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Ana Charter KOIFAWP ibukin nikiran bwain tangke ioan 4 abamwakoron Kiribati.

E mwananga ana Charter KOIFAWP ae MV Aratobwa n tairikin te Kaabong 30/06/2022 ibukin nikiran bwain Tangke I Abemama, Nonouti, Tabiteuea Maiaki ao ai Tabiteuea Meang ao n okira Tarawa n tairikin te Kaonobong 09/07/2022. Aio te tangke are e a bon roko naba ma bwain autina. E iraki iroun ana aobitia KOIFAWP temanna ae te Gender and Youth Officer (GYO) ae Teruabine Anna Nuariki are e a karaoa naba te bowi ma Kauntira n abamwakoro ibukin kamataata ma rinanoan riki aia boraraoi kaain te Water User Groups (WUGs), are 6 nakon 7 n auti are ana kabongana te tangke n ran. E aki reke ana maroro ma Nonouti ibukina bwa e bon tuai uki kawaran ana abamwakoro.

E roko I Abemama n te Kanimabong 01/07/2022 ao n butimwaeaki iroun te Island Facilitating Officer man KOIFAWP ae Kamaawa Ioane ma kaain aia tiim ao ai kaain te WUGs ake ana kawaerakei ao man anai bwain aia tangke. E kabanea uabong ana bong n kawaerakei kakoon Abemama ibukin kamwaingan bwain aia tangke n ran.  E bon karaoaki te boowi ma kauntira n te kauoua n bong imwain nakon te kaibuke.

 E roko I Nonouti n te Tabati 03/07/2022 ao n kabanea uabong n kawaerakei kaakon Nonouti ao man kitana Nonouti nako Tabiteuea Meang ao n roko ikekei n tairikin te Moanibong 04/07/2022.

Man ana babaronga ma ana ibuobuoki te bonomwi n kiraaka ao ana tetewe nakon te boowi n kauntira ao e a reke naba angan te boowi ma kauntira ao n raonaki irouia aia tia tei aika Taberannang Timeon ao te minita Hon Tarakabu Tofinga man MOJ. E a kabwarabwaraaki iai aron barongaan kakoroan bwain Tangke n ran ibukin ana botannaomata are e nikiraki n ana Charter KOIFAWP ae LC Aratobwa. E bon bane naba n te bong anne te kaako ao man aia ibuobuoki kaain te kaawa ae Eita are a uraki kaako, ao a bon bane n tan raoi aia kaako n kawakinaki n aia tabo n kaako bukina bwa akea kaain te ‘WUGs/ ‘Wake’ aika a roko n butimwaai bwain aia tangke. E bwenako naba n te tairiki anne nako n kaea Tabiteuea Maiaki ao n roko I Tabiteuea Maiaki.

Te kakuba n te babaronga ae e nakoraoi man ana itera te Island Facilitating Officer are e a kaman roko ma kaain ana tiim, ni ikotaki ma kaain kaawa nako ibukin butimaean bwain aia tangke n ran. Kaain Taku a kaman roko naba ao n urakini bwain aia tangke n ana bwaati te kauntira nakon aia atimwakoro. Ibukina bwa e iara taari e a iremwe te uraki ao n ana tenibong.

Man aia kaeka kauntira man abamwakoro ake 3 ao e oti te nano n boutoka nakon te karikirake ae KOIFAWP ibukin buokaia kaain aia abamwakoro n te ununiki ma karekean tangke ibukin karekean te ran ae e itiaki ake a nikiraki n ana charter KOIFAWP n karokoa n aia tabo. E ngae ngke e iremwe te kakao nakon te bowi ibukin aron mwamwanangan te kaibuke ma te karabwarabwa man te KOIFAWP bwa a bon babane kaain te bowi n kauntira n roko n kaota ingaingaia nakon ana kaongora te KOIFAWP ibukin buokan aia kanganga kaain aia abamwakoro n irekereke ma te ran ao te ununiki.

Karaian bwain Tangke i Abemama.                                                     Te Assistant Agriculture i Tab South. Warekan mwaiti arokana                         Urakinan bwain aia tangke Kaain te Water User Group i bemama

       Karaian bwain tangke irouiia kaain Eita, Tab North                                                                Te warebwai ma kaain te WUGS ibukin bwain aia tangke

Ibukin aki taun te kaibuke ao aikoa kona n bane ana kaako KOIFAWP ibukiia abamwakoro aikai ngaia are a manga tataninga ana kauoua n charter kaain abamwakoro aikai ibukin kakoroaia are e katautauaki bwa nakon te Kanimabong ae 22/07/2022 e na manga kitana Tarawa iai. Nibanen aia bwai kaain abamwakoro aikai ao e a manga mwananga naba te charter nakon 5 riki abamwakoro aika Onotoa, Beru, Nikinau, Tamana ma Arorae n nikiri naba bwain aia tangke n ran.

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Women of Tabiteuea South are trained on marcotting practice for multiplying their breadfruit food crops.

The Women’s Development Division (WDD) was created in January 2011 under the Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs and then became part of MWYSA.

The WDD aims to promote gender equality and improve women’s and girls’ status and livelihoods in Kiribati by enabling their equal access to resources, opportunities and rights as well as full participation in economic, social and political life.

The WDD’s responsibilities include developing, implementing and monitoring gender policies and programmes on gender equality, providing technical assistance (e.g. training, financial support) to women’s organizations and other stakeholders, hosting national events and awareness raising activities, collecting data and preparing reports.

It's through the benefits offered to the registered Tabiteuea South Welfare Community Group (WCG) that theKiribati Outer Islands Food and Water Project (KOIFAWP) at Tabiteuea South came in in 2021. It became the 7^th separate group to join the biggest community group on the island, Kamwengaraoi (Welfare Community Group).

Registered groups such as women’s, families, fishermen, agriculturists, NGOs, corporations and other kind of groups wishing to have access to small aid grants are registered under this government ministry where registration is free.

The project, comprising 11 young men and women have joined the Welfare Community Group (WCG) and have participated in planned activities formulated by its executives in its monthly meetings.

Prior to joining the WCG, the KOIFAWP team have been working and conducted training with six villages from the island encompassing youths, women and men.

 Trainings conducted by KOIFAWP team were on plumbing, house construction, media and knowledge management, human right, goal setting, Johari Window, gender mainstreaming, sensitivity and establishing women and community organization. They have had training on agroforestry, data collection, electronic reporting tools that they are working with.

Tabiteuea South WCG have ongoing trainings conducted by MWYSSA such as cooking, sewing and making local handicrafts.

As in the case of KOIFAWP team, the reason for joining the Island WCG (Kamwengaraoi), is to work and know members so they can propose home gardening to be included as one of the adopted activities established in every homes.

The SCG is a registered organization and is fully recognized and supported by the Island Council.

The KOIFAWP team has not established their own community but they join the Kamwengaraoi (Island Welfare Community) for benefits that are available to members only such as trainings on cooking, sewing, handicrafts-making, exclusive training for men.

Furthermore, monthly meetings are conducted where important tasks and issues are addressed, needs and concerns or issues are discussed to rectify the situation.

With the full support of the Island Council to WCG, KOIFAWP team is now engaged with the island’s welfare group where they hope to involve members with their home gardening plans.

                                                                                  ENDS

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 Organic farming has become one of the most sought- after part time job for women looking for self-sufficiency in home gardening in Kiribati. Organic farming, the only practiced method for both subsistence and cash crop farming since the early 1990s since the abolition of fertilizers in the country.

Since the introduction of growing newly introduced food crops into the country by the Agriculture   Division, women has taken over the agribusiness industry, through trainings and workshops. They sustain their farms with the help of their children who assisted by collecting organic waste materials such as green and brown leaves, sea-weed collection, watering the garden and learning to sell marketable produce.

The Kiribati Outer Islands Food and Water Project’s funded IFAD project has empowered women through numerous trainings conducted on the nine established project islands implemented in the Southern

Empowering women through the project’s training on Humans Right, Goal Setting, Johari Windows, Gender Mainstreaming, Sensitivity and Establishing women’s Organization has been provided.

Cultural Aspects: Culturally, I Kiribati women tend to be left out from decision-making, training, education and employment. In the late 1960s, women lived in the capital as housewives and the government work force was mostly men during the colonial era.

It was in the early 80s when an abrupt change came into being. Young girls flocked secondary schools and office spaces.

As of now, the government work force now is about 70% made up of women in Kiribati.

They have become heads of their households with equal rights as men in decision-making and running the household.

Independent.

 Compared to women living in the 1970s and a woman of today, the traditional custom where decision-making were left to men has now been reversed.

Top government positions have been filled with more than 60% of women holding top positions and most of the jobs.

In today’s trend, most government, businesses and private sectors are mostly occupied by women.

From the women’s perspectives, money is the leading factor to their independence.

House wives have moved to take on sustainable small-scale farming. This empowers them to earn from their own garden plot, sell the surplus produce and earn their own money which gives them independence.

They are no longer reliant on their husbands for household needs and have enough set aside for their children’s school needs.

Community. Tending a home garden and filling it with leafy vegetables, fruits and edible crops with tubers needs community efforts. Most communities are run by women and they looked after each member’s needs. The practice is to help with home gardening, digging trenches, collecting compost, provide plants and establish home gardens.

Organic farming needs organic matter demonstrated during one of the trainings on project outer islands.

The women consider that independence results from interdependency on community resources. They are interested in securing the independence of the family unit, not themselves as individuals.

Decentralisation.

Locally grown and imported foods is very important and one of the women’s roles per household inchoosing what the family needs to eat on a daily basis. Women decide what should be consumed and the surplus is set aside.

Markets are also set up by women who run it and decide for themselves what produce are marketable. Marketable products are freshly picked from the women’s home gardens and delivered directly to customers or sold at markets.

Locally produced goods by women are brought to the markets with price tags and unsaleable goods are collected at the end of the day.

Harmony with nature.

Land in Kiribati is an issue as there is not enough land or shortage of land to set aside for farming purposes.

Every space, tiny or big is set aside for building houses.

Protecting the land for now and for future generations is high on the women’s agenda for future generations.

The new elements:

Agricultural practices for fast-growing crops such as cabbage are planted. Women plant these for cash crops and at the same time to prevent soil erosion, increase nutrients in the soil and provide organic matter.

Organic farming is being practiced and controlled by lots of women groups such as church groups, youth groups headed by women, backyard home gardeners and vendors of surplus vegetables.

Healthy lives for promoting wellbeing for all ages are being directed by women different groups through sustainable organic farming.

Ends

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By IF Terengauea Maio & CKMO Rosalind Kiata

Over three-hundred kind of food crops are successfully grown inside four giant taro pit that have lain fallow for years. The giant taro pit has been remodelled using terracing methods to plant other food crops using a small piece of land. Barenaba Itaia, one of many active farmers whose interests in giant taro cultivation had extended to other food crop planting had remodelled his 4 giant taro pits by planting giant taro and kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica) down at the water level, taro plants on a muddy bank. On the first terrace he plants Ceylon spinach, the second terrace up is covered with bananas and papayas, followed by kumara patch and on the ground level you could find drumsticks, breadfruits, chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius), iamaii, iaroo (Pseuderanthemum whartonianum), seeded and non-seeded breadfruit trees.

Around Barenaba’s home are patches of kumara and pumpkins. Barenaba Itaia left his home island of Nonouti as a young boy to attend a Catholic Secondary School in the capital, Tarawa where he met his wife. He accompanied his wife to live at Makin, first island north in the Kiribati Chain. They both shared the same interest in growing and cultivating food crops.

However, in the year 2015, Barenaba took his family, his wife, 2 sons and a daughter to his home island of Nonouti following his absence of 8 years. Arriving home, he found that there were 4 giant taro pits left with not much crops inside. Most of the giant taros did not survive due to the long drought which is only natural to the island’s continuous dry spells.  He saw that the crops will not be enough for his family future needs so he and his wife decided to fill all the four fallow pits and grow more crops.

Meanwhile, Barenaba and his wife, Nei Takatu discussed plans to make a giant taro-terraced model after several visits by KOIFAWP’s Component 2 Manager in 2016 with plans to include planting a variety of food crops in a small area. The couple readily agreed to try out the terraced model using the fallow giant taro pits.

However, faced with no tool, the couple and their two young children aged 9 and 6, struggled on by borrowing shovels, spades and crowbars to make 3-4 ladder-like steps to form terraces. As new settlers to the island, following their relocation from the wife’s home island of Makin, first island north in the Kiribati chain to Barenaba Itaia’s home island of Nonouti in the central Kiribati, his wife made hundred thatched-roofs for the bungalows that they will build for their sleeping house and the other for eating house, kitchen, bathroom and a house sheltering the well-water that they used for all domestic purposes. The well has a house build on it to protect the underground water from evaporation as the island is very hot. He built a wall about 3 ft high to protect it from wandering and stray pigs, dogs, cats and chicken. The wall acted also as a protection against his young children from falling into the well.

Over the years, Barenaba’s family overcome their first and second plans of building a home and introducing a terraced model for unused fallow pits.The family arrived in Nonouti about 2 years since the inception of the project but they joined it immediately aware of the benefits the project will bring. The family have been very active with home gardening from Takatu’s home island of Makin and they were not new to the home gardening activity etc. Giant taro cultivation is daily task at Makin since the giant taro is a staple food that the island people cannot do without and the island always face a lot of rain making it a ideal place for growing food crops. With full support from the project, Barenaba and his family was and is still the best successful household home garden throughout Nonouti and the other 3 original islands.

He became the role model and champ by introducing a terraced model to a fallow pit and planting many kinds of edible crops using terraces as for limited land. The little land used in the terraced model can provide a family with lots of different foods ranging from fruit trees, root crops and leafy vegetables starting from the water lens to the top soil or ground level. For his determination and success back home, Barenaba had been invited to attend workshops in Tarawa where he shared his life experiences starting from hardships to his success in home gardening using unused giant taro pits for terracing models as well as gene bank for varieties of local food crops.His efforts and determination had also given him and his family more hopes in future. His hard labour had paid off by eating various kinds of foods readily available from such a small piece of land that he had remodelled to his family needs.