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UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum 5 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22-26 March 2010. Urban populations in Solomon Islands: women, markets and in/security Dr Anita Lacey Department of Political Studies University of Auckland a.lacey@auckland.ac.nz. Locating Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands context.
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UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum 5 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22-26 March 2010 Urban populations in Solomon Islands: women, markets and in/security Dr Anita Lacey Department of Political Studies University of Auckland a.lacey@auckland.ac.nz
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: a.lacey@auckland.ac.nz; Web: http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/staff/index.cfm?S=STAFF_alac003