Global Study On Child Poverty And Disparities (PDF) - Social Policy ...

GLOBAL STUDY
ON CHILD
POVERTY &
DISPARITIES
Children and
Development
This section provides a broad background
to understanding disparities in child
well-being in Vanuatu. It describes the
methodological approaches adopted in
the Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities
(UNICEF 2007). Next it reviews Vanuatu’s
geography, political system, demographic
characteristics and economic structure. This
is followed by a discussion of income and
expenditure inequality. The section concludes with
an analysis of the role of government in Vanuatu
and the components of social sector spending,
as well as the important contribution made by
international organisations and overseas aid
agencies.
Introduction
Vanuatu and Pacific society generally have long
been seen as having a traditional culture of caring
and sharing within family and clan. Images of
hunger and destitution and of absolute poverty
frequently seen in other parts of the developing
world have been largely absent in the Pacific.
Vanuatu’s population, now almost 250,000 people,
scattered across 65 islands, is largely rural (80
per cent), and most households – including
many in urban areas - rely on subsistence
production (mainly agriculture and fishing) for their
livelihoods. Households living on remote islands
may have limited access to cash incomes, but
usually have access to traditional land holdings for
subsistence crops, and to the sea.
Traditional family and kinship networks are strong
in Vanuatu, as are other community institutions
such as churches and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). While Ni-Vanuatu (the
people of Vanuatu) might not be well off in
financial or material terms, their strong family
and community ties have traditionally provided a
social safety net for the most disadvantaged and
vulnerable. Indeed, in a participatory poverty and
hardship assessment, poverty was defined as a
state of “having nothing” (no gat samting), “being
hopeless” and “struggling for survival,” and was
largely viewed as not existing in Vanuatu (ADB
2002).
Hardship, however, is widely perceived to exist.
Communities described hardship (Laef I had
tumas) as “temporary and manageable life
difficulties.” Hardship is characterized primarily
by lack of or limited access to basic services
such as education, health, good roads, and
safe water supply (ADB 2002). The poorest
households are likely to lack access to basic
services, especially water and sanitation, if they
are in the more remote parts of the country, away
from urban amenities or in the squatter areas
in the urban centres of Port Vila and Luganville.
Limited income sources and unemployment were
the most cited hardships in urban areas, while
lack of or limited access to services and limited
income sources were hardships in rural areas.
Unemployed people, landless people, widows
and single mothers, orphans, disabled and elderly
16