Urban populations in Solomon Islands: women, markets and in/security
Dr Anita LaceyDepartment of Political StudiesUniversity of [email protected]
UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum 5UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum 5Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22-26 March 2010Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22-26 March 2010
Locating Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands context• Currently ranked 129 in HDI• Linked to own positioning as researcher
in Pacific• Apt example of a global
security/development nexus (Duffield) and the contemporary governance of security and aid
• Apt example of danger of loss of development initiatives to geo-strategic security and market agendas
Honiara as an urban site
• massive growth in the last fifteen years
• growth + concurrent and interlinked livelihood, resource, security, access and sustainability challenges
• linked to a violent and turbulent civil conflict – known locally as ‘the tensions’ – between 1998-2003
Globally small but key features of urban vulnerabilities
– access to clean water; – a lack of access to
adequate shelter; – food insecurity; – personal insecurity,
particularly for women facing gender-based violence;
– a lack of access to healthcare; poor nutrition standards;
– unsustainable urban growth patterns.
The development gaze and urban populations
• +88% live rural subsistence livelihood
• What does this rural/urban divide mean?
• Does the increasingly international development community and regional security community recognise these dual and coexisting populations?
Honiara Central Market
• Honiara’s urban issues in context:– Informal livelihoods
and food security– Rural-urban population
shifts– Sanitation– Shelter– Women’s spaces and
violence against women
Potential for change?
• Potential for development aid actors:– City of Honiara Council
improvement project– Market improvement
project– New Violence Against
Women Office at national government level
• Need for recognition of intersecting vulnerabilities
• Need for dialogue
WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE:• Dr Anita Lacey, Senior Lecturer,
International Relations, Department of Political Studies,University of Auckland, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, Tel: + 64 9 373 7599 extn. 87241; Fax: 64 9 373 7449Email: [email protected]; Web: http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/staff/index.cfm?S=STAFF_alac003