The Pacific Platform of Action (PPA) for Sustainable Development came into being as a direct result of the region’s preparations for the Beijing Women’s International Conference in 1995. The PPA represents a major milestone for Pacific women. Until the PPA was published, Pacific women did not have a regional policy document, and there were very few national policy statements or reports about the situation of women. As a result, government and NGO programs lacked an overall cohesion: they were often disjointed, fragmentary, and sometimes more externally than internally driven. The PPA gave Pacific women a mandate. This baseline document—produced by representatives from all Pacific nations—now serves as a guideline for national and regional planning.

Where did the drive to write this regional statement begin? In late 1994 I was asked by ESCAP to prepare a regional report on Pacific progress for forward looking strategies, information from which would be included in an Asia-Pacific Report for Beijing.^[1] In the Decade for Women which followed (1985–95), Nairobi delegates were charged with addressing these goals, and then reporting their progress back to the 1995 Conference at Beijing.

This request from ESCAP for a regional Pacific report raised a number of questions

All too often, as Pacific delegates attending conferences, we find that our input is ‘lost’ in Asia concerns, the assumption being that Pacific needs are but a microcosm of those of Asia, or that our ‘smallness’ (in comparison with Asia) makes our concerns insignificant. This is as partly our fault. We continually call attention to our ‘uniqueness’, but at the same time we have seldom examined or documented what makes us different, nor have we networked to present a unified Pacific voice on the global scene.

In discussions with the Pacific Women’s Bureau of the South Pacific Commission (SPC), it was agreed that the real priority for Pacific women was a regional report which reflected women’s present status, their vision for the future and ways to achieve this vision—in short, a sort of a Pacific FLS. Many of these goals and strategies would undoubtedly be similar to the global forward looking strategy, while others might be different. Such a report could be included in the proposed Asia-Pacific paper, but most importantly, it would also serve as a much needed strategy-guiding document for national women’s machineries and for the SPC women’s regional program.

The initial preparation years of the PPA in 1994–95 became an intensive, sometimes frenzied but always jam-packed learning time as Pacific women from all walks of life learnt about women’s experiences globally and then applied these findings to their own situation. The substantial regional and national commitment to this program was backed by a tremendous spirit of good will from regional and national government organisations, NGOs, and donors. For many members of the national teams formed to gather cross sectional data for national reports, this was the first time they had read the forward looking strategy, and/or asked themselves the question, ‘what do we want development to bring for ourselves, our children and our community?’ Team members asked questions which were not often raised in national forums, and answered these with extreme honesty and fearlessness. They questioned the merits of planning driven wholly by economic concerns; the economic, social and physical vulnerability experienced by low-income families, and households headed by women today; the effects of unemployment and underemployment, illiteracy and increased violence against women and children; the concerns of youth, and the increasing incidence of poverty-related health issues in the Pacific.

When the national women’s reports were completed, these materials were set with other regional data so as to identify the key issues of concern for Pacific women in a draft PPA. This draft was then presented to the Sixth Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, held in Noumea in May 1994, where it was reviewed and rewritten over four days (and nights) by nearly 200 delegates, until a regional document was agreed upon. In these workshop sessions, Pacific women learnt to listen to each other, to look beyond their own immediate concerns, recognise commonalities of experience and to accept different viewpoints. They learnt that ideas should be backed by data, to search for cause and effect relationships, and to lobby for their principles. In short, women learnt to work together to create a regional statement they could support.

The PPA is very much a Pacific document with culture at its centre. The Noumea Declaration—the preamble to the PPA—highlights the centrality of custom, tradition and family to Pacific women’s vision of sustainable development, with the family as the basic block on which sustainable development must be built. The Declaration emphasises the uniqueness of the Pacific region

The 13 areas of critical concern identified in the PPA again directly reflect the Pacific social, economic and cultural context—the semi-subsistence nature of Pacific economies (as in the role of women in agriculture and fishing); shared decision-making, and the belief that the advancement of women would proceed within the context of environment, culture and the family mechanisms. The 13 areas of critical concern are

When the Pacific delegates presented the PPA to the Asia Pacific meeting at Jakarta in late 1994, they experienced the joy and power which comes with having the statement of a well-defined vision and presenting this vision as a unified regional voice. At Jakarta, Pacific women finetuned their skills in presenting a case, listening, negotiating and prioritising—with some success. Many of the Pacific concerns were included in the Jakarta Declaration—the Asia Pacific statement for Beijing. Others were not. Even issues that were not included in the Asia Pacific Report were still critical issues for the Pacific and a starting point for Pacific development interventions.

The areas of common concern included in both the Pacific Platform for Action and the Jakarta Declaration included

The Pacific issues of concern that were not incorporated were

The PPA has become a manifesto of Pacific women, for them to use as a guide, to challenge, and to review. This baseline policy document stresses women’s firm commitment to family systems and the belief that family systems are the key to sustainable development for Pacific women, their families, communities and nations.

Family systems are often described in the development literature as being ‘hindrances’ to economic development. The following two examples show how Pacific women are using their family systems to encourage and enhance economic development options. Aggie Grey’s enterprise is an example of a business which has used family systems to grow ‘vertically’ in size, to increase the numbers employed and capital outlay. The second example of women entrepreneurs shows women who prefer to run a number of small businesses at one time, following a ‘lateral’ pattern of business development, rather than increasing the size of a single business.

Building a large enterprise—Aggie Grey’s, Samoa. Aggie’s holds pride of place as the most well-known hotel in the South Pacific. For tourists it is a Pacific landmark, while to economic experts it is proof that an indigenous business enterprise can ‘work’. Aggie reportedly went into business following the bankruptcy of her husband’s business during the depression years of the 1930s, because she was determined that her younger children would enjoy the same education as her elder children. Aggie began by selling baskets of fruit and vegetables to the wives of New Zealand administrators. From this beginning, Aggie progressed to handicrafts sales, and then to hospitality. The modest two-roomed guesthouse Aggie opened in the 1930s has now grown into an internationally recognised multi-million dollar hotel, incorporating 154 rooms, a gift shop, tours and an extensive farm to supply fresh produce to the hotel kitchens. Each new ‘development’ represents a response to changing social conditions, such as the stationing of thousands of US military in Samoa in the 1940s; the growth of air travel—the introduction of three-day package TEAL flights, Pan-Am flights from Hawaii to American Samoa and the development of Polynesian Airlines as the national carrier—and the shooting of a major movie, Return to Paradise, in Samoa, featuring international box-office stars Gary Cooper and Roberta Haines.

A statement frequently heard is that ‘Aggie’s is run like a chiefly system with Aggie at the head’. The relationship between the Grey family and their staff is personal rather than directive: every worker feels they have a personal stake in the business. Alailima writes

Aggie’s business dealings are based on family, personal friendships and trust. For example, she always purchased handicrafts and other hotel supplies from certain villages and buyers, thus guaranteeing these producers a market. In many cases she gave higher prices than a piece of handicraft warranted, and/or created work for those urgently in need of cash. As in a family, staff members are adept at most of the jobs needed to keep the hotel running smoothly. The girls who clean rooms by day are the dancers at the floorshow in the evening, while the pool attendants and gardeners provide the musical back-up support for the fiafia, or party. It is the tradition also for a member of the Grey family to perform the taualuga (last dance—the most important) at the weekly fiafias. In the early days Aggie was the taualuga. Now her grand-daughter has this honour. The Grey family, as fitting its prominent chiefly status, give generously to national and local fund-raising efforts—particularly of the Apia village. These gifts reinforce the relationships between the enterprise and the people; as in traditional times true wealth is displayed in giving.

Aggie’s continues to draw on family networks to build the business, and by doing so, is not only spreading the benefits of development more evenly, but strengthening family networks. Today Aggie’s employs over 250 staff. A daughter-in-law commented that ‘We could run the hotel with fewer…but you don’t fire family.’

Economic security through a number of small family-based micro-enterprises, Fiji. The uncertain economic situation in many Pacific countries has seen the increase of informal trade and small businesses, the majority of which are run by women. Many of these largely agriculturally based businesses have become the main source of family income for a growing number of families (see Appendix 1). The WOSED (Women’s Social and Economic Development Program) micro-credit program is run by the Division of Women’s Affairs, Fiji. It is based on the Grameen model of peer group support and the premise that credit and/or savings is the catalyst that will enable women to develop resources to effect change and thereby contribute to the fulfilment of their personal and family development. WOSED is designed to assist unemployed and underemployed women, who are usually unable to meet the collateral and equity required by the formal lending system to gain access to credit. One of the aims of WOSED is that women will learn skills and develop sufficient collateral to access a larger loan from a commercial bank, as they increase the size of their businesses.

A review of WOSED carried out in April 1997 showed that over 250 small loans of under F$1000 had been given out, and some women had taken a second loan. As seen in Table 1, a high percentage of the enterprises undertaken by the women borrowers were agriculturally based, and almost a third were weaving and handicraft production ‘for our family living in town’, ‘for traditional use’ and for sale. There were very few non-agricultural enterprises and two enterprises could be classified as ‘services’ (such as brush cutter and catering hire). All told, the enterprises were family based and physically located within the ambit of both family and community.

Interviews with the women borrowers revealed two further trends: a significant number of WOSED members were engaged in more than one income-earning venture, and, often when one enterprise was operating effectively, women gave this to the care of another family member and then started another small enterprise. For example, the multiple enterprises of a Savusavu solo mother of 8 included vegetable gardening, poultry (father now does this), a piggery (son helps), and fishing. In addition to this, she and other family members sell produce at the market, at a roadside stall (built on the main road in front of their house) and at a siding on the main bus route to Labasa. This lateral development pattern which sees other family members absorbed into the businesses is seen in Table 4.2.

This lateral pattern of business development no doubt reflects factors such as the desire to spread risks, keep options open, an unwillingness to be burdened by a big debt, and a preference for keeping enterprises at a ‘hands on’ stage. This pattern is at odds with assumptions that people want to ‘grow’ a business in size, that larger businesses are ‘better’ or ‘more successful’ than smaller business and that people should progress from micro to larger-size loans.

These groups are practising an alternative development paradigm which is a viable strategy in today’s rapidly changing social and economic conditions. It is a strategy which has implications for national development planning and service provision as well.