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Study finds that Pacific Island communities could manage water better with sex-disaggregated data
The study consisted of a two-day workshop in Nadi, followed by the collection of field data on Malolo Island in west Fiji. The island covers 20 km2 and has a population of just over 3 000. As there are no rivers, the population is entirely reliant on rainfall and a limited amount of groundwater for its water supply. The water supply is, thus, subject to seasonal scarcity.
Survey reveals better gender distribution of domestic tasks for working women
From 12 to 16 July, the group of professionals conducted a household survey in the villages of Solevu and Yaro. The survey collected sex-disaggregated data on water access, gender roles in water management and how villagers perceived and coped with climate variability and change. The team also interviewed village leaders, nurses and members of the village water committees.
Although all of the villagers interviewed recognized the impact of climate variation and extremes on water availability, they found it difficult to associate some consequences of climate variability to normal weather patterns or climate change.
The surveyors were particularly interested in rainwater harvesting practices. The survey revealed just how reliant the villagers were on rainwater for drinking purposes, in particular. They also relied on groundwater for bathing, laundry and cleaning, among other uses. In both villages, there was a good distribution of tanks to collect rainwater but they were in need of maintenance and renovation. Often, villagers lacked the requisite skills to undertake minor repairs.
The distribution of gender roles in the villages varied from household to household, with men generally being the official decision-makers. Women were found to perform the bulk of domestic chores. Nevertheless, in households were women held a job outside the home, men tended to be the ones who secured water for the household, took care of children or assisted with other domestic tasks traditionally considered a woman’s responsibility.
UNESCO will be publishing the full findings of this field survey in early 2024.
Climate change damaging water supplies and the economy
The workshop was run by the World Water Assessment Programme on 10 and 11 July. It was organized for the benefit of technical officers from the Water Authority of Fiji and the Fiji Meteorological Service.
The participants discussed water and gender concepts framed by the impact that climate extremes were having on water resources in Fiji. For example, sea-level rise was causing saltwater to enter groundwater resources, they said, and flooding was damaging rainwater tanks and other water infrastructure. Heavy rain was also contaminating water sources.
Shweta Shiwangni, Scientific Officer in the Fiji Meteorological Service’s Climate Division, explained that the general increase in air temperature observed over the past 60 years, combined with sea-level rise and intense tropical cyclones, was having direct consequences not only for water resource management but also for sugarcane production, one of the backbones of the Fijian economy. In her overview of the situation, she mentioned the drivers of Fiji’s climate, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation which heralded a period of dry weather, and La Niña, which was synonymous with a prolonged period of wet weather.
Winnie Hoyte, Community Engagement Officer for the West District, explained how her employer, the Water Authority of Fiji, had been helping rural communities to collect and conserve rainfall during dry periods by supplying households with rainwater tanks. She mentioned that their Rainwater Tank Programme also offered households training in how to install, use and maintain these tanks.
Sex-disaggregated data integrated into the survey questions
During the workshop, the participants drafted the survey questions that they would then ask on Malolo Island from 12 to 16 July. To do this, they used the Toolkit for Collecting Sex-disaggregated Water Data produced by the World Water Assessment Programme. They also used the Toolkit to develop a protocol for implementing the survey at village level.
Thanks to this survey, technical officers from the Water Authority of Fiji were able to identify infrastructure and training needs in both Solevu and Yaro. The team was also able to collect information on water harvesting practices and on the type of additional support that the village communities might require.
For their part, the scientific and technical staff from the Fiji Meteorological Services were able to use the survey findings to identify opportunities for making their own meteorological and climate-related information more accessible to the local population. For example, they realized that it would be possible to install an automatic weather station on Malolo to produce data specifically for the island and that they could then make this information available through the local radio to help villages adjust their timetables for the distribution of water.
Study part of a wider project
This pilot study was part of a project called Accelerating Sanitation for All in Asia and the Pacific which the Asian Development Bank and UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme are implementing between July 2022 and June 2024 to provide officials of water-related governmental institutions and water utilities with advanced training.
The project involves 14 small island states in the Pacific. Its ultimate goals is to improve the design and implementation of water-related policies and projects to ensure that these are more inclusive, by collecting sex-disaggregated data and integrating a gender perspective into both projects and policies.
The pilot study in Fiji followed an introductory technical webinar in October 2022 and a five-day face-to-face training course on the theme of Water and Climate Change: Women's Coping Strategies in Pacific Small Island States, which the World Water Assessment Programme ran in Nadi, Fiji, in February 2023.
The implementation of this pilot activity has provided valuable insights. There is definite potential for this activity to be replicated and upscaled to other rural areas of Fiji and beyond to other small island states of the Pacific.
