they are busy at home and their parents keep them busy, the problems won t be as much as it is now. I can see the changes are coming very fast. People need to utilize whatever is around them. There are a lot of breadfruits, yams in the bush, there is a lot of tavioka that we can just plant and wait for 6 months for the tavioka to be matured and sold. There is not enough gardening around home to be able to keep our expenses low. We are not planting chillies, eggplants for the family in our backyard, we are not going prawning, and we are not going fishing, which is what we used to do. That is why she says, women are idle and not being encouraged to be productive even at the most micro-level, in the home: My advice is for women to look at their problems and to think about why they are having these problems, because they are thinking that their problems are too serious and not coming up with simple solutions. Qera s attitude is based on her own experience. After all, what started by selling roti parcels 17 years ago, is a flourishing business in the Nadroga Province: I set myself a very high goal, she said. This included setting and maintaining her family expenses and income through her business ventures I know one post cannot carry a house, I need to be able to put my home on 10 posts that is why I have created these businesses. I am doing all my family work and balancing it off, and I work well and communicate with my family at home. From human resource and daily financial management of several businesses, Qera is also making sure that she is transferring her knowledge onto the young Indo Fijian and indigenous women working in her restaurants: I work well with my staff and I debrief with them after work, we work together and everyone is happy because I look after their interests and they look after my interests, and that is how we have lasted all this time. As Qera hopes to join the next team of parliamentarians in Fiji, she is hopeful that the future of Fiji politics will use the family as a starting point for national development planning: This is where the future of our country is coming from and I think they should closely at the needs of every community, there is a need to balance macro and micro level development she says, If we don t find the balance there will be a bigger problem. We have to balance (development) with the (needs of both) the community and the foreign investors. Qera would also like to encourage more women in Fiji, to take a stand for their own political future, and that includes rural women as well: we need to find women in the rural areas so that we can have a big team of women; so we can work together to find other women. We need to work together to go out and help other women. To get more women into parliament, including fundraising for their campaign costs should start now, she says, and to also ensure that changes are made to include more women into all levels of decision making: We have to identify role models in the communities, train them to be able to participate. Women are saying yes. Independent Candidate: Ofa Swann Ofa Swann has been back home in Fiji for the last 17 years and during that time she has gone through her own personal and profession evolution, including entering the political arena. She first entered the political arena with the 1999 elections: One of the major motivations stems from the fact that I was a business woman and discovered that there were a lot of barriers where women were concerned and I felt that I could make it a lot easier for those that would follow me by removing those barriers and I found that the only way I could do that was to be in a decision making position, and if it had to be at a national level so be it. It was not easy making that decision in 1999 but it became a major turning point in her life: I needed to get back my identity, I spoke to my family and my friends and it was mixed reaction, especially in this culture, but deep down I felt and I believed that I could overcome any challenges and I went ahead with it. She has never looked back since, and this time she is actually contesting as an independent candidate because she feels let down by the parties she was previously associated with and cannot identify with the leadership offered by the political parties that are currently in the race, so Swann feels it is better for her to contest the elections on what she has been achieve as a member of parliament in the past five years: I did that for the last 7 years practically, being an independent, and in the opposition, where the men would communicate and do everything together, including the other independent member, and I was left out most of the time (but) it gave me the flexibility and the latitude to serve the people directly on whatever their needs were. This was a great learning experience as well for Swann who says that she observed that party politics prohibited a lot of the other members from doing what they were elected to do, which is to serve the people, rather than worry about all the party politics: I never hesitated, I just went directly to the person who could help me, help someone, and I usually went directly to the source the Minister, the CEO to fix the problem that my constituent members were having. Plus I also had my principles and my dignity to maintain, and integrity. This principle, in particular, says Swann are important to keep intact, whether you are a politician or business-person. Even though she has spent the last five years in opposition, Swann is proud of what she has been able to contribute to the nation: Law and Order is one of my major policy concerns, she says, and accordingly in February 2002 she introduced a private members bill to Parliament including the review of the Police Act, Industrial Association Act, Trade Unions Act and other associated legislation to enable the formation of a Fiji Police Union. The motion was passed into law in October 2003: In order to have law and order we need to look at the welfare of the men and women who are very special people. It is a special vocation. Swann also followed the Liquor Act provisions closely through questions and reminders: We got the old Liquor Act completely repealed, sure it s not exactly what we wanted but at least we have a Liquor Act that can be amended very easily now, rather than waiting another 40 years. She also worked towards the setting up of a register for information about each member so that they could register the assets of MPs. Swann also believes that Fiji s citizenship laws need to be amended to bring back Fiji Islanders who can assist in the reconstruction of the country s economy, in particular. Swann attributes a lot of her success in parliament to date, as well as her preparations for the current elections campaign to her business acumen and to the training and experience she gained through the 1999 UNIFEM supported Women in Politics training for women candidates: I am very well organized, very well planned, everything s in place. Instead of leaving things to the last two weeks before polling, I started at the end of February. I got my troops out there. We got the flyers out, the tee shirts, the buttons. Now what I am doing is visiting certain spots and I walk all the time and people are very receptive. In fact Swann has been overwhelmed with the support from people from all walks of life across the greater Suva community and outside her constituency as well. Certainly in this election, as with the elections in 2001, Swann is also mindful of the hurt and suffering that her colleagues from the People s Coalition Government experienced following the illegal overthrow of their government in 2000, and that such experiences also contribute to the fears that other women may have from joining the political process: I believe that some of the women were severely hurt by it, both emotionally and spiritually, and so they didn t think it was worth their while step forward, which is a pity. These issues will continue unless we take the challenge. We have to stand up and be counted (because) it is important as women because we are peace makers, and it is so important that we get out there into the forefront and not let the men overwhelm us with their rhetoric, their personalities and their logic, because we bring in a softer side! Even though Swann is contesting her constituency seat for the third time, and this time as an independent candidate, she recognizes the need for some form of affirmative action to enable more women to enter the House of Representatives, especially during this, Fiji s critical reconstruction period: I would agree only if it is for a short term. We have struggled and strived to get equal treatment from men, and there are a lot of us who have achieved that status, but I would support such initiatives, especially if it is for the short term and would bring more women into parliament, why not! Election TOK Special Edition, September

12 Here are the Women More than a Labour of Love: Fiji Labour Party s Koroitamana, Padarath, and Raghwan Akanisi Koroitamana hails from the beautiful island of Kadavu and has resided in Nadi for close to 30 years. She has been politically active for many years prior to venturing into the political arena in 1999 campaigning for the (original) Alliance Party and also the SVT: We used to follow the old people campaigning and one of the things that motivated me to stand for parliament was the fact that the people we had campaigned for got their seats, go into parliament (but) don t come back to the people who elected them. So after working for 20 years in a multiracial work environment at the Nadi Airport, she felt the time was right to stand for the elections and she won her seat the first time around. But the first time round, as a member of the People s Coalition Government, her term in parliament was short lived, but this has not deterred Koroitamana at all That was one of the things that has strengthened me, physically and mentally, seeing what happened in Sitting in parliament, being taken hostage for 37 days, there were four of us Adi Koila, La, Marieta and I. What motivates me is the pathetic situation of those who came to support what was wrong. And for me was a major issue for me to stand up and be counted and tell the people that they did the wrong thing by supporting the overthrow of a government. Family support has also been her trump card, she says: My husband and children have supported me wholeheartedly in what I am doing, supporting the women s issues, supporting politics, and they have been supportive all the way. This is the third time I am going to try to get into parliament and there has been no two ways about support, about finances, about everything. Koroitamana s association with the Fiji Labour Party goes back to her membership of the Fiji Public Service Association since the 1960s and she followed the Labour Party s formation following the impasse over the log-of claims in the 1980s. As a member of the People s Coalition Government after the 1999 elections, she says she enjoyed working with FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry: Because I know the work gets done immediately. Belonging to the FLP also means that Koroitamana is able to assure members of her constituency that she will be able to stay in touch, even though she has a large geographical area to cover: We have an office in Nadi, Ba and also Lautoka, and that is where we do our work. We have books that record all the problems of the people of your constituency. I will also provide access for them to reach me if they need me. Koroitamana s constituency covers a large urban based population living in housing settlements in Ba, Lautoka and Nadi, and so the FLP s position on poverty-related issues is very important: There is a lot of unemployment, with a lot of youths who have gone to high school and come home and have nothing to do. And in the process of growing up, turn to crime. I believe there are enough resources in this country to create things for our children, the men and the women who are going to take over from us. All it will take, she says, is a government with the right priorities. She uses the example of a micro finance project, which since the initial injection of funds of $25,000 of government funds in 1999 has now assisted 6500 women in the urban centres of western provinces of Ba and Nadroga: I totally believe that is what women should be doing because it has bridged the gap for a lot of families that were living in dire poverty. And to me seeing that, gives me enough courage to go again (because) there s a lot of things to be done, but it depends on who wants to stand. I am more determined now to go in and make a difference. As a result of the micro-finance scheme, $800,000 worth of savings has been realized by women who would never have otherwise had a chance to save money: The businesses range from back-packers accommodation, to small canteens at home, to carriers, to grog selling. The recipients include Indigenous and Indo Fijian women, mostly widows and single mothers who have started small tailoring businesses, operating from home, They have done tremendous work for their families through this programme. Micro-finance programmes, Koroitamana believes, given the current dissatisfaction with the social welfare benefits and also being a priority area for the National Women s Plan of Action, offers recipients an incentive to work, rather than expecting monetary or other handouts: All we need to ensure is that they have their savings, pay back their loan and the rest of the money they do whatever they like. To me, micro-finance works both ways. It gives them an incentive to be doing something and they can also put aside, save their money, and then come back for more when the need arises. If elected she hopes to put in place appropriate legislation to support these small business operators. Other areas where Koroitamana would like to see improved for women are improved access to housing, and improvements to infrastructure, provision of electricity and piped water: The next government really has to be able to get on their knees and do that. And I don t think that given the situation we have now, that we don t have a lot of money for that, but something has to give to get these things done to better the lives of people who really need help, and these include those in the indigenous community who have left their villages for a so-called better life in the urban centres. This means ensuring upgrading of homes in village communities, providing piped water, improving rural education: This has been one of the reasons given by people moving in from the maritime islands to the mainland to educate the children. If you upgrade the facilities we have in the villages, people will not migrate, because they have everything they need out there. As a candidate who has contested three general elections now, Koroitamana has learnt to manage her campaign expenses more efficiently. And being a regular candidate for this constituency means she is familiar to many of the voters, but she is not complacent: This is politics you don t take nothing for granted. You work hard, you go out where there are new voters and in everything you do you hope you will convince people to vote you in. Koroitamana attributes the professionalism of the women who were elected in 1999 to the Women in Politics training for female candidates: I feel the women were more focused on the issues rather than the men. I am not trying to belittle the men in anyway, but I think the women were more focused given the situation we faced. And the biggest problem we have in this country is to try and bring up women s issues to the same level playing field as the men. Sometimes it is not easily received but it is something you have to keep harping about because this is the 21st century and time has changed (so) if we are to achieve the same goals, we have to stand on the same level playing field. This means tackling the existing social barriers including those who downplay the role and contribution of women, especially for the benefit of the future generation: It is totally important that you stand up and be counted especially at a difficult time like this. There is also a need to move away from the politics of race: I certainly do not want to plant the seed of racial discrimination in my household, that s the message I am taking out that if we want to live together, live in harmony and live peacefully as a nation, we have to take away the racial cards. And does she feel that there is a need for affirmative action through an electoral reform which will enable more women to be represented in Parliament: I definitely think so, says Koroitamana. Monica Raghwan and Lavenia Padarath are more than political allies. While Raghwan, is a first time candidate in the national elections, although she contested the Suva City municipal elections last year, Padarath contested and won her seat in the 1999 national elections, but feels she has some unfinished business, because she was a cabinet minister of the deposed People s Coalition Government: It is a job, which I hope will encourage a lot of our women to come on board. We need more women and I hope that my presence will encourage more of our sisters and daughters to come into the political arena. Padarath has had to face her experience as a hostage during the May 2000 crisis in preparation for this election: It s very hard to take that off. But I believe we have gone through that and it s made me more determined and stronger as a person in trying to complete the job that we had left behind. According to Raghwan, one does have to muster up a lot of courage to enter politics when you are aware of the recent political history of Fiji: It not only takes a lot of courage with dignity to stand and want to go back and when you think about it (you realize) that it is a difficult thing to do, but the women have persevered and continued to stand, that alone is enough encouragement to make you think that if they can go through it then we have to stand up and be counted. They went through that but they are fighting for something that they believe in and so I think I need to stand up and be counted (as well)! While Padarath became involved with the Labour Party as an advocate for women workers rights and the poor through her involvement with the Fiji Nursing Association, Raghwan went on-line and did her research on the internet to help her decide which party to stand for: The thing that struck me was the constant factor. They had been so constant with everything since they established themselves, apart from having a proven record, people have stuck by. They have advocated looking after people, the compassionate factor was there. I believe in getting the work done and I saw that, says Raghwan, who also attributes her father s encouragement as critical support. Raghwan hopes to be able to appeal to the 9000 women voters registered in her constituency, who she believes deserve the commitments the FLP has made in its manifesto in particular addressing violence against women and children and ensuring equal pay for women workers: One of the things that really struck me was the need to improve the facilities and support for women s health. We are talking about reproductive health including mammography, pap smear, ante and post natal care and teenage pregnancies. To me this is an important area when we are looking at the manifesto and the people. She also makes mention of the need to improve water supply especially to the growing urban community in the capital city. Padarath, who is a former Minister for Women and Social Welfare, believes that social welfare assistance needs to target the Suva-Nausori corridor, which houses close to 100,000 squatters, the highest number in Fiji: As Minister for Social Welfare, I was immediately able to change the Family Assistance allowance, which had remained at the same minimal rate during the 7 year term of the SVT government, but it has not changed (since 2000). We would like to see that changed for the 23,000 people who are currently being paid this allowance. So a priority for my constituency would be to raise the standard of living in this area. They need to be able to have a piece of land, affordable housing and that s what Labour intends to do. The poor and the vulnerable have suffered in the last five years, she adds. The $1 million allocation to the Squatter Resettlement Unit is peanuts she says, We want to be a caring and just government. But is there enough money in the government kitty to improve social welfare benefits for the growing number of single mothers, an increasing number of pensioners, as well as take care of the squatters and other displaced communities, Padarath believes there is, it will just require more prudent financial management: It is the political will of any government, if they really care for the people they will find money, citing the ongoing water problems in the greater Suva area, I don t believe it should have taken five years to improve the water system. If they really and truly want to help the poor and disadvantaged they will go out and find money so that everyone s life is improved. Raghwan also believes that the next government needs to be pay attention to both the macro and the micro needs, and priority, she says, must be on providing people, no matter whom they are and where they live, with affordable access to land and housing. The land policy needs to be more enabling to provide permanent homes for the number of squatters, the number of whom has doubled in the last 5 years: The land and resource owners have to be first supported by the state. There is no reason for the resource owners to be poor, says Padarath, And they cannot lift their standard of living unless they are genuinely helped by the state. She says that the Labour Party s proposed Land Use Commission can provide the solution to the current land impasse, (it is about) assisting the land owners for proper utilization and prudent management of the land, assisted by government so that they can upgrade their standard of living and that way we can also help the rural areas. As a health professional, Padarath would also like to see an improvement to the way health sector utilizes its annual budget: You have to ask where does all the money go? It is no use building more health centres, who is going to staff them? Then they pick from the already scarce staffing to go and man those that is why the standard is going down. The nurses and the doctors are over-worked. They are looking for greener pastures, they are going away. The first step to improving the health sector is by addressing the needs of the health care professionals in order to ensure greater retention of the more experienced staff. A caring government says Padarath must take care of 50% of its country s population, women: Improve the reproductive health services to women. Improve early detection to spend less on the curative, so we save. The new Government Pharmacy also needs to better coordinate the procurement and distribution of medical supplies. She wonders also the impact of the Health Sector reform which has been underway for more than 5 years: If they were effective we should be seeing improvement, not deterioration. Fiji s agro-based economy, says Raghwan, could be more efficient and productive with a new culture of farming, and that starts with providing farmers with the management skills to maximize and diversify their yield. Encouraging a public and private sector partnership could also assist in the transition from subsistence to market driven farming methods. Young people, in particular, say Raghwan and Padarath need Election TOK Special Edition, September

13 Here are the Women to be motivated out of the current hand out mentality syndrome, and be trained to also become more productive and self-reliant. As two of the 7 female candidates contesting the 2006 General Elections on a Labour Party ticket, both Raghwan and Padarath would like to see a more enabling environment for women s participation in the political action, such as training for potential candidates, a strong women s caucus to support the women who do get elected and the introduction of affirmative action measures in a reformed electoral system to encourage a better representation by women in parliament: Us women, we ve got to be more proactive, we ve got to be more committed, says Padarath, I know there are a lot of women who would come forward but are limited by finance. And I know that if there was a pool (of funds) that women could easily tap into that would help a lot of women. New Alliance brings New Women into Political Arena Rosemary Satanji and Anaseini Henry are candidates for the National Alliance Party in Fiji s second city, Lautoka. Satanji who initially hails from Suva has been a social worker for more than 20 years Lautoka including working for the Sugar Festival Committee and the Farmers Carnival, women s clubs and Nari Sabha as well as art and culture programmes. Henry, originally from Tonga is a business woman, running the Westward Restaurant and Bar, where Satanji joins her to coordinate their campaign. It was her proven track record in the community that saw members of her local community to encourage Satanji to contest the elections: They feel that right now they are not heard and so they chose me to stand and to make my way to carry their words to the public, especially for Indo-Fijian women in her constituency, she says, as they feel underrepresented in Parliament. Henry believes that with her business skills, she could encourage more women in Fiji to be self-sufficient, Because we can t just depend on our husbands, we need to work together as a team to help our children. Satanji was drawn to the NAP because as she is of mixed heritage (her mother was indigenous Fijian and her father was Indo-Fijian) and so this a way to continue her family support of the Alliance Party and for Henry, it is as simple as being able to trust the Party leader, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, and so both candidates personal manifestoes strongly reflect the overall party manifesto: It comes from what I see every day, says Satanji, We see the youth on the street, not working, youth fighting with others, youth stealing, and that is why I believe we need to provide assistance to the youth so that they can work and not have any fighting or stealing. Poverty is a heart-wrenching concern for Satanji: People cry when we go to their house, they feel ashamed to invite me inside, because they feel bad about where I have to sit. But I sit on the floor and talk to them. They have no mats and so they bring a sheet to lay on the floor. That is also why I feel we need to do something for our country. I also know a family who live close to the Lautoka rubbish dump, they are living on the food and clothes from the dump. Whenever the rubbish is dumped there, they run over and get whatever they can, food and clothes. There are two or three families. Satanji also would like to see more women drawn into the government sector: because women are the pillars of society, and are the ones who can bring peace to the country, so I would like to see as many women as possible to get involved in politics, that would be better for the country. Henry agrees and stresses that she would like to see more assistance to single mums and the rising unemployment because of the closure of garment factories: It touches my heart and I feel for them, that is why I spend my time and money for others, because it is very hard for a woman to see her children without food. Campaigning has been hard work for both the women, but working in partnership has made things easier: It is quite an experience, says Satanji who is also the Secretary of the NAP Lautoka branch: We are fundraising, we are making phone calls and we are going out and visiting people. But I am so happy that the people have been ready for us. So far, so good. And while Henry equates their efforts to date with the role of the worker ant storing resources for a rainy day, she says the depressed economy in Lautoka has made fundraising hard: It is a very hard time. People have no money, and we can t go and ask them for money. But despite the challenges both candidates would like to encourage more women to consider taking up a role in national politics: Please come along, we are here for you, says Satanji, and Henry agrees, as she reminds us of the need to follow the light, they after all, are leading the way for women in the western division. Erini Saukelea is one of the 9 women candidates contesting the 2006 General Elections under the banner of the National Alliance Party. She is a retired senior health sister nurse and she is hoping to bring her 30 years of experience in community nursing to national parliament: I have a lot of time for the community. I see there is a lot of need for the community to develop especially on women s issues. I work with women every day and I know that I can do much more. Going into parliament, we will have much broader responsibility and be much more empowered to serve in the community. Politics has been a point of discussion amongst her family members for the last few years, but it was not until last year that she seriously began to consider running for politics: My family and extended family decided that it was time for me to go in and stand for the elections. With strong family support, she is not deterred even by thoughts of risk to her own personal security and safety, after all it was only 6 years ago that a democratically elected government was overthrown and members of parliament, including women were detained as hostages: It was in the back of my mind because things have gone that way and I am prepared if something like that happens. But I think it was really wrong when we had that upheaval in 2000, it shouldn t have happened that way. It is the people who should change their outlook, and it is us, those who are educated, to educate people to think along multiracial lines. Saukelea is a committed multi-racialist which is why she has chosen to join the National Alliance Party: Throughout my life, my work and community life I have always been on the side of multiracialism, I like to work with other races. We have a manifesto which is unique especially when it comes to multiracialism. While the NAPF has an inclusive manifesto, she says, addressing the needs of all races in Fiji, she is also keen to see the support for all women of Fiji come to fruition, especially to overcome current problems at the community level which impede women s full participation in all aspects of life: The issue I really support is to support women in all walks of life and (address) the problems they have in their own community. Women s health, children s education. And we have a manifesto that is not racial, it is for everybody. And that is what I would like to do. Women and their families, she says, need support in educating their children, and Saukelea would like to see a country where all children have the opportunity to excel and succeed in their studies, whether it is formal or non-formal training: To be able to get work. Women s health, she says, is also an under-resourced sector, which needs to be more responsive at the community level: (right now) we wait for the people to come to the hospital but we should go down and get the sick from home, through a good ambulance scheme. The health sector should also improve the skills of the medical profession so that more people can afford to receive specialist care in Fiji: The working class have money, their provident fund, but what about those in the community who don t have any sort of income they can use to send their relatives overseas to receive medical treatment. Saukelea believes that the NAPF can deliver on their promises for improved services because it has already developed a budget for social welfare services, including health care, through appropriate taxation measures, and a review of the current budget of the Ministry of Health to improve the delivery of its services including medical supplies to the people: Yes there has been a lot of talk about drugs wherever I have been in the community and the number of community health workers, nurses and doctors. Looking at women s participation in decision making at all levels of Fiji society, Saukelea recognizes several of the existing barriers to women and young women: I think that women have to be more assertive and show that they are able to do things. Women cannot be silent any longer. Women, she says, should not be deterred from actively participating in national development, because there are no real cultural barriers which should deter women from having their say: I am a Fijian woman and I know my tradition. Gone are the days when we should look at women like that. The community should let them have their views heard, and get what we want done. So does Saukelea feel that there is a need for a review of the electoral system to enable more women to get into parliament: I would like to support affirmative action for women. The National Alliance Party would have liked to have 50% of the seats we are vying for to be taken up by women. Women should be given affirmative action and given a better chance to come up the ladder while the men are equal to us. I hope that the next government looks into this very seriously the equality of women. Meet the women of the National Federation Party: With her track record in the Nadi Community, it is no wonder that this retired school teacher, and active community worker, Sushila Rameshwar is ready to take her place in national parliament, and it would a natural place to culminate years of service, which was encouraged by her late husband, and mother in law as well! I have been helping my community for several years and I know that I can take my community s voice to parliament, so I thought I had better stand and bring my community s issues up to national level so that we can help them in a greater way. You just have to organize yourself, she says, when asked how she managed to juggle so many responsibilities, I wake up very early in the morning and get all my housework done by 8am, so that I can go out and get things done. It is all about time management. For Rameshwar, NFP is a moderate party and a party with a rich political history: The NFP has done so much for the people of Fiji, and so she had no hesitation to join the party, in order to address the bread and butter issues and concerns of her constituency, as she cites the rising cost of living: If I get into parliament I will monitor these issues very closely; we have to look after the very poor people living in our country first, she says, We also have to create employment for women who were previously employed in garment factories, because at least they were able to take $10 or $20 extra home. Many of the growing problems reach Rameshwar at her home, where she has an open-door policy for anyone seeking her help and so she is very aware of the growing social problems over the last five years, especially as the result of unemployment, which has meant less opportunity for women to reach their full potential to contribute to their family. There is also a need to improve the service at the Nadi Hospital: That is my first priority, to see that the Nadi Hospital gets more doctors and proper medical and pharmaceutical supplies. The health of all citizens of Fiji should be a top priority for any government, she says, especially for the poor who cannot afford private health care, If I get in, I would like to see that the hospital services are A1, the Social Welfare Department service is improved. I know and I can feel for the way the women are suffering, we have to secure a social welfare system that will help everyone. If we get rid of poverty then our country will be standing where it should be. And finally Rameshwar would like to encourage women to claim their political power: Don t think you are powerless, you have to ask for your right. Motivate yourself, and yes, she agrees men, especially those in political parties, need to also ensure a more enabling environment for women in politics! Election TOK Special Edition, September

14 Here are the Women You could rightly refer to Priscilla Singh as a veteran of politics. The Vice President of the National Federation Party has already served a total of seven years in the Suva City Council and has been actively engaged in the women in politics movement in Fiji since the mid-nineties and through the encouragement of many women, this proud member of the NFP agreed to contest the 2006 national elections: I hope to bring a difference to women s lives if I win this election, she says. Ro Miriama Cama is contesting the national elections for a third time, but this time under the banner of the NFP because she feels that the party offers the multiracial approach which could assist in solving the current land politics impasse, and this former civil servant would also like to offer alternatives to improving the status of women, by working with the NFP: A lot has been said about unity and I really wanted to show it in my action. Singh the stalwart of the NFP believes also in the steadfastness and commitment of the NFP to continue to serve Fiji society, even though they have not served in parliament since the 1999 elections: We believe in consistency and that is the reason why I would not go to any other party. Dialogue and partnership, says Cama, is the way forward for Fiji, while Singh believes that the NFP also offers solutions on housing, unemployment and providing the basic needs of all citizens in Fiji: We have key issues in our manifesto and it will embrace all these issues because as Miri says the land issue, which is the key issue for this country, once that is resolved, we will have everything else flowing from it. Singh is also very concerned about the growing squatter population: I have been talking to women and women have been crying their hearts out to me, how difficult they are finding things, whether it is housing, employment, getting money for school fees, making ends meet. Both Cama and Singh that it is financially possible to make ends meet for the families of Fiji even though the NFP has calculated the need for $120 million more to implement the much needed changes: We will look at the (national) budget and prioritizing issues, says Singh, I think the basic issues of water, electricity and housing need to take priority over everything else. But the basic needs must be fulfilled and we have the will to do it. The status of single mothers also need to be addressed, say Singh and Cama, and according to Singh, the fact that many political parties or governments have embraced the gender-dimensions of all issues shows that there is a serious need for gender-sensitizing political parties and their leaders: Every party must accept that as they are male dominated parties they cannot truly understand the issues as they affect women. Gender sensitizing male leaders, she says, would also pave the way to opening up the public discussion and debate and therefore solutions to many of the so called taboo subjects such as sex education and unwanted pregnancies, Then they will attach more importance to these issues because they will then understand our concerns better. Cama and Singh both salute the efforts of Fiji s women s movement and civil society groups who are tackling many of the social and economic problems affecting women and children and the more marginalized in society: I have come across so many industrious women, says Singh, and the saddest thing is that they are not given the recognition for the work that they do. Women (out there) can make Fiji into a beautiful country. They are doing so much, sending children to school, housing the poor, building the temples, cleaning the environment, she says and so what needs to be done is to ensure more government departments are aware of these groups so that better partnerships and support can be offered to those benefit from these initiatives. As Cama and Singh consider the way forward for women in politics in Fiji, they both agree of the need for more women to be supportive of women who are keen to enter politics and other decision making positions. Cama, in particular feels there is a comfortable complacency within the urban centres, in particular, this reality is quite depressing, she admits, and reiterates the need for better partnerships amongst women s groups to consolidate gender equality efforts, although she is very positive about the collective efforts by the NFP candidates team in Suva who have worked together to support each. And for Singh, while this is not the first time to participate in a political campaign, she is proud of her constituency support, and while she is thick skinned she moves on regardless of any criticism, is grateful of the training she received in 1996 through the Women in Politics project that has enabled her to tackle the fundamentals of election campaigning. Ultimately, both women would like to encourage more women to not only join the NFP, but to also consider taking on a greater role in political decision making: So that in the next five years, come the next elections, we will have more women contesting the elections with our party, says Singh, I think women must join hands and form a women s caucus so that our voices can be heard. Bernadette and Josephine are United for Change: Bernadette Rounds Ganilau of Suva (left) and Josephine Raikuna Williams of Nadi (right) are well known for their contributions to Fiji. Williams is one of the two women to have ever been elected Mayor of a municipality (the other was Maureen Wright of Lautoka) while Rounds- Ganilau is renowned for her work in the media and NGO groups, and today both are committed members of the United People s Party, hoping to represent the views of the minority communities of Fiji in Parliament. While both continue to lead very fulfilling lives, they are prepared to take a step forward to articulate the needs of the broader community: I think a lot of our women at the community level are moderate women whose goal in life is to feed, clothe and educate their children, and provide them with some security, says Rounds-Ganilau as she speaks of her journey into politics. Williams continues to serve on the Nadi Hospital Board and volunteer her time to several community groups and charities: I work passionately for the poor and I would like to speak up for the people who cannot speak up for themselves. We need housing, for the poor, desperately, she adds, There are too many mud-floors, and in this day and age, everyone should be living in a comfortable standard. Both women are also motivated by the efforts to date by their party leader, Mick Beddoes, who not only led the opposition for 2 years but who also dedicated a considerable amount of his time to meet the members of the general elector community across Fiji: I was very impressed and pleased that he spoke up, no matter what happened, says Rounds-Ganilau, I am (also)seeing how the civil society and NGOs are building this country with limited assistance from government (especially) the women who are silently working she says who hopes to emulate the UPP s efforts to date in getting to the heart of the people. The UPP manifesto, both women agree, make realistic promises to the people of Fiji, especially to ensure peace and security for all communities in Fiji: Law and order, justice for everyone, transparency, accountability, together with the other issues such as unemployment, education, health, we are also focused on ensuring that our discussions are friendly and good with the army and police, says Rounds-Ganilau, We would like to right size the budget, she adds as she refers to the need to improve delivery of health services, medical supplies and education to the citizens of Fiji: We are looking at things through the eyes of the people. Key target groups include both unemployed youth and retirees, We have to plough it right back to the people again. We have to account for the money that we put into government. The UPP s policy on poverty alleviation, says Williams, she is quite sure there can be change for poorer members of Fiji society: People are coming in from the villages and the squatter problem can be addressed if we reduce the amount of money we spend on imported goods. More money could be invested in rural improvements to curb the ruralurban drift, especially to encourage young people to remain in their communities and be engaged in agriculture, It would be more attractive for them to stay in their villages if they can foster their own business in the village. National security, stability and unity are top priorities, as well she says are key national priorities. With her experience in media and communications, Rounds-Ganilau agrees for the need to improve information and communication systems for rural communities: I have been to places where I cannot hear radio. We have to be really inclusive because I am finding that as I travel to some of these remote communities where people have received computers but they have no electricity or telephone lines to be connected. So we really need to connect the island up. Communication in every corner of this island is the only way to listen, to hear, to feedback and to interact with our friends, neighbours and families around the islands of Fiji. Williams, like Rounds-Ganilau, would like to see more women in parliament: We are natural nurturers so why not nurture out nation, she says, while Rounds- Ganilau agrees, affirmative action to improve the number for women in parliament in the short term is a strategy worth considering. A publication of femlinkpacific, The operators of femtalk 89FM Fiji and the Pacific s first mobile women s suitcase radio station. Edition The is a quarterly publication of FemLINKPACIFIC Network Coordination: Sushil Patel, Frances Tawake Cartoonist: Sian JAB Rolls Convenors & Correspondents: Fane Lomani Boseiwaqa (Tavua/ Rakiraki), Losana Derenalagi & Litiana Naileqe (Nadi), Polin Fong (Nausori), Adi Vasulevu, Lucille Chute, Rusila Lautiki (Labasa) Design/Layout: Albert Rolls Publisher/Executive Director FemLINKPACIFIC: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls This publication has been produced with the assistance of the German Women s World Day of Prayer, Global Fund for Women, GPPAC, International Women s Development Agency and the UNDP Pacific Centre, DFAT / Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FemLINKPACIFIC and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of these development partners. Election TOK Special Edition, September