Abstract
This chapter explores livelihood and food security challenges experienced by women in the city of Honiara, Solomon Islands. It focuses on the potential for women to maintain subsistence gardening practices in peri-urban and urban environments in order to increase their own food sovereignty. Women in Honiara, and Solomon Islands more broadly, are engaged in practices ensuring they are determining their food and nutritional needs, how to meet these needs, and doing so in ways that are sustainable and locally oriented. They are practices of food growing, consumption, and exchange that defy the ever-increasing and convergent export-oriented neo-liberal market-based development and development solutions. The chapter draws from research in Honiara of this increasing convergence among development aid actors in Solomon Islands. I make the argument that the contemporary development gaze does not accommodate urban lives, or does so in homogenizing ways. Moreover, the development challenges experienced specifically by women in these small, often forgotten, urban spaces are seldom specified in any part of a dominant development imagination, rendering them only as bare life or stick-figure subjects of so-called development ‘solutions’ (Sylvester, 1994, 2006). In exploring some of the challenges facing women in Honiara and examining the ways women have responded to these challenges, particularly through the work of a local NGO, Kastom Gaden, I propose that new development imaginings and practices need to be fostered, ones that take into account hybridity and participatory spaces for women in urban and peri-urban spaces.
Please note that some of this work appears in an earlier article for Development and the journal editors have kindly agreed for it to appear here.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
D. Abbott and S. Pollard (2004), Hardship and Poverty in the Pacific (Manila: Asian Development Bank)
Amnesty International (AI) (2011), ‘“Where’s the Dignity in That?” Women in Solomon Islands Slums Denied Sanitation and Safety’, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA43/001/2011/en, last accessed 7 September 2011
Amnesty International (AI) (2004), ‘Solomon Islands: Women Confronting Violence’, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA43/001/2004/en/f9274312-d581–11dd-bb24-lfb85fe8fa05/asa430012004en.pdf; last accessed 2 August 2006
AusAID (2009), ‘Australia/Solomon Islands Partnership for Development’, http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics/pdf/Australia_Solomon_Islands_Partnership_for_ Development.pdf, last accessed 21 September 2011
J. Basi (2008), ‘Shoppers in Solomon Islands Face High Prices’, Solomon Times Online, http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=1686, last accessed 7 September 2011
M. E. P. Bellam (1970), ‘The Colonial City: Honiara, A Pacific Islands Case Study’, Pacific Viewpoint 11(1): 66–96
L. Benería ‘Accounting for Women’s Work: The Progress of Two Decades’, World Development 20(11): 1547–60
J. Bennett (2002), ‘Roots of Conflict in Solomon Islands – Though Much is Taken, Much Abides: Legacies of Tradition and Colonialism’, Technical Report Discussion Paper 2002/5. Canberra: State, Society and Governance in Melanesia: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University
K. Bowden (2010), ‘McCully’s Pacific Aid Slashing “Whim” Angers Grassroots Disaster Team’, Pacific Islands News Association, http://www.pina.com.fj/index.php?p=pac news&m=read&o=6585682794c9fed16d8b10c78ccd1d&PHPSESSID=b67ffa7e7ce6 91c0359ce5d81978c0ef , last accessed 11 March 2011
S. Chand and C. Yala (2008), ‘Informal Land Systems within Urban Settlements in Port Moresby and Honiara’, in S. Wawrzonek, D. Fitzpatrick, T. Levantis, P. O’Connor (eds), Making Land Work vol. 1, Report (Canberra: AusAID): 85–107
Clementh (2011), ‘KGA Has Signed a Three-Year Agreement with the Australian Government’, http://kastomgaden.org/2011/09/23/kga-3-year-agreement/, last accessed 28 September 2011
J. Corrin (2008), ‘Ples Bilong Mere: Law, Gender and Peacebuilding in Solomon Islands’, Feminist Legal Studies 16(2): 169–94
M. Davis (2005), Planet of Slums (London: Verso)
S. Dinnen (2007), ‘A Comment on State-building in Solomon Islands’, Journal of Pacific History 42(2): 255–63
D. Drakakis-Smith (1995), ‘Third World Cities: Sustainable Urban Development, 1’, Urban Studies 32: 659–77
A. Escobar (2008), Territories of Di fference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes (Durham, NC: Duke University Press)
A. Escobar (2000), ‘Beyond the Search for a Paradigm? Post-Development and Beyond’, Development 43(4): 11–14
A. Escobar (1992), ‘Imagining a Post-Development Era? Critical Thought, Development and Social Movements’, Social Text 31(2) (Third World and Post-Colonial Issues): 20–56
J. Fraenkel (2004), The Manipulation of Custom: From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands (Wellington: Victoria University Press)
N. García Canclini (1995/2005), Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Foreword by R. Rosaldo. Trans. C. L. Chiappari and S. L. López. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press)
B. K. Greener, W. J. Fish and K. Tekulu (2011), ‘Peacebuilding, Gender and Policing in Solomon Islands’, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 52(1): 17–28
C. Hadosaia (2011), ‘Disable Person Engages in Backyard Gardening’, http://kastom-gaden.org/disable-person-engages-in-backyard-gaderning [sic], last accessed 2 April 2011
S. Ilcan and A. Lacey (2011) Governing the Poor: Exercises of Poverty Reduction, Practices of Global Aid (Montreal and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press)
T. T. Kabutaulaka (2001), ‘Beyond Ethnicity: The Political Economy of the Guadalcanal Crisis in Solomon Islands’, State Society and Governance in Melanesia Working Paper 01/1. State Society and Governance in Melanesia Project. Canberra, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University: 1–24
T. T. Kabutaulaka (2000), ‘Rumble in the Jungle: Land, Culture and (Un)Sustainable Logging in Solomon Islands’, in A. Hooper (ed), Culture and Sustainable Development in the Pacific (Canberra: Australian National University): 88–97
Kastom Gaden (2011a), ‘About Us: What We Do’, http://kastomgaden.org/about/what-we-do, last accessed 2 April 2011
Kastom Gaden (2011b), ‘Women and Nutritional Health’, http://kastomgaden.org/about/what-we-do/women-nutritional-health, last accessed 2 August 2011
Kastom Gaden (2010a), ‘KGA Trains Women in Simple Technology to Reduce Firewood Use in Cooking’, http://kastomgaden.org/kga-training-making-clay-stove, last accessed 2 April 2011
Kastom Gaden (2010b), ‘Training for Urban Youths in Organic Farming’, http://kastomgaden.org/training-for-urban-youths-in-organic-farming, last accessed 2 April 2011
Kastom Gaden (2007), ‘Kastom Gaden Association: Food Futures and Nutritional Health for Solomon Island Communities’, http://www.terracircle.org.au/kga/, last accessed 21 September 2011
La Via Campesina (2011), ‘Defending Food Sovereignty’, http://www.viacampesina.org/downloads/profiles/2011/BROCHURE-LVC2011-EN.pdf, last accessed 20 September 2011
R. Marsh (1998), ‘Building on Traditional Gardening to Improve Household Food Security’, FAO Corporate Document Repository, http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/X0051T/X0051T02.HTM, last accessed 5 August 2011
R. Monson (2010), ‘Women, State Law and Land in Peri-Urban Settlements on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands’, Justice for the Poor 4(3), http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2010/05/07/000020953_20100 507115121/Rendered/PDF/544240Briefing1GuadalcanallSollslds.pdf, last accessed 5 August 2011
NZAID (2009), New Zealand/Solomon Islands Strategy 2009–2018, http://www.aid.govt.nz/library/docs/strategy-solomon-islands-2009–2018.pdf, last accessed 21 September 2011
M. G. Novo and C. Murphy (2000), ‘Urban Agriculture in the City of Havana: A Popular Response to Crisis’, in N. Bakker, M. Dubbeling, S. Gundel, U. Sabel-Koschella, H. de Zeeuw (eds), Growing Cities Growing Food: Urban Agriculture on the Policy Agenda (Feldafing: Deutsche Stiftung fur international Entwicklung), 329–48
One Television (2011), ‘Honiara City Council Strategically Plan for Increasing Population’, http://www.onetelevision.com.sb/index.php?option=com_content& view=article&id=14040:the-honiara-city-council-feeling-the-strain-of-providing-essential-services-in-Iight-of-honiaras-growing-population&catid=82:community-interest&Itemid=459, last accessed 21 April 2011
Pacific Business (2010), ‘Urban Drift a Growing Problem’, Pacific Business Online, http://pacificbusinessonline.com/solomon-islands/story/14560/urban-drift-growing-problem, last accessed 20 March 2010
D. T. Paina (2000), ‘Peacemaking in Solomon Islands: The Experience of the Guadalcanal Women for Peace Movement’, Development Bulletin 53: 47–8
People First Network (2010), ‘Solomon Islands: Concerned Farmers Want Quick Fix to Broken Bridges’, Relief Web Report, http://reliefweb.int/node/343022, last accessed 20 September 2011
A. A. Pollard (2000a), ‘Givers of Wisdom, Labourers without Gain: Essays on Women in the Solomon Islands’, A. Walker (ed.) (Suva: University of South Pacific Press)
A. A. Pollard (2000b), ‘Resolving Conflict in the Solomon Islands: The Women for Peace Approach’, Development Bulletin 53: 44–6
J. L. Rallu (2009), ‘Urban Drift, Urban Growth, Urban Youth’ (Suva: UNFPA), http://www.unescap.org/epoc/documents/R3.13_Study_3.pdf, last accessed 2 May 2011
Roselynk (2011a), ‘Tuvaruhu SSEC Woman’s Group Trained in Making Nursery’, http://kastomgaden.org/tuvaruhu-ssec-womans-group-trained-in-making-nursery, last accessed 3 August 2011
Roselynk (2011b), ‘Kiko Stove Training at OISCA Training Centre, Japan, http://kastom-gaden.org/2011/07/20/kiko-stove-training-at-oisca-training-centre-japan/, last accessed 9 August 2011
R. Sànchez-Rodríguez (2008), ‘Urban Sustainability and Global Environmental Change: Reflections for an Urban Agenda’, in G. Martine, G. McGranahan, and M. Montgomery (eds), New Global Frontier: Urbanization, Poverty and Environment in the 21st Century (London: Earthscan), 149–64
Solomon Islands (SI) Statistics Office (2006), ‘Household Income and Expenditure Survey National Report 2005/6’, Part One (Honiara: Government of Solomon Islands Department of Finance and Treasury), http://www.spc.int/prism/country/sb/stats/Publication/Annual/HIES%20National%20Report-Final.pdf, last accessed 10 August 2011
D. Storey (2003), ‘The Peri-Urban Pacific: From Exclusive to Inclusive Cities’, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 44(3): 259–79
C. Sylvester (2006), ‘Bare Life as a Development/Postcolonial Problematic’, The Geographical Journal 172(1): 66–77
C. Sylvester (1999), ‘Development Studies and Postcolonial Studies: Disparate Tales of the “Third World”’, Third World Quarterly 20(4): 703–21
C. Sylvester (1994), Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
UNDP (2010), ‘Explanation Note on 2010 HDR Composite Indices – Solomon Islands. Explaining HDI Value and Rank Changes in Human Development Report 2010’, http://hdrstats.undp.org/images/explanations/SLB.pdf, last accessed 20 March 2010
UNDP (2005), ‘Solomon Islands Millennium Development Goals Report 2004: Scoring Fundamental Goals’, http://www.undp.org.fj/pdf/SOI_MDG_REP04.pdf, last accessed 20 September 2011 (Suva: UNDP)
UN-Habitat (2011), ‘Solomon Islands’, http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=8457&catid=64&typeid=70&subMenuld=0, last accessed 6 May 2011
UN-Habitat (2010), ‘State of the World’s Cities 2010–2011: Bridging the Urban Divide. Overview and Key Findings’ (Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme)
UN-Habitat (2009), ‘Participatory Slum Upgrading and Prevention Programme’, http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/7927_54964_Narrative_Report.pdf, last accessed 6 May 2011
D. Vlahov, N. Freudenberg, F. Proietti, D. Ompad, A. Quinn, V. Nandi and S. Galea (2007), ‘Urban as a Determinant of Health’, Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 84(1): i16-i26
N. Yuval-Davis (2006), ‘Intersectionality and Feminist Politics’, European Journal of Women’s Studies 13: 193–209
H. Ware (2005), ‘Demography, Migration and Conflict in the Pacific’, Journal of Peace Research 42: 435–54
P. Whiteford, P. Sawrikar, S.M.G. Redmond and A. O’Connor (2009), ‘Child Poverty and Disparities in the Pacific, Phase 1: Initial Analysis of Child-Centred Policies in Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu’. Online resource: http://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/UNICEF_Child_Poverty_Sharing.pdf, last accessed 5 May 2011
World Bank (2011a), ‘Solomon Islands: Providing Short-Term Employment for Honiara’s Urban Poor’, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0„ contentMDK:22608462~menuPK:141310~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4 607,00.html, last accessed 12 April 2011
World Bank (2011b), ‘Solomon Islands: Country Pages and Key Indicators’, http://siter-esources.worldbank.org/INTEAPHALFYEARLYUPDATE/Resources/550192–1300567391916/EAP_Update_March2011_solomonislands.pdf, last accessed 3 September 2011
World Bank (2010) ‘Emergency Project Paper on a Proposed Grant in the Amount of SDR 2.2 Million (US$ 3.2 Million Equivalent) to Solomon Islands for a Rapid Employment Project’, Report No: 53495-SB, http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2010/05/07/000333037_20100507002822/Rendered/PDF/534950PJPROP111n1y10IDAR20101012811.pdf, last accessed 12 April 2011
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Anita Lacey
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lacey, A. (2012). Gender and Sustainable Livelihoods in Urban Honiara. In: Harcourt, W. (eds) Women Reclaiming Sustainable Livelihoods. Gender, Development and Social Change series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137022349_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137022349_16
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33975-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-02234-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)