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April - June 2014
Community to Cabinet at work: Palau’s 1st National Water
Summit
The IWRM Project Coordinating Unit (PCU)
in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environmental and Tourism
(MNRET) prepared for and ran the 1st Palau
National
Water Summit. The Summit was organised
as the first step in the development of
a National Water Policy and was an
opportunity to bring together various
stakeholders
from
community
to
government, providing the space to openly
discuss important water issues in Palau.
Through the Summit it was anticipated that
we would engage a wide section of the
community and receive feedback from the
community about what they saw as their
vision for Palau’s Water Policy.
The PCU along with the MNRET put a lot
of effort into promoting and advertising the
Summit to ensure that it was well attended
by as wide a range of people as possible.
We were able to provide an incentive for
community members to attend by offering
a free t-shirt to the first 100 people that
registered for the summit. This proved to
be an excellent way of getting a lot of the
general public to come along who may
otherwise not have. The PCU visited with
different stakeholder groups such as the
Governors Association and the Council of
Chiefs and gave small presentations about
the summit and what we were hoping to
achieve in the form of the Water Policy.
We advertised for a month prior to the
Summit to provide people with ample time
to prepare their schedules. Advertising
included a TV show on OTV with members
of the wider IWRM team and a
Radio Talk show discussing the Water
Summit and the outcomes that we were
looking forward to. Newspaper ads and
flyers inviting all members of the community
to the Summit were also distributed.
We realised that achieving good attendance
at a high level event would require plenty
of advance advertising, briefing different
stakeholder groups to spark their interest
and ensuring they are involved in the
process. Because of these preparatory
measures we were able to achieve a high
turnout at the Summit and generate a lot
of interest in what the IWRM project was
doing.
In his opening address, President Toribiong
urged participants to work together as the
creation of
the Water Policy was only the first step in
ensuring the conservation and protection
of Palau’s water resources in the years
to come stating, “Only together can we
ensure water forever”. In order to create
this space for community engagement we
understood the importance of reaching the
community and getting feedback on what
information they required. As a team we
incorporated information that community
members wanted to know into the summit
proceedings, thus tailoring the meeting
to the actual needs of the community,
ensuring their genuine participation in
its outcomes. During the meeting we
facilitated a question and answers session
and group discussions where people could
raise opinions and concerns. Mr. Jinx Brikul
a water operator said “I am happy I came
to the Water Summit because, as my shirt
says ‘Community Choice’, and the summit
provided me with an opportunity to raise
concerns about my needs as a water
operator in Palau”.
I was proud that we successfully provided
Palau’s first water summit. I learned the
importance of planning ahead and on
proper advertisements that ensure people
are well informed about the event ahead of
time. We were equally pleased when people
continued to attend subsequent Policy
meetings. Mr. Joe Aitaro, the Protected
Areas Network Coordinator, said, “These
felt uncomfortable with the term ‘compost
toilet’ and had many misunderstandings
about its function.
We formed a Communications Committee
made up of local communications
specialists to investigate the cause of
people’s concern and find innovative ways
to address them. They determined that
there were two main issues. The first that
the name ‘compost toilet’ generates unease
and should be changed and secondly; that
people want more education about what a
compost toilet is and how it works before
they are willing to have one in their home.
To address the first issue the committee
organised a competition to come up with
an appropriate Tuvaluan word that sums up
the compost toilet. The winning submission
came from Mr Maimoaga Uatea, the
Deputy Director of PWD. His submission is
the word “Falevatie” and is an abbreviation
of “Falefoliki se fakaoga vai mo tino mote
enviroment” which means “A toilet which
is good for you and the environment”. The
slogan for the Falevatie is “Kote ola lei tena
o kaiga mote enevalomene” and translates
simply as “A sustainable toilet”.
With the new branding we organised a
‘Falevatie Roadshow’ to take the toilet to
the people and show how it works and
what the new designs would look like.
People were concerned they were
going to get the same design from previous
projects and needed to approve of the new
one. As with any new product it is important
that people know what they are ‘buying’
and are happy with how it looks and works.
After all, it is a structure that will sit in their
backyards and be used daily.
With the help of local volunteers and PWD
staff we built a portable Falevatie, put it on
the back of a truck and drove it around all the
communities of Funafuti. Dedicated local
volunteers walked alongside the Falevatie
Roadshow, presenting the display toilet,
explaining how it works and differs from old
designs, and addressing the questions and
concerns raised by community
members.
Through these two activities and related
community consultations we hoped to
increase technical understanding in the
community of how the system works
and the many benefits it can provide their
family and the environment, as well as
communicating the Tuvaluan ownership of
the project and toilet design.
Through the seemingly simple idea
of changing the name, falevatie are
now viewed by the public as part of a
sustainable future for Tuvalu, and are even
enshrined in the 2012 Water and Sanitation
Policy. The Falevatie Roadshow was so
well received by the community that many
people afterwards put their name forward
to construct one, so many that there is now
a 200+ waiting list. Owners of falevatie have
themselves organised an Owners Group
where they share their experiences on
use, maintenance and benefits of falevatie
with each other and the wider community,
generating a truly unique Tuvaluan
experience of compost toilets.
Project Managers in similar situations need
to have their “ear to the ground” and be
open to engaging with the community
so that seemingly small issues can be
picked up and dealt with at the beginning
of a project, ensuring that community
involvement and ownership will secure the
sustainability of its goals.
President Toribiong giving his keynote address