That began to change when UN Women introduced market vendor associations to unite women and amplify their voices. The impact was immediate and powerful. Women began imagining a different future for their markets, and started negotiating to make it happen.
“I want every vendor to be seen, heard, and supported”, says Viti Daunibau, elected Vice President of the Nausori Market Vendors Association in Fiji. She decided to run for election after participating in Markets for Change training forum. “That forum showed me the power of collective action.”
Iata, a mainstay at the Port Vila central market in Vanuatu, learned to save, manage her budgets, and how to cope with the frequent cyclones that ravaged the area. Her savings kept her in business even as supply lines struggled to recover. Moreover, she did not just rebuild her own business, she taught everything she learned to four single mothers in her community.
“Helping them succeed—that was the real reward”, she says. “Now their children have more support, and they have hope.”