‘Flour power’ for Taci women
IN a small yet significant development, the women of Taci Village in Rewa are experiencing newfound empowerment through a homemade flour initiative under the Women Influence and Informal Local Resilience Action Project (WIILRAP Fiji).
Thanks to the efforts of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), supported by the UN Global Board and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), these women are not only enhancing their resilience to disasters, but also improving their economic prospects.
WIILRAP Fiji is a project implemented in 20 communities in the Western and Central divisions under the UN Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Program.
As part of the program, ADRA Fiji is also facilitating the set-up of Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) committees in its area of service, with active involvement from women.
These committees serve as crucial platforms for community engagement and decision-making in disaster preparedness and response efforts.
Communication and visibility officer for ADRA Fiji, Losalini Bolatagici said they were grateful to be given such projects and to engage in communities.
“For ADRA, we are lucky to be one of the organisations selected to pilot this project that focuses on building resilience for women during disasters,” she said.
The initiative, aimed at bolstering women’s resilience to disasters, has introduced the women of Taci Village to the art of making flour from locally available resources such as cassava, taro, plantains, and breadfruit.
This knowledge transfer has not only enabled them to become more selfreliant but has also had a positive impact on their finances.
Taci villager Unaisi Wati told this paper the project has greatly benefited them in terms of cost-cutting and utilising the resources surrounding them.
“Our village is floodprone, so in the past it was hard for us to get to the shop and buy things like flour, but now we are making our own flour, and we even sell them too,” she said.