VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Cakaudrove Women's Resource Centre
Cakaudrove Women’s Resouce Centre, Fiji is looking for volunteers to complete the following tasks:
Video editing and design
An edited version of DV taken at recent meetings in Savusavu will be a useful presentation tool to help promote the project.
Editing and design of recipe book - This position has been filled
This book is to be used in fundraising for the project. The recipes are traditional Fijian dishes and the cover is to be made of tapa (mulberry bark) and hand printed by the women. There will be both an English and Fijian version of the book.
Water tanks donations research
On Fiji's remotest islands the shortage of potable water continues to be a problem. Recently there have been requests for water tanks in the remotest village on Vanua Levu. We need help to scope the best option for this area and how these might be funded.
Please email for more information and/or send us your expression of interest along with a current CV.
UPDATE - Cakaudrove Women's Resource Centre
From last October during our trip to Fiji Lucia, Emma and myself (Loata) met with the Cakaudrove women to discuss the project, try to understand their needs, devise a brief that best suits them and fundraising opportunities for the project. 2010 was the planned date of construction for the project with one of us planned to travel back to Fiji in March this year with a building model.
One of the major problems for the project which we encountered was the site. Initially the women had been given a site by the provincial council that is located beside the provincial council office in Savusavu. With the parcel of land we needed to confirm whether the registration can be tranferred to the women’s association for funding purposes. We later found out that the provincial council was leasing the land from the Nasavusavu tikina. The land being leased to another tikina would create problems with funding. We then had to find an alternative site that was freehold for the Cakaudrove Women’s Resource Centre that could be registered to the women. We enquired and found that the Cakaudrove province had freehold properties in the town centre opposite the Shed as well as Daku. We enquired to the Roko about the land in the town centre and was informed that there has been a proposal approved for construction of a shopping centre of some sought and the freehold properties were controlled by the commercial arm of the province. So before we left Savusavu we informed the women that there needed to be a site confirmed if the project was to progress. At that point the women informed us that they will write a letter to the commercial arm of the province requesting a parcel of the province owned freehold land in the town centre for the resource centre. They wrote a letter addressed to the commercial arm of the province soon after we returned to Australia with an accompanying endorsement letter from the Tui Cakau.
I have just been informed by the women’s representative this month that their request for a parcel of land on the freehold property in the town centre has been approved but will be leased to them for 99 years by the province. At the moment they are currently waiting for the site to be officially transferred into their name. The transfer will be arranged by the provincial council. We are not sure yet on how this impacts on the funding of the project but the women look to be persistant in their plight to making this project a reality. They are determined to see the project through by raising the funds themselves. Because the site is still not confirmed yet, the design of the project will be stalled for some time.
There is another women’s meeting in May and we will know more by then and hopefully have something in writing.
Vinaka vakalevu for your interest and we will keep you updated on the progress.
Loloma bibi
Loata, Lucia and Emma
Cakaudrove Women's Resource Centre - Savusavu, Fiji
Summary
This project consists of the design and construction of a Women’s Resource Centre in the town of Savusavu in Cakaudrove province. AWF provides support and assists in the funding application process. AWF also advises the project leaders in securing of consultants and consultation process with the local community. The local indigenous community of Cakaudrove province will provide land, some materials and some labour, and also support, accommodation and food for the project team when they visit. It is assumed that all consultants will be locally sourced and contacted through the Women’s Organisation. The Initial building estimate will be completed by Keith Williams of Gray Robinson Cottrell Quantity Surveyors, Brisbane. Keith Williams is a Fijian living and working in Australia and is able to provide extensive knowledge and expertise in rural Fijian construction costs and processes.
Client
Women’s Organisation - Soqosoqo Vakamarama i Cakaudrove Adi Unaisi MitiMiti (President) Adi Salaseini Kavu Fong (Treasurer) Roko Tui (Provincial Council of Cakaudrove)
Fijian indigenous society is highly communal, with great importance attached to the church (lotu), the land (vanua), the village and the family unit. The culture is very active; living with tradition and ceremony having remained intact for millennia. At present there is a real need to preserve traditional culture and skill for future generations, which will be lost if action is not undertaken. The elderly in villages are currently the main guardians of traditional culture and skills in Fiji. Losing them would mean a big loss for future generations, who do not adequately value their traditional heritage. Each province has different districts and the culture and skills are unique within each district. It is the indigenous women of Cakaudrove province who have formed an association (Soqosoqo Vakamarama i Cakaudrove) including all rural indigenous women and children from all the 15 districts of Cakaudrove. Their current role is to create awareness on the uniqueness of their traditional skills and handicrafts of each district, fundraising for scholarships for their children and to generate income for their families. There is currently no facility which can showcase their handicrafts unique only to Cakaudrove and also they have no meeting place. It is their dream to have their handicrafts and skills preserved, acknowledged and appreciated eventually to generate active interest from the younger generation of Cakaudrove today and in the future. The proposed Women’s Centre is expected to provide a space where indigenous women can exhibit their cultural skills, and work and generate an income, facilitate in empowerment and upgrading the standard of living for local women through self-employment and provide training facilities for younger indigenous rural women. It will benefit the whole community through strengthening cultural traditions and serve as a community building for all members (both women and men). The centre may eventually upgrade the standard of living in the villages surrounding the centre by benefiting livelihoods and contribute to sustaining traditional indigenous skills for future generations. Such a centre would have the potential to encourage other provinces to invest in similar resource centres for their communities.
Status
During April to July 2008 contacts have been established with potential consultants in Fiji and meetings held with the quantity surveyor to get pricing for the project based on drawings as completed by Loata Ho for her final architecture design project at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Expert advice has been sought from people who have experience in cross-cultural design projects. After preparations during August and September 2008, the project team travelled to Fiji in October 2008 to hold a design workshop (using physical models, 3D presentations and sketches) with the local people of Cakaudrove. The project team worked voluntarily to present the community with the sketch design component of the project. The project team also spent time observing the way rural indigenous women work and live in various communities in Fiji to better understand the needs of the clients and the brief for the project. This trip forms the Schematic Design phase of the project. During November and December 2008 applications for funds will be continued, and a program and fee structure will be established when funds are secured for the continuation of the project. As funds become secure, the project team will work in conjunction with AWF and Kevin O’Brien Architects, Brisbane to establish the direction of the project after the sketch design phase. If funds permit the project to move into the construction documentation phase and additional documentation staff is required, the project team will collaborate with AWF to find suitable staff for these positions. It is envisaged that the project team will be physically involved in the construction process in collaboration with local builders and trades people. The project team will investigate organising a construction studio in partnership with the School of Design, QUT and the Fijian Technical School or the University of the South Pacific. This could run as an elective subject in both institutions, teaching hands-on construction to local and international students, whilst increasing the amount of labour available to the project. There is also a high level of informal interest surrounding the project and the project team assumes a small percentage of this interest has an intention to commit to the long term goal of the project.
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