More than 60 women market vendors of Nausori will soon have access to safe and secure accommodation as the new $500,000 women’s accommodation centre project has begun.
Minister for Local Government, Premila Kumar says the project was initiated in 2018 to support the hard-working women market vendors who come from villages in Tailevu, Rewa and Naitasiri.
She says these women travel long distances and hours to reach the market to sell their produce and spend their nights on the Nausori market corridor, bus stands or streets, waiting for the markets to open so that they can sell their produce.
Kumar says this project, once completed, will alleviate the worries of the women vendors regarding both weather and personal safety, as well as having to find a place to sleep, a toilet and a bathroom.
She adds the new centre will support rural women vendors by providing comfortable accommodation at a reasonable rate.
Australia’s High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes says it is important to recognise the importance of offering safe, inclusive accommodation for women market vendors.
He says the facility will provide a place of rest for up to eighty women coming from the provinces of Rewa, Naitasiri and Tailevu even as far as Rakiraki.
Feakes says with the ongoing social and economic impacts of COVID-19, local markets make excellent opportunities for economically vulnerable women.
UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Officer, Sandra Bernklau says this marks an important day for the township of Nausori, more significantly for the women vendors who have been waiting patiently for the accommodation Center.
The new facility is expected to be completed in December.
The project was initiated through the partnership of UN Women Markets for Change, the United Nations Development Program and the Australian and Canadian Governments.
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