MAKING WOMEN COUNT

VSA's window on the world of development Issue two 2013

Tena koutou o Te TuaoTawahi

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is New Zealand's largest and most experienced volunteering agency working in international development. Our Kiwi volunteers share skills with people in the wider Pacific to help them build a better future for themselves and their children. We work with our in-country partners overseas to make sure that all our assignments are locally identified, locally relevant, and locally delivered. We also work with our New Zealand partners to provide innovative volunteering opportunities, making it possible for more New Zealanders to volunteer and contribute to lasting change. We are a registered charity and are non-religious, non-political and non-governmental.

Kia ora
As I write this Im eating a butterless sandwich with beetroot and carrot. Im Living Below the Line for VSA, which means I am spending five days surviving on just $2.25 of food a day. Im taking the challenge later than everyone else because I was out of the country during the official Live Below the Line week in late September. But I was determined to Live Below the Line again this year, partly because the money VSA raises is supporting a cause very close to my heart the work our volunteers do to achieve the objectives of Millennium Development Goal (MDG)5. Those objectives are to reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio and achieve universal access to reproductive healthcare. In my previous job as director general of the International Planned Parenthood Federation I met many women and girls in developing countries whose lives had been transformed by good reproductive and maternal health services. Women who can control when and how many children they have are healthier, better educated and more likely to be in paid employment. Their children are also healthier and better educated, and so less likely to be trapped in a cycle of poverty. As part of the lead-up to Live Below the Line, I hosted a conversation with Helen Clark, head of the UN Development Programme, on 22 August. We talked about the MDGs and what will happen after the MDG framework finishes in 2015. We focused in particular on MDG5 and the vital role it plays in reducing poverty. As the stories in this issue of Vista show, women who have the health, the time and the opportunity to take part in paid employment can achieve a lot. Whether theyre selling products at their local market, joining a savings scheme,

Gill Greer, left, in conversation with Helen Clark.

Become a VSA volunteer

Go to www.vsa.org.nz to find out about application criteria, to register your skills, or to see what assignments are being advertised.

Become a VSA supporter

We send people not money, but we need money to send people. Visit www.vsa.org.nz to donate or to find out about becoming a VSA member.

or setting up a small business, women who can earn their own income are well placed to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. VSA currently has volunteers working with 15 partner organisations on projects that specifically support women. During the last financial year our volunteers coached or mentored 3616 women. But what really makes a difference is the determination of the women themselves. I recently interviewed a volunteer who had just returned from a challenging two-year assignment in the Solomon Islands. At the end of our conversation I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to bring up. Yes there is, Gill, he said. If there is any hope of salvation for the Solomons it lies in the hands of its women if they are only given a chance. I couldnt have put it better myself. Im always deeply impressed by what women in developing countries achieve and Im proud of the work our volunteers do to support them.

Join a local VSA branch

Gill Greer CEO

Phone 0800 VSA TO GO (0800 872 8646) for details of the branch nearest you.

- ao Ta - wa - hi Volunteer Service Abroad Te Tu

Patron: His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO, - tua: Awi Riddell (Nga - ti Porou), QSM Governor-General of New Zealand President: Gavin Kerr, QSO Kauma Council Chair: Farib Sos, MNZN Council members: Don Higgins (Deputy Chair), Professor Tony Binns, Shona Jennings, Dr Simon Mark, Evan Mayson, Sandy Stephens MNZN Chief Executive Officer: Dr Gill Greer - ao Ta - wa - hi Volunteer Service Abroad, 32 Waring Taylor St | PO Box 12246 | Wellington 6144, Aotearoa/New Zealand Te Tu Tel: 64 4 472 5759 Fax: 64 4 472 5052 Email: vsa@vsa.org.nz Website: www.vsa.org.nz - ao Ta - wa - hi Volunteer Service Abroad Incorporated. Please note that views expressed Vista is the official magazine of Te Tu in Vista are not necessarily the views of VSA. Editorial and photographic submissions to the magazine are welcome. Please address all queries and submissions to the Editor, Vista, at the address above. Please ensure all material is clearly marked with your name and address. VSA. All rights reserved. ISSN 1176-9904 Reproduction of content is allowed for usage in primary and secondary schools, and for tertiary studies. Vista is printed on environmentally responsible paper. It is chlorine free and manufactured using farmed eucalyptus trees.

- ao T a - wa - hi Volunteer Te Tu Service Abroad Inc is a registered charity (CC36739) under the Charities Act 2005
The New Zealand Government is proud to provide significant support through the New Zealand Aid Programme for New Zealand volunteers who work in a development capacity overseas.

Contents

News roundup
Latest news, views and happenings

The power of money

Market forces
Making the Luganville Market safer, cleaner and more women-friendly

Cover photo:
Members of Timorese womens organisation Hamahon Feto Timor (HAFOTI) at a training day run by VSA volunteer Chloe Pinel.

Sisters doing it for more than themselves

Cooking up a better future

Helping boost women's incomes in Timor-Leste

Plenty to smile about

Learning the art of customer service

Seeds of success
Growing one woman's future

Tips for life on the trail

Pip Desmond on being an accompanying partner

Making women count

How VSA is helping to change women's lives

Also in this issue: VSA 2012-2013 Highlights from the last financial year

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October 2013

Making women count

News roundup

Launch of VSAConnect
VSAs new alumni association, VSAConnect, will be officially launched at this years Congress, which is being held in Wellington on Saturday 9 November. VSAConnect will provide returned volunteers and their accompanying partners with the opportunity to connect or reconnect with other returned volunteers and to stay in touch with VSA. Members will get access to an online platform where they will be able to get information about VSA events and activities, and about development issues. Theyll also be able to share photos and stories and work together to build a groundswell of support for VSA across New Zealand. Well be sending out emails to invite you to join VSAConnect; if you dont get an invitation, please get in touch with us on vsaconnect@vsa.org.nz The theme of this years Congress is The Way Forward: New Models for VSA. It will be a chance to talk about how we should respond to the changing landscape in volunteering, including things such as the growing use of social media as a development tool. Keynote speakers include Elzira Sagynbaeva from UN Womens Pacific Sub-Regional Office and Regina Scheyvens, Professor of Development Studies at Massey University. To find out how to register, please contact Hanneke on 04 472 5759 or email her at hkoolen@vsa.org.nz

A 21st to remember
onga-based UniVol Dunstan Brook-Miller had a 21st with a difference when 14 members of his family arrived for a celebration at Nukualofas Queen Salote Hall in July organised with help from Dunstans colleagues at the Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Labour. As the only male in his team, Dunstans female workmates couldnt resist dressing him up as their little chief for the night. His outfit included a full-length ceremonial ta'ovala with a beaded belt. His workmates also provided a two-man band and turned on a Tongan feast complete with a suckling pig for about 50 guests. Among them were Dunstans father Nicol, several aunts and uncles and assorted cousins. Counting Dunstan there were 15 of us, says Nicol.

After the party the extended family group repaired to a nearby resort where they spent several days enjoying the tourism opportunities that Dunstan and his colleagues are working to promote.

Donate to VSA and be in to win a hamper of goodies

VSA staff members can vouch for the deliciousness of Coconut Gold, a caramel-like jam made from coconut milk using a closely guarded family recipe on the tiny Vanuatu island of Araki. The few jars that have made their way into our Wellington offices have been devoured almost immediately. Now VSA supporters will get a chance to taste Coconut Gold for themselves. Everyone who donates $25 or more to our Making Women Count appeal will go into the draw to win a hamper full of products made by the organisations our volunteers work with. Each hamper will contain a jar of Coconut Gold made by the Lele family, who set up their jam-making scheme in South Santo with help from VSA volunteer Jane Rutledge. Other products in the hampers include textile items from womens organisation HAFOTI in Timor-Leste, weaving from the Solomon Islands and organic cocoa from Samoa. To be in the draw to win one of these two hampers and to support the work our volunteers are doing to help women develop economic independence fill in the donation slip at the back of this issue of Vista. You can also donate online by going to our website: www.vsa.org.nz
Vista Making women count October 2013

A selection of the products that will be in the hamper.

Making women count

News roundup

Our woman in New York

Odd man out

Gill Greer prepares to speak at a United Nations 'High Level' event in September.

Andrew Baker, centre, at the beginning of the Spice Build project.

ur CEO Gill Greer got to put in a good word for VSA and for the importance of volunteering in development when she was selected to speak at the United Nations 'High Level' event in September. The event was held to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals and plan for the global development framework that will replace the MDGs in 2015. Gill was nominated to speak by the International Forum on Development Service, (FORUM), which represents 27 international volunteering organisations. She was one of a small group of NGOs selected to speak at the event. She told the audience of government representatives, UN agencies and NGOs that volunteers and volunteer groups have contributed to the MDGs in diverse ways, and to the many gains that have been made. Post-2015 volunteering could be an even more effective catalyst for sustainable, people-centred development. With its people-to-people approach, volunteering like all good development draws on the ethos of shared humanity, she said. It is integral to participatory democracy, to social justice, to fair, inclusive growth, and to environmental protection. At its best, it is a cornerstone in the creation of strong, healthy, vibrant communities which, in turn, foster wellbeing and resilience.

VSA volunteer Andrew Baker found himself somewhat outnumbered when he recently spent three weeks in East Nepal as a block leader on a Habitat for Humanity project building five houses for women in the village of Ghailadubba. Andrew was the only male in a group of about 60 women involved in the project half of them from New Zealand and half from a womens cooperative based in the village. The project is known as a special event build, in which Habitat for Humanity volunteers spend a week helping to build homes in a host country. It was named The Spice Build because the New Zealand women involved in the project raised money to buy a spice grinder for their Nepalese counterparts, who supplement their incomes by selling spices in the local market. Previously they had to travel 40km to grind the spices. Andrews assignment is part of a new partnership between VSA and Habitat for Humanity to provide construction consultants (known as block leaders) for Habitat for Humanity house-building projects. Under the partnership agreement VSA will initially contribute independently-raised funding to help recruit and pay the travel and in-country costs for block leaders to oversee Habitat for Humanity projects in Nepal, Vietnam, and Cambodia. There are plans to eventually extend the programme into the Pacific.

Lights, camera, action

undraising Officer Helen Carter went beyond the call of duty in August when she put on a red wig, beads, and a golden cloak to appear on television with a gaggle of excited students and GirlGuides to promote our new addition to VSA Project Friendship Dress up for Change.
Vista Making women count October 2013

Helen was interviewed on TV1s morning news show, Breakfast, at the start of Project Friendship week which ran from 12 to 18 August. Participants in Dress up for Change put on their favourite costumes to raise money to help changes the lives in young people in the Pacific.

Making women count

The power of money

Providing economic opportunities to women in developing countries is about more than transforming the lives of individual women. It is increasingly seen as the route to sustainable development and to fighting poverty and hunger. Ruth Nichol reports.

VSA volunteer Chloe Pinel helps women in Timor-Leste develop new products to sell at their local markets.

he 42 women members of a Savings and Loan Cooperative in the East Santo village of Mavunlev had plenty to celebrate when they held their first AGM in June this year. Dressed in matching green dresses, the women spent the day dancing and singing to mark a remarkable year during which they increased their savings from $17,000 Vatu (NZ$224) to $1.2 million Vatu (NZ$15,787). Most of the money came from selling kava and water taro at local markets. Now they have started borrowing against their savings to pay for things such as schooling and medical fees. Some members have gone a step further and taken out loans to set up small businesses, including a bakery, two small stores and a jam-making venture. Joining Tof Tof (We Try) Savings and Loan, which was established last year with help from Vanuatu-based VSA volunteer Chris Smart, has given its women members more financial security and independence than they had before. And as they are starting to discover, becoming more financially independent has other benefits has well. The savings scheme has changed the life of women in the village, given them more confidence and belief in themselves, says the chairwoman Leikare Vira. Like millions of women in developing countries, the members of Tof Tof Savings and Loan are finding out how empowering it can be to have access to even small amounts of independent income. Money talks, and when women have economic power they gain power in the community, says VSA CEO Gill Greer. They are often allowed to become part of the decision-making process, to decide with men what is important in their family and in their community.

But providing economic opportunities to women in developing countries is about more than transforming the lives of individual women. It is increasingly seen as the route to sustainable development and to fighting poverty and hunger. That is because of what women choose to do with their money, which is to invest it in their families. Women and girls spend up to 90 percent of their earned income on their families for example on health and education compared with around 30 to 40 percent among males, says Mike Sansom, Development Manager: Cross Cutting Issues & Gender with the New Zealand Aid Programme. Higher female earning and bargaining power translates into greater investment in childrens education, health and nutrition which can lead to sustained economic growth in the long term. He says the benefits of investing in girls education are particularly significant. Women with higher levels of education tend to marry later, earn more, and have fewer, well-nourished and better-educated children. Those children then go on to have better employment opportunities and greater earning power. If you look at the tourism sector, where there are significant employment opportunities for women, educated women are more likely to break out of the poorly paid, stereotypic jobs of making beds and cleaning dishes and move into management, leadership positions, or as entrepreneurs in the service sector. It is this cyclical process that has led development organisations throughout the world to start focusing on programmes that help women gain economic independence. As the former Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, observed recently, womens engagement in economic
Making women count October 2013

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Making women count

Local markets provide a vital source of income for women in the Pacific.

activity is not only a rights issues, it is also smart economics: Womens economic empowerment has positive multiplier effects for a range of key development goals including poverty reduction and the welfare of children. For women in the Pacific countries where VSA works, economic empowerment often comes from their involvement in the informal economy, particularly through selling produce at local markets. The estimated annual turnover of the central market in Honiara, for example, is around US$10 to $16 million, and 90 percent of the vendors are women. That makes it a big player in the Solomon Islands economy but many women vendors are missing out on valuable income because they lack basic financial skills. Safety issues can also affect profitability. According to Mike Sansom, women market vendors are often targeted by what are called middlemen who know that women leave the market at a certain time in the evening because they dont feel safe. The middlemen wait till this time to come and buy produce because they know the women are desperate to leave and they will sell their produce at a lower price. If you can increase the safety and security at the market then you help increase profitability.

VSA volunteer Wendy Roger and women from Arawa Womens Centre in Bougainville with the baskets they produced at a training workshop.

Higher female earning and bargaining power translates into greater investment in childrens education, health and nutrition which can lead to sustained economic growth in the long term.
VSA is working with its partners across the wider Pacific to help women develop greater financial security. Some volunteers are providing training to help women develop local products to sell in local markets. Others are providing simple business training, or, as in the case of Tof Tof Savings and Loans, helping women get access to basic banking services. This year, VSA become involved in a UN Women project Called Partners Improving Markets (PIM) which is working to make local markets safer and more profitable for women vendors. Its priorities include upgrading market infrastructure and safety, as well as helping improve vendors financial literacy and providing them with access to services such as savings schemes. VSA volunteers are now working with the PIM project in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Its all part of a growing recognition that improving womens financial security has powerful long-term benefits for them and for their families. As the history of many countries has shown, when women have the health, the time and the education to participate in paid employment they will lift their families out of poverty, says Gill Greer.
October 2013

Members of Tof Tof Savings and Loan in Vanuatu prepare to celebrate a successful first year of saving.

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Making women count

Market House rules

The mostly women members of Vanuatus first Market House Committee are helping to make the Luganville Market cleaner, safer and more women-friendly.

Committee chair Marie Savan.

Produce on display at the market.

Members of the Luganville Market House Committee.

ike thousands of women throughout the Pacific, Marie Savan sells fresh fruit and vegetables from her home garden at the local market to earn the money her family needs to pay for things like school fees and shop-bought goods. But until last year, Marie and the other women vendors at the Luganville Market in Vanuatu had little say in how the market was run. Thats all changed since they set up a Market House Committee (Maket Haos Komiti) with the help of World Vision/VSA volunteer Jane Rutledge. Marie was elected chair of the committee the first of its kind in Vanuatu at a meeting held in Luganville in April last

About 90 percent of the vendors at the market are women, and its an important place for them, both commercially and socially.
year. Since then she and her fellow committee members have worked with the market managers and the Luganville Municipal Council to introduce a number of changes that have helped make the market a cleaner, safer, more women-friendly place. About 90 percent of the vendors at the market are women, and its an important place for them, both commercially and socially, says Jane. They wanted it to be a more vibrant, successful and happy place where the vendors and the customers felt more comfortable. Over the last 18 months the committee has developed a set of Market House rules. Theyve also changed the way the tables are arranged to provide more security for the vendors many of whom come from out of town and spend several nights sleeping at the market and for their products. Theyve introduced a sound system, and theyve worked together to increase the range of products available for sale each day.

If everyone is selling the same thing its harder for them to attract customers, says Jane. Weve changed the days that different communities come to the market so that we get a better cross section of products which means more sales. During the peak summer growing season VSA volunteer Linda Bennie ran demonstrations at the market showing vendors how to turn surplus produce into jam and chutney which they can sell to make extra money. Other changes include a new composting scheme which started at the market in June with help from VSA volunteer Mary OReilly, and new paving at the market entrance paid for by the New Zealand High Commission. These have helped make the environment at the market more attractive and more healthy. One of the issues the women were concerned about was the amount of rubbish at the market, and the fact that it was attracting rats and cockroaches. The composting scheme has helped deal with that. A proposal is now on the table to design and build a new toilet and shower block for the women. For Marie Savan, chairing the monthly Market House Committee meetings has been satisfying not just because its helped make the market a better place for the women vendors who work there, but because its helped her develop new and unexpected skills. At first she was nervous about running the meetings, and she relied on Jane to help her; now shes comfortable doing it on her own. I am growing in confidence about running our meetings now and will continue to work with the women to see our Market House guidelines are met, she says. Port Vila-based volunteer Karen Roberts will continue Janes work with the Luganville Market House Committee as part of her assignment with the Partners Improving Markets project being run in several Pacific countries by UN Women.

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October 2013

VSA : 2012 13

Members of the Andikar family lend a hand to VSA volunteer, Dianne Hambrook, on the Millennium Cave Tour in Santo, Vanuatu.

4028
PEOPLE GOT NEW OR IMPROVED SANITATION FACILITIES

177
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TRAINED

2716
PEOPLE COACHED OR MENTORED 1474 1242

16,907
EDUCATION RELATED MATERIALS DELIVERED

382
TEACHERS TRAINED

Our stories

Using small business to change lives in Timor-Leste

Dili, Timor-Leste

Providing vital transport links in the Solomon Islands

Honiara, Solomon Island Solomon Islands now has an extra 80km of usable roads built by local roading contractors who were trained by VSA volunteer Simon James. Simon worked with village based contractors in six provinces, helping them to develop the skills they need to upgrade unsealed roads and build new ones. He showed them how to use simple equipment such as spades and hand rammers to build culverts, put in drains, fill up potholes and re-sheet the roads using local gravel. The goal of his work with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MID) was to provide roading that is resistant to climate change and natural hazards such as flooding, and to provide safe, reliable routes to markets and other essential services such as health care and education. The work is slow and painstaking, but having access to even short distances of usable road makes a huge difference to the quality of life in the Solomon Islands.

Tracey Wemyss (right) with a visiting film crew in Dili.

Demand for sun-dried fish produced by 300 Timorese fishermen and their families is growing after they changed the way they package and market the fish with help from VSA volunteer Tracey Wemyss. Tracey was a Marketing and Communications Adviser with Empreza Diak, a Timorese NGO that runs the Ikan Diak (Good Fish) project with poor fishing communities in remote parts of Timor-Leste. They use solar-drying tents to produce quality dried fish sold under the Ikan Diak label to supermarkets and other buyers in Dili. Tracey worked with staff to streamline the packaging using a new heat-sealing

device, to update the product labelling and to introduce point-of sale material.. The unique features of the Ikan Diak product are now prominent, including that it is produced by Timorese community micro-businesses, it is sun-dried and very tasty, she says. It helps stimulate demand for a local product that is growing in popularity. The average weekly income of those involved in the project has increased from just US$7 to US$82.50 per family since it began in 2010. To put this in context, around 40 per cent of TimorLestes population operate outside the market economy, and a similar percentage live on less than US $0.88 cents per day.

Simon James in his office in Honiara.

Its important because it gives people an alternative to using boats, and provides consistent links that are not so weather dependent, says Simon. People don't have cars but many provincial governments own large trucks which provide a local taxi service for people and goods. Having local contractors doing the roading work, rather than bringing in outside contractors, has real advantages. It gives local people a greater sense of ownership of the road, and it also means the money stays in the local community.

Helping to build administrative skills in Bougainville

Buka, Bougainville Mentoring provided bv VSA volunteer Norah Riddick means staff at Callan Services in Bougainville now have the administrative skills they need to effectively manage and deliver clinical services to people with disabilities. Callan Services provides education and community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities, from babies to the elderly. It has seven staff in Buka and four in Arawa. When Norah, a physiotherapist, first began her assignment she worked with the staff to help them develop the skills they need to manage physical disability. But it soon became clear that their lack of administrative skills was making staff to help them improve their business management and administrative skills. Now, staff at both of Callan Services Bougainville branches are able to prepare financial reports, collect and record statistics about their clients, and put together accurate reports for their funders. Previously they had no proper systems in place, which made it hard to keep track of what they were doing and where they were spending their money, says Norah. Now both branches have their finances under control and they keep regular records about the clients they have seen, which means they can work more effectively.

Norah helps Elizabeth, 3, practise her balancing skills.

it hard for them to manage their clinical work. Using the experience she gained while running her own physiotherapy practice, Norah started working with the

Our stories

Improving the computer literacy of primary school teachers in PNG

Kokopo, Papua New Guinea Teachers at Vunapope International Primary School (VIPS) in Kokopo have overcome their fear of computers and now use laptops to do things such as prepare and store lesson plans and enter test results following ICT training with VSA volunteer Mike Stewart. Mike, a primary school teacher who arrived at VIPS in April 2011, worked with the schools 25 teachers, helping them develop the basic computer skills they need to work faster and more efficiently. He says that before he arrived most of the teachers were scared of touching computers. Now almost all of them have their own laptops which they use to prepare lesson plans, make Power Point presentations, enter test results and generate reports. It means theyre a lot more efficient and they can save a lot of time. They are definitely more independent and more motivated as a result of having the laptops. That means the learning at the school is more effective too. The principal, Mr Maidang, is delighted with the progress his staff have made. Mike is helping to create a positive momentum around computers and all the teachers and staff want to get involved.

Mike Stewart works with students at VIPS.

Helping to provide clean drinking water in Kiribati

Kiritimati Island, Kiribati About 500 people on Kiritimati Island now have access to clean drinking water thanks to four new rainwater harvesting systems built with the help of VSA volunteer Kate Cushing. Kate worked with a local contractor and his crew to install guttering and downpipes onto the roofs of two large community buildings, and to build four large concrete-block cisterns nearby. Rainwater collected from the roofs is fed through underground pipes into the cisterns, each of which can hold up to 100,000 litres of water. They also installed two smaller systems that use a similar technique to feed rainwater water into plastic tanks. One system has two tanks of 9000 litres of water each, and the other system has a tank that holds 25,000 litres. The rainwater harvesting systems are part of a New Zealand Aid Programmefunded project to provide poor I-Kiribati with reliable sources of clean drinking water. Variable rainfall patterns, exacerbated by climate change, affect the

Improving waste management in Vanuatu

Luganville, Vanuatu

Mary OReilly (centre) helps launch the new composting scheme at Luganville Market.

Kate Cushing talking to her local colleagues on-site.

supply of fresh water in the low-lying country. Ground water is not only scarce, it is also needs to be boiled to make it drinkable. The local women have to boil the water on open fires using coconut husks, which is very time-consuming, says Kate. The smoke is also bad for the local air quality. Having access to clean drinking water will free the women up for more productive activities, and help create a better environment."

A new composting scheme set up at the Luganville Market with help from VSA volunteer Mary OReilly will take pressure off the local landfill by turning 50 tonnes of organic waste generated at the market every year into 10 tonnes of nutrient-rich compost. The scheme is the first market composting scheme in Vanuatu. The waste is being composted in a largescale wooden bin designed by Mary and built using materials and labour donated by Santo Hardware. The bin, which is 6m long and 2m wide, is a key action in the Sanma Province and Luganville Municipality

Waste Management Plan 20132016. The composting scheme is the first of many projects being rolled out over the next three years to help reduce waste in the province. Mary, who has many years experience in waste reduction management in New Zealand, is helping the market staff learn how to make compost using fruit and vegetable scraps, as well as grass clippings from the Municipality gardens. She says initially the market mamas will be able to take the finished product home to use on their gardens, but it's hoped that eventually the scheme will create enough compost to sell to the public.

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

VSA : 201213

In the 2012 2013 financial year VSA volunteers shared their skills in 166 assignments across the wider Pacific.

114
62 916 2073 482
Our highlights

Assignments by length They worked with 114 partner organisations in nine countries Papua New Guinea (including Bougainville), Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Kiribati and Timor-Leste. We worked with another 62 partner organisations to develop or scope new assignments. Our volunteers spent a total of 916 months in the field the equivalent of 76 years. Their ages ranged from 20 to 73; 56% were women and 44% were men. 482 new people registered their interest with VSA. Assignments by region 103 long-term

63 short term

Our volunteers undertook a record number of assignments during the year 166 in total. The number of VSA Facebook followers broke the 1000 barrier in January 2013. 192 VSA supporters attended the 50th anniversary Congress in November and 250 came to the celebration dinner. We redeveloped the VSA website so that it can be used on all devices, including smart phones and tablets. We established five new partnerships with New Zealand companies, educational institutions and NGOs, and several regional partners. The number of partnership volunteer assignments increased from two to 11. We developed a climate change policy to help VSA reduce its carbon footprint. Melanesia Melanesia 66%

Polynesia 18% Asia 16%

Papua New Guinea 32 volunteers Vanuatu 32 volunteers Bougainville 23 volunteers Solomon Islands 21 volunteers Fiji 2 volunteers Samoa 13 volunteers Tonga 13 volunteers Kiribati 3 volunteers Tokelau 1 volunteer Timor-Leste 26 volunteers

Polynesia

Asia

Making women count

Sisters doing it for more than themselves

On a recent field trip to Timor-Leste VSA Communications Manager Lesley Smeardon was impressed by how motivated women were to lift themselves and their families and communities out of poverty.

Women packaging Ikan Di'ak dried fish on Atauro Island in Timor-Leste.

Madalena Borges (left) shows her bread rolls to HAFOTI director Dortia Kese.

n August I was lucky to visit Timor-Leste. The conversations I had and the people I met during my trip confirmed just how vital women are in driving development in helping to lift themselves out of poverty and in driving improvements for their families and communities. Take Madelena Borges, one of a group of seven women living in the district of Maliana who was given breadmaking training and support via a small microcredit loan from HAFOTI (see p.10). Madelena set up a small kiosk to sell her bread and other general items. She used the money she made ($25 to $30 a day) to reinvest in her business and send her three children to university in Dili. Lola dos Reis, Managing Director of microfinance organisation Moris Rasik, says that more than 95 percent of the 10,500 people currently receiving its loans are women. The loans are used for a variety of income-generating opportunities including stalls at the local Dili plant nursery (over 50 of her women sell at the nursery), setting up warungs (very small village cafes), or buying more trucks for a truck hire business. Women are not only eager to grow their income, they are creative in their choice of ventures. Lola believes the loans to be hugely empowering. Women can now contribute financially to the family, and that immediately means behavioural change where they feel more able to speak out about household issues and win greater respect from their husbands. The drive to improve the lives of their children and communities is what seems to fuel such entrepreneurial spirit. World Bank research shows women contribute 90 percent of their income back to their family and community. This is in contrast to men who contribute just 30 to 40 percent. Timor-Leste NGO Empreza Di'ak was set up in 2010 to help remote communities develop local products for local markets. One of its projects, Ikan Di'ak, is helping remote fishing communities develop dried fish products to sell locally. Ariana Almeida, Emprezas Programme Manager, believes womens involvement in the project is helping to bring income back to the community.
Vista Making women count

Its easy to say weekly incomes have increased from $8 to $80 per family as a result of the project, she says. But the real benefits are so much harder to quantify. When we first visited communities to give training we said that all the community needed to be there. But only the men would turn up, so wed go away again until the women were present. At that time women were just not engaged in selling fresh fish. Now, with the fish drying business, it is predominantly the women who do the drying. In fact, the women now buy the fish from the men and then dry the fish and receive the money

Women can now contribute financially to the family, and that immediately means behavioural change where they feel more able to speak out about household issues and win greater respect from their husbands.
directly, rather than receiving just a proportion of the money from the men. Thats very empowering. In some ways, as Ariana says, the substantial increase in income is really only a small part of what is happening. Empowerment and the belief that things can be different is far more potent because it is changing minds. Women are realising what a huge part they can play in improving the lives of their families by using their own skills and motivations. They just need to be given the opportunities. Over the last three years seven VSA volunteers have worked with Empreza Di'ak, HAFOTI and Moris Rasik. There are plans to send more volunteers to both Empreza Di'ak and HAFOTI in the near future.

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Cooking up a better future

With support from three VSA volunteers, members of a womens organisation in Timor-Leste are now much better equipped to boost their incomes by making and selling products at their local markets.

Dominiga Mirta, right, and fellow HAFOTI members in Liquisa district.

VSA coming helped everything ... and we are able to carry on the work. Dortia Kese HAFOTI Director
hen VSA volunteer Tanya Wilkinson started her assignment as a Marketing Adviser at Hamahon Feto Timor (HAFOTI) in February 2011, the womens organisation was struggling. Its donor funding had almost run out, most of the staff were new, the financial systems were in disarray, and the amount of money the organisation generated for its members was very low just US$1500 in the 2010/2011 financial year. Things were so difficult that the newly-appointed director, Dortia Kese, wondered whether HAFOTI which helps train women in seven of Timor-Lestes 13 districts to make and sell products to earn additional money for their families would even be able to keep going. Almost three years and two more VSA volunteers later, HAFOTI is in much better shape. The organisation, which also provides microfinance services to its members, has secured funding until the end of 2014 from its two main donors Caritas New Zealand and Misereor Germany. It has good financial and record-keeping systems, a better supply and payment process, and new branding, promotion and packaging. In February 2012 it opened a small shop in its Dili office which had a turnover of $8600 during the 2012/2013 financial year.

Dominigas de Concecao at her sewing machine.

The total income generated by sales at the shop and through outlets such as Dili supermarkets and local markets has increased dramatically, from just $1500 to $12,915 in the last financial year. This has helped the organisations 152 women members to pay for things like school fees and essential household items. VSA coming helped everything, says Dortia. Mana (Sister) Tanya helped set up everything she helped with the finance and trained Mana Lily, our marketing officer, and Ansel, the credit officer. She also helped with donor proposals, and we are able to carry on the work. Now, thanks to training provided by short-term volunteers Chloe Pinel and Miang Lim, HAFOTI and its members are better equipped to face their next challenge adapting to the new economic climate created when the UN peacekeeping forces left Timor-Leste after 13 years at the end of 2012. According to Karen Horton, VSAs Timor-Leste Programme Manager, previously many of the products made by HAFOTIs members were aimed at the expat market. They were selling things that appeal to foreigners, or malae, like scented soap and body scrubs, she says. After the peacekeepers left, HAFOTI realised they would have to diversify their product range. As well as making things suitable to sell to malae, they also needed to make things they could sell to Timor-Lestes
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VSA volunteer Chloe Pinel (centre) with HAFOTI members in the Dili shop.

VSA volunteer Tanya Wilkinson (centre back) with a group of HAFOTI members.

VSA volunteer Miang Lim (left) at a training workshop.

emerging middle class. But, more importantly for their sustainability, they needed to make local products that appeal to local people and can be bought in local markets. Following training with Chloe Pinel, a Textile Design Adviser, and Miang Lim, a Food Production Adviser, the women have added several new products to their range, such as school bags, school uniforms, bread and cakes, which they are able to sell locally. Among those to benefit from the training is Domingas de Concecao, who lives in the village of Talitu in Aileu district. She was one of 23 women from the seven districts who attended sewing training courses with Chloe, learning how to make a range of products including several different styles of clothing and two kinds of bags a shoulder bag and a school satchel. After returning to her village Dominigas made and sold 120 satchels for $4.50 each. She is now able to send her own children to school. Another woman, Dominiga Mirta from Liquia district, was one of 30 HAFOTI members who trained with Miang earlier this year, learning how to make new food products suitable for selling either in their local markets or in the HAFOTI shop. Miang worked with the women to help them decide which products they would like to focus on, ranging from those that
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could be sold fresh to those with a long shelf life. They eventually settled on four main products banana cake, cassava cake, bread rolls and vegetable chips. Miang then ran a series of workshops, showing them how to safely prepare and cook cakes and bread, and fry vegetable chips, using the very basic kerosene or wood-fired ovens available to women in rural areas. Previously, the women in Dominigas HAFOTI group had only been making handicrafts. Following the training with Miang they have added food products to their repertoire, including bread which they sell at their local market. Dominiga has used the money she has earned to help pay school fees for her eight children. Shes also been able to buy new things for her house and even some pigs. Karen Horton says the cakes are proving to be a particularly useful source of income. They sell well at local markets and at special events such as a recent mass baptism in Maliana district. The families involved ordered cakes from seven local HAFOTI members, for which they were paid a total of $320. The cakes are great because they use local ingredients such as bananas and cassava, and the women were thrilled to learn how to make them because they realised that no other women were selling them in the markets, she says.
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Plenty to smile about

f youre visiting Talamahu Market in Nukualofa check out the Treasure Island stall selling handmade jewellery on the first floor. Youre bound to get a friendly greeting from the owner, Susitina Tesi, thanks to a customer service workshop she attended in July that was organised with help from VSA volunteer Ali Riley. One of the lessons she learned during the workshop was the importance of greeting customers particularly tourists and engaging them in conversation to make them feel welcome. It helped me learn that you need to say hello, and to ask them their name, and to tell them about my name, she says. And also to say that our stuff is from Tonga and we made it by hand. Susitina is one of hundreds of mostly women vendors at Talamahu Market. She set up Treasure Island with her family two years ago. They make and sell jewellery such as shell bracelets and necklaces and carved bone pendants. As well as providing vital income for her family, the business also provides employment for Susitinas three older children, all of whom work at the market with her. As a relatively new business owner Susitina was pleased to have the opportunity to join 11 other handicraft vendors at the customer service workshop run by the Tonga Handicraft and Cultural Tourism Support Programme (HCTSP). HCTSP is funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme. The aim is to help improve the quality and marketing of handicrafts and local tours and increase incomes for Tongan artisans and tourism operators. VSA UniVol Ali Riley, who is working as an Administration and Marketing Assistant with HCTSP, helped organise the customer service workshop, one of a series of handicraft and tourism support training workshops held in Nukualofa in July. Sustina learned a range of skills, from how to greet a customer to how to package products in an attractive way once they have made a sale. She immediately put her new skills into practice with good results. People like it, she says.

Susitina Tesi at her Treasure Island stall in Nukualofa Market.

A selection of shell jewellery handmade by Susitina Tesi and her family.

Giving women farmers a voice

ore than 200 members of an organisation that represents women farmers in East New Britain joined VSA volunteer Jessica Bensemann at a special ceremony to present their new strategic plan to the Provincial Government in Kerevat on 5 September. The women from the East New Britain Women & Youth in Agriculture Cooperative Society Association (ENBWYiA) had plenty to celebrate including the fact that for the first time their views had been taken into account while developing the strategic plan. Earlier this year, Jessica, who is working as a Business Development Adviser with ENBWYiA, ran a series of 15 workshops for ENBWYiA members to talk about what they wanted the organisation to do and what their needs are. Almost 300 women attended the workshops. They belong to
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Jessica Bensemann with ENBWYiA members handing over their new strategic plan.

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Seeds of success
ula Timo has learned so much from working with Samoabased volunteer Glenn Cant on a new scheme growing and selling high-end salad vegetables to local restaurants and resorts that she has now started a small business of her own, growing basil in her home garden. Sula is one of five fulltime staff who work with Glenn in the outdoor garden and tunnel house in Poutasi Village, growing salad vegetables like mesclun, rocket and fresh herbs which they sell to about 15 hotels, restaurants and cafes in Apia and several resorts on the south coast of Upolu. Sula, who is married with four children, started working in the garden almost a year ago and she is now a senior member of the garden staff. The money she earns provides important income for her family. I work to help my family to pay school fees, for church commitments, and to pay bills, she says. At first she knew little about gardening, but she says that working with Glenn, an experienced horticulturalist, means she now knows how to grow a wide range of vegetables like cucumber, Chinese cabbage, and tomatoes. I used to not know how to grow things, but now I have planted a small garden at my home. Recently she took her home-gardening skills a step further and started growing basil on contract to the Poutasi scheme. She also took a Start Your Own Business course at the Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) the first small business training course to get accredited by the Samoa Qualifications Authority thanks to VSA volunteer Jackie Fuller and her colleagues at the SBEC. Glenn says Sula is now well placed to expand her homegardening business. Growing the basil will provide her with a good income on top of the wages she gets from the garden, and there is potential to develop her own little business further by growingother crops for us to distribute.

Sula Timo (centre) with VSA volunteer Glenn Cant (second from left) and her colleagues in the outdoor garden in Poutasi Village.

Sula Timo uses her wages to pay for things like school fees for her children.

25 affiliated cooperatives made up of 700 women farmers, most of whom started growing and selling crops such as taro and fresh vegetables after the cocoa bod borer devastated the local cocoa industry in 2006. Jessica decided to involve the women in the workshops when she realised that few of them had ever been consulted about what they thought the organisation should be doing. Originally I thought wed just have a short workshop with the board of directors and the senior people to come up with a strategic plan. Then I realised that what was missing was the voices of the farmers themselves. Jess says that taking part in the workshops helped the women gain confidence and a sense of ownership of their organisation. There has been a much greater level of engagement with
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government departments and other stakeholders theyre being recognised in a more professional manner. This is already starting to pay off, with members from six ENBWYiA cooperatives now involved in a PNG$2 million (NZ$1.02 million) research project being funded by the World Bank to help reintroduce cocoa farming in East New Britain. They have also been given PNG$100,000 (NZ$45,582) to help implement work plans from the strategic plan. The Minister of Finance, the Honorable James Marape, presented them with the cheque at the launch ceremony. For the women themselves, the consultation process came as a revelation: We were lost in the desert but after going through the workshops we feel we have something to step on, said member Bertha Kamit. There is now light at the end of a dark tunnel.
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Tips for life on the trail

Pip Desmond gives her top tips on how to make the most of being an accompanying partner on a VSA assignment.

Pip and Pat arrive home on their trusty scooter.

m on a two-year VSA posting in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, with my husband Pat Martin (see above). Hes a Communications Adviser for World Vision and Imwell, Im a trailing spouse as the Aussies so elegantly put it. The Kiwi term is accompanying partner, which doesnt seem as reluctant but still makes me sound like a spare suitcase. Either way, Ive ended up in this fascinating new country without a specific role to anchor me. Five months down the track, here are a few survival tips. Stop and smell the roses Every day I sit on my porch watching the comings and goings in my family compound. Kids sidle over to check out what Im eating and forage round the tamarind tree for the sour pods they suck like sweets. Women wash clothes and sweep, search each others hair for nits, jiggle babies in the shade. Pigs and chooks keep the rubbish at bay. I call it anthropology. Pat says Im nosy. Get out and aboutslowly The hardest thing about being jobless is not having a shape to your days. The flip side is freedom. I often leave home with only a vague destination. The Timorese are a friendly lot. They seem to sense Im not in a rush. People ask me where Im from, my age, how I plan to cook the pumpkin Ive just bought, if I like their country. Their spirit and humour make up for the dirt and heat that sometimes overwhelm me.

Exploring Dili with Olda, a tourism student at the Dili Institute of Technology.

Pat shares family snapshots at a vege co-op in Aileu, three hours from Dili.

Learn the language VSA gets you started with Tetun lessons. It takes perseverance and post-it notes all over the house to improve. But even a little language opens doors. Knowing that ho balu (half past), literally means and some helps to understand the fluid Timorese sense of time. And I love the optimism of sedauk (not yet), which is what single people of all ages tell you if you ask them if theyre married. Follow your interests Ive watched women crouch over open fires in a traditional food competition, been to a conference on Understanding Timor-Leste, applauded two girls who cracked words like empannage and flagitious to win Dilis first high school Spelling Bee. If you turn up at a meeting about disappeared people or the future of Timors petroleum fund, youll not only learn heaps but probably get fed.
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Share your passion Mines writing. I blog to make sense of what I see. Kees Sprengers takes photos, Katy Buess runs drawing classes. They've also trailed into Dili with their VSA volunteer spouses. Teaching English is satisfying and sought after. The university students I tutor one night a week are Timors greatest resource. But beware. Protect your space or soon youll find you have no time for anything else. Become a domestic god(dess) Everything takes longer here. Water and power go off. There are fewer mod cons and more dust. You have to shop around for food. If all thats sorted, we can head to the beach on the scooter to watch the sun set. Pats job has brought us to Timor. Its a great adventure to share. Having time to find my own way is a rare gift. Its often awesome, occasionally awful, and never without awe.
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VSA: making women count

When women have good health , the time and the opportunity to increase their incomes they can lift their families out of poverty. For women in the Pacific countries where VSA works, economic empowerment often comes from their involvement in the informal economy, particularly through selling produce at local markets .
VSA is working with its partners to offer training to women to help them develop local products to sell in local markets: selling new food products and supporting communities to produce food locally that is currently imported such as in Timor-Leste where 75% of dried fish consumed is imported from Indonesia. Local production makes sense. offering simple business training so profits can be used to support ongoing work, improve community conditions and support children into education.

US

$47 billion

the amount lost in the Asia-Pacific region each year because women dont have the same access to employment prospects as men* the amount of womens earned income reinvested in their families and communities**

90%
30- 40%

the amount of mens earned income income reinvested in their families and communities** the number of partner organisations VSA is working with on projects specifically supporting women the number of women VSA volunteers coached or mentored between July 2012 and June 2013
* Ausaid factsheet: Women in the Pacific challenges and opportunities (2012) **World Bank

15 3,616

Donate today
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You can help Make Women Count by supporting the work VSA volunteers do to help women in the wider Pacific gain economic independence and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Every $25 you donate to our Make Women Count appeal puts

you in the draw to win a hamper of beautiful products made by partner organisations throughout the Pacific. Use the donation form attached to this page. Just fill it out and post it to us you can use the Freepost option but a stamp saves us the cost of postage!

Making women count

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VSA
WHERE OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE WORKING TO SUPPORT WOMEN ACROSS THE WIDER PACIFIC

MELANESIA

Liz Hicks

Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre, Chabai, Bougainville.

Viktoria Degerman

Buka General Hospital, Bougainville

Tom Brosnan

Arawa Womens Centre Lodge, Bougainville

Moniek Kindred

World Vision PNG, Bougainville

EAST NEW BRITAIN PNG BOUGAINVILLE

Jane Rutledge

World Vision Vanuatu, Santo

Izzy Eadie

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Chris Smart

St Marys Hospital, Kokopo

Kylie Enoka

Sistas Savve, Honiara

Dept of Co-operatives and Ni-Vanuatu Business Services

Linda Bennie
VANUATU

Marni Gilbert
UN Women, Honiara

Sanma Provincial Tourism Association Luganville

Karen Roberts
UN Women, Port Vila

TIMOR-LESTE

POLYNESIA

SAMOA

Sharyn Cant

Poutasi Arts Centre Poutasi village

TIMOR-LESTE

Glenn Cant

Poutasi Farmers Association

Stephen Judson
Moris Rasik, Dili.

Alison Riley Chris Manson

Moris Rasik, Dili. Langafonua Handicrafts

Wendy Roger

Tonga Business Enterprise Centre

Paige Marshall
Women in Sustainable Enterprises
TONGA

Suzanne Dally
Langafonua Handicrafts

Find out more at www.vsa.org.nz

Te Tu aoTa wa hi Volunteer Service Abroad Inc is a registered charity ( CC36739 ) under the Charities Act 2005