School of People Environment and Planning

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Browsing School of People Environment and Planning by Subject "440406 Rural community development"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Alternative economic development on customary land in Fiji : how indigenous entrepreneurs blend customary and modern strategies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Rice, Sarah
    This thesis explores an alternative view of Pacific Indigenous entrepreneurs, showing they are weaving together strands of reciprocity, communal activities, traditional knowledge systems and elements of conventional economic practices to enable contextually diverse opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. By highlighting this enabling perspective, this thesis challenges the conventional development view that Pacific Indigenous entrepreneurs are ineffective and that customary land, upon which many of their businesses are based, is a barrier to development. This negative conclusion stems largely from modernist thinking and using conventional economic tools to measure business success. This thesis promotes Pacific Indigenous entrepreneurs and customary land as providing viable development options, by exploring a culturally embedded way to measure a customary land-based business. Findings contribute to a wider understanding of what constrains or enables iTaukei (Indigenous Fijians) entrepreneurs’ agency in bringing about positive change. A ‘hopeful’ post-development approach is utilised to study customary land and development as this approach seeks to expand the field of valid experience, prioritises human assets and agency and supports the ethos of people-centred diverse economics. Fieldwork focused on a Fijian customary land-based business and involving other stakeholders was undertaken during August and September 2018. This study was shaped by the Fijian Vanua Research Framework and an actor-oriented approach. Alongside these approaches, the ethos of Critical Appreciate Inquiry was utilised in this study. The case study findings show the success of the business was predominantly due to honouring customary land practices, which enabled the business to access resources, knowledge and provided a sustainable way to enter the formal economy. Informal partnerships were the basis for the socially and culturally embedded nature of this business, which both ensured support for the business and meant the business reciprocated with the community, thereby achieving inclusive development. These findings have important implications for how Indigenous entrepreneurs, in various cultural contexts, can be better acknowledged for their contributions to development and supported to do business.
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    Connected to Country : the potential of bush tucker and indigenous knowledge to support food and nutrition security within remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, Manawatu
    (Massey University, 2020) Campos, James
    Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples currently experience disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and poor nutritional well-being, especially within remote communities. This alarming situation serves in contrast to millennia of health and prosperity enjoyed by these nations under the traditional food system, prior to European invasion. In addressing these issues, this study explores the potential of traditional foods and food-specific Indigenous knowledge to support present-day food and nutrition security within remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In seeking to privilege the voices of First Peoples, this study draws on the Indigenous narrative tradition of yarning, guided by the concept of dadirri, or deep listening. Findings derived from yarns conducted with four Aboriginal Elders in the remote community of Tennant Creek are supported by an analysis of documents, submitted as part of the ongoing federal government-led inquest into food security and food pricing within remote Indigenous communities. This study revealed that re-invigorating the everyday role of traditional foods and food-related Indigenous knowledge is recognised amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as being both an avenue for improving food and nutrition security, and a significant opportunity to advance the holistic health and wider aspirations of Indigenous communities. However, this study suggests that remote Indigenous communities’ efforts to engage with the traditional food system and to upscale existing grassroots ventures focused on the production of bush foods and the transmission of food-specific Indigenous knowledge remain inhibited by a multitude of structural barriers within post-colonial Australia. Remote Indigenous communities believe external support from government and non-Indigenous Australia is required to maximise the inherent potential of the traditional food system to support food security, nutritional well-being and holistic health outcomes. However, this support remains largely absent. In order to realise these potentials, this study contends that food and nutrition security interventions within remote Indigenous communities must include greater community consultation, invest in the existing capabilities of First Peoples and augment the growth of community-led efforts to retain and rejuvenate food-related knowledge, practices, cultures and traditions.
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    Exploring the roles of women in indigenous businesses based on customary land : case studies from Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Steven, Hennah
    The purpose of this research is to explore how indigenous enterprises based on customary land in Papua New Guinea (PNG) work to empower women. This research is part of the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden project “The land has eyes and teeth”: customary landowners’ entanglements with economic systems in the Pacific that draws upon the notion of land as ‘assemblage’ (Li, 2014). The study brought in a gendered dimension to the project to understand how economic engagements on customary land involve and benefit women. Three examples of small-medium indigenous enterprises from PNG were selected as case studies. Utilising the Pacific Vanua and Tali magimagi influenced research framework, the involvement of women in these cases was examined to understand how they contributed to and benefited from small business engagements on customary land. From executing a mixture of tok stori/stori sessions (storytelling, conversations), semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, the study revealed the significance of indigenous social values and practices that were of critical support to business sustainability on customary land. Women played an important role as the ‘social glue’ within the businesses, maintaining the local value of wanbel to keep social cohesion and harmony within the businesses, communities and, with associated people. This was seen through their work on the maintenance of wellbeing for workers, relatives and communities; meeting socio-cultural obligations and responsibilities, and allowing spiritual values and beliefs to influence their actions and decisions. The desire to maintain these social values influenced the way they behaved. They also played direct business roles as co-managers, financial managers, workers and producers that helped to support business viability and retain customary land for the benefit of the family, clan and community. Further, women benefited from these businesses in various ways including gaining recognition and status in their households and communities. The study shows that customary land ownership is not a barrier to economic development, as widely held perceptions would suggest, rather it is an asset that can facilitate different forms of local development for people and communities in PNG and in the wider Pacific. There is a need to understand economic-centred intentions alongside the social-cultural interests of women to drive context-specific development. A culturally appropriate gender-sensitive framework is proposed in this thesis as an alternative development framework that can guide the work of government policymakers, development agencies and donors to formulate inclusive development programmes that also support women’s other interests in PNG and the Pacific.
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    Rural livelihoods and natural resource sustainability : a case study of two communities on Chiloé Island : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Rural Development at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2005) Bannister Hepp, Alan
    This research examines the relationship between livelihood strategies of rural communities in Chile and local environmental sustainability. It determines livelihood options adopted by local communities and identifies their impact on the surrounding environment. Two case studies are presented using the sustainable livelihood approach as a framework to describe the livelihood strategies of two rural communities in Chiloé Island. Environmental sustainability is investigated using elements and concepts of the FESLM (Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management) approach and of agroecosystem analysis. Both communities were selected because of their location close to extensive areas of native forests. One community is relatively isolated, has a “Huilliche” ethnic tradition, with a predominance of subsistence activities; the other is closer to markets and their livelihoods are primarily derived from farming-forestry systems. Data for the study was collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews with local leaders, relevant local government staff, NGOs, and community members. For the examined cases, results suggest that rural subsistence communities are highly diversified, using their resources in a non-sustainable way; generating livelihood strategies that fail to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions. Low productivity soils, steep slopes, and depleted fragile forest ecosystems create a complex natural resource base. The main causes for the community economic problems are the lack of road networks and markets to sell products to. Organisations in charge of development interventions are aware of the situation but find it difficult to start a sustainable development process, mostly due to a lack of human capital in the communities, notably education, organisational skills, and technology adoption. Future development interventions should tackle the issues that constrain development in these communities, consider rural communities’ context-specific characteristics, value local culture and tradition, facilitate to build social and human capital, ensure integrated management of natural resources, and assist with markets for existing and value-added products produced by local households.