This project is being jointly undertaken in Vanuatu by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, the Vanuatu Credit Union League (VCUL) and the National Council of Chiefs (Malvatumauri) and is being sponsored by UNESCO (“United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation”) and the Government of Japan (“Japanese Funds-In-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”). The project commenced in June 2004.
The stated objectives of the project are :
1) To survey and understand the production processes and investment and banking mechanisms for traditional wealth items in Vanuatu ;
2) To raise awareness of the significance of traditional monies and the need to preserve and continue to transmit the intangible knowledge relating to skills and techniques for the production of these monies ;
3) To develop a strategy for promoting the use of traditional wealth items in Vanuatu;
4) To develop strategies to facilitate the use of traditional wealth items to pay for services currently paid for in cash (eg, school and medical fees), especially in rural areas ;
5) To establish laws and policies at provincial and national level to support the use of traditional wealth items as part of the formal economy of the country ;
6) To strengthen the foundations of the traditional economy within culturally appropriate frameworks with a view to stimulating income-generation within local populations ;
7) To provide infrastructure resources needed to establish effective and viable “traditional money banks” ;
8) To establish the viability for extending this concept to other areas of Melanesia.
At a more ambitious level, this project aims to produce a new national strategy for development in Vanuatu that recognises the significant economic resources and “wealth” that already exists at the community level in the rural areas of the country
At the most basic level, the principal objective of the project - to maintain and revitalise living traditional cultural practices whilst stimulating income generation in Vanuatu – will be achieved by:
a) encouraging people who are involved in the production of various forms of traditional wealth (tusked pigs, mats, shell money, etc) to continue producing such wealth ;
b) encouraging people who are primarily involved in the cash economy to access the traditional valuables and use them for ceremonial activities ;
c) facilitating the exchange of cash and traditional wealth items between the informal and formal economic sectors to both generate income for people involved in the traditional sphere of economic life and encourage the revival of traditional practices amongst those primarily involved in the cash economy.
At a much more ambitious level, this project aims to establish legal, policy and infrastructural frameworks to support its objectives through producing a new national strategy for development in Vanuatu that recognises the significant economic resources and “wealth” that already exists at the community level in the rural areas of the country, embodied in the traditional economic structures that have sustained these communities for 1000s of years.
The first activity of the project, a survey of the production processes and investment and banking mechanisms for traditional wealth items in Vanuatu, was completed by Mr Kirk Huffman at the end of 2004 and the survey report was published in July 2005.
** Download the executive summary of the report in English, French and Bislama **
The second activity of the project was a workshop to develop strategies for achieving the objectives of the project at a community level. From the 14th to the 18th of March 2005, the community of Uripiv Island hosted this workshop called “Workshop to recognise and promote the traditional economy as the basis for achieving national self reliance”. Participants in the workshop included chiefs and community leaders from the six provinces of Vanuatu, officers from Provincial Governments and different government departments, officers from statutory bodies and representatives of NGOs. The President of the National Council of Chiefs officially opened the workshop and the Deputy Prime Minister (who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs) officially closed the workshop. The Minister of Education also made an address at the official closing.
At its annual national meeting in early April 2005, the National Council of Chiefs made the decision to change its policy regarding bride price and use of cash in customary ceremonies to fully implement the recommendation of the workshop
The workshop produced a set of recommendations called "The Strategy to Recognise and Promote the Traditional Economy as the Basis for Achieving National Self Reliance". These recommendations were symbolically launched by the Deputy Prime Minister as part of the closing ceremony of the workshop in a “Canoe of self reliance”.
** Download the Strategy in English and Bislama **
Already a number of key recommendations have been realized. At its annual national meeting in early April, the National Council of Chiefs made the decision to change its policy regarding bride price and use of cash in customary ceremonies to fully implement the recommendation of the workshop. In addition, the Council officially endorsed all the other recommendations of the workshop.
The third activity of the project was a higher-level meeting involving key policy-makers in the national capital Port Vila. This meeting was hosted by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs and called the "National Summit for Self Reliance and Sustainability". This Summit produced a further set of recommendations for national policy and other initiatives to support the broader objectives of the project, called the "Vanuatu National Self Reliance Strategy 2020".
** Download the "Vanuatu National Self Reliance Strategy 2020" in English **
The Summit recommendations are now being prepared transformed into a strategy matrix to be submitted to the Government for endorsement. Simultaneously, a submission will be made to the Government to officially declare 2007 the year of the traditional economy.
The third phase (fourth activity) is the implementation phase, to commence in 2006, which will proceed on two fronts: at a more national policy level to get the Vanuatu National Self Reliance Strategy 2020 implemented as much as possible and at a community level to raise awareness about the recommendations of the Action Plan to recognise and promote the traditional economy as the basis for achieving national self reliance and to initiate small pig, mat and shell "banks".
