MARKET FOR CHANGE COMMENDED

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BY GEORGINA KEKEA
AT the Pacific Resilient Meeting held in Suva, Fiji, from 1st to 3rd May 2019, the United Nation’s Market for Change project was highly commended by women vendors who are part of this project.
Adi Bale, who is a vendor at Nadi Market says the project has changed the lives of market vendors like her not only in Fiji but in other countries which the project has reached. 

(Audio) Adi Bale breaks down when she speaks of her experience

She said being part of the Market for change project is an opportunity she is grateful for.

Bale was part of a panel at the recent Pacific Resilient Meeting held in Suva and spoke of the need to have rural women included in decision making bodies that will affect their lives.

She says she had been a market vendor most her life but was not recognized in her role as a market vendor.

Adi Bale speaking at the PRM (Photo by Ariela Zibiah)
“Not until UN Women came and started including us in their project, we came to learn a lot of things from the project”, she said.

In Fiji,  Bale said they have established a disaster committee for their market in Nadi and spoke at length about the project in the panel discussions.
She said the establishment of the disaster committee has really helped the vendors in Nadi market.


“For example the market master provided continuous update about the weather over the PA system. I feel much safer, now that we have a market disaster committee”. 

She said vendors are made aware of the weather before hand and can make informed decisions during bad weather.

She said she felt good being part of the consultations for the development of Nadi market so that vendors can have a safe and secure environment.

Mrs. Bale said it is her hope other stakeholders also assist vendors like her through the councils and municipal authorities of the respective markets.

The PRM brought together stakeholders from all sectors across the pacific to share knowledge and information on the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP).

This was the first meeting of this sort since the FRDP was endorsed in 2016 by Pacific leaders.

UN Women's Markets for Change (M4C) project is a six-year, multi-country initiative that aims to ensure marketplaces in rural and urban areas of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.

Similar sentiments raised by Adi Bale were heard from market vendors in Honiara, Auki and Gizo in Solomon Islands.

ENDS///

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