Weaving the Pacific

In 2001, members of Aloua Ma’a Tonga, a women’s development association, identified a local tailor to run evening classes in sewing. Aloua provided sewing items such as needles, threads, pins and patterns while participants catered for their own sewing machines and also paid a small fee to the instructor. In all, 80 women participated in the classes, and today some of them are selling their own items in markets and run their own sewing classes from their homes.

This is one of several stories described in ‘Lalanga Pasifika: Weaving the Pacific’, published by the Pacific Studies Programme, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation.

The book, edited by Arlene Griffen, is fourth in the Lessons in Empowerment series, a project supported by the Commonwealth Foundation’s Documentation Programme. The purpose of the series, which has been running since 1998, is to allow civil society organisations to document and share their experiences in development.

‘Lalanga Pasifika: Weaving the Pacific’ showcases the work of civil society organisations involved in promoting the empowerment of women in the Commonwealth Pacific states of Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.

The three authors – Lia Maka, Adimaimalaga Tafuna’i and Brenda Tohiana – take the reader on a journey through the Pacific, weaving a rich tapestry of women’s experiences in their struggle to empower themselves and their communities. The editor notes in the foreword that this book is more than just a compilation of women’s stories – it also provides important lessons too.

“We are able to get some idea of the real nature of social interactions and power structures and gain some insights into the collaborative and also conflictive relationships among government and business, and the civil society sector,” Ms Griffen writes.

HOW TO ORDER

This title can be bought through booksellers or online at http://publications.thecommonwealth.org/lalanga-pasifika-462-p.aspx

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