Informal Settlements Upgrading and Network Building in Fiji: Community Empowerment Workshop

Hugo and I joined Semiti of the PCN and spent today at Lautoka city in the north-west of Viti Levu, participating in the empowerment workshops that the PCN is running in Fiji’s squatter communities. These empowerment workshops run for three weeks, and each workshop includes three or four nearby settlements. This workshop started on Monday of this week so we have the chance to be part of this process from near the beginning. It is based in the coastal community of Navutu, and includes neighbouring settlements Nasawata, Nasinu and Taiperia. These communities are all at risk of eviction at the moment as the land they live on is desired by industrial companies.

Lautoka, which has a population over 50,000, is otherwise known as ‘sugar city’ due to the predominance of sugar cane farming in this area. The people who originally settled in the coastal squatter communities involved in this workshop were Solomoni labourers for the CSR (cane sugar refinery). Today there are still descendants of these settlers living on the land (that was given to them to build their houses on during the times of CSR), as well as native Fijians. Many present day dwellers in these squatter communities work in the local industries of sugar cane and timber.

After a formal welcome to the community and the process, we joined in an activity in the empowerment workshop where groups from the settlements planned their dream community. A large piece of mdf/masonite board was supplied to each group, and then it was up to the members how they would map their dream community. The groups had already worked to identify the things they wanted in their community, and this was a chance to physically put them together. Materials found in the community were used to make the maps; including sand, leaves, cardboard from empty packaging, twigs, and plastic. The three maps produced gave a great sense of pride to their creators, and much discussion about where and how the dream communities should be organised was had in the groups during the process.

In the last thirty years about twenty metres of land has been eroded by the sea from these coastal communities, therefore a seawall is a clear priority to community members. Some more of the aspects identified by the communities as part of their dream communities were: a kindergarten, a community hall, a dispensary, a police post, park benches beside the seawall, a playground, netball court, handicraft store, place to buy and sell fish caught in the community, a greater number of houses to allow families to grow but stay in the community. These are just a few of the many ideas proposed and mapped by the communities in this activity. The people already have plenty of ideas for changes they want to see, but are only starting to find ways to make it happen.