Pacific Business Center Report
Pacific Businesss Center Report
Applying University Resources to Improve Business in Hawaii and Pacific Island Communities
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
A "grassroots" survey technique used to interview the Rongelapese on Mejatto
In May of this year the Pacific Business Center Program (PBCP) was contracted by Mayor James Matayoshi and the Rongelap Atoll Local Government (RALG) to prepare an economic development strategy for the resettlement of Rongelap. Rongelap is one of the atolls in the Marshall Islands that was inundated with radioactive fallout from the 1954 Operation Bravo nuclear test at Bikini. The cornerstone of the Center’s development strategy for Rongelap is a grassroots survey of the Rongelapese.
In the past, development projects in Micronesia have been proposed and initiated by outside experts who rarely, if ever, consulted the local residents and workers that would be impacted by these projects. As recent history has shown however, those most affected by these projects have the final say, not the elected officials and local chiefs. There is a saying that actions speak louder than words, and the responses to various projects that were developed without consulting the local Micronesians have been loud. For example, at the hotels that have been created where Micro-nesians refuse to work; at the Micro-nesian garment factories that cannot find local employees; and to the commercial fishing vessels in Micronesia that must draw their crews from foreign states.
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To avoid a similar outcome on Rongelap, a concerted effort is being made by the RALG leadership and PBCP to solicit the input of the Rongelapese citizens on all of the critical issues surrounding the resettlement of Rongelap. In order to fully integrate the desires of the local Rongelapese into the resettlement plan, there are many questions that need to be answered such as: Do they want to return to Rongelap? What do they hope to find on Rongelap? What do they look forward to doing once they return and are settled there? Rongelapese, similar to many rural peoples all over the world, do not easily give up this kind of personal and sometimes highly emotional information. They can be very reticent to open up to strangers who don’t speak their native tongue and who may come across like census takers with lists of questions and limited time to complete each interview.
The technique that was used by the survey team to interview the Rongelapese is called Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and has been used successfully in Asia, Africa and South America, but never in the Pacific with Micronesian atoll communities. PRA emphasizes going slowly and allowing time for the community to get to know the surveyors. It also requires that the surveyors let the members of the local community respond in their own words and at their own pace instead of being limited to a predetermined set of survey questions and answers.
The survey of Rongelapese is being coordinated by Mrs. Mary Silk, who has an international reputation as an advocate for the atoll communities affected by nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. Mrs. Silk recruited four students from the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI): Rosalend deBrum, Dean Langinbelik, AnnieLynn Kabua and Clarence Aneo to form the survey team that interviewed the Rongelapese community living on Mejatto (approximately 400 Rongelapese are currently living on Mejatto in the Kwajalein Atoll). All of the students are Mar-shallese and are familiar with life on a Mar-shallese atoll. Some of the surveyors are related to Rongelapese families on Mejatto. Silk and the survey team were trained in the PRA technique by Dr. C.L. Cheshire, PBCP Senior Business Development Manager, and Dial Keju, a Marshallese MA candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at UH-Manoa (who in turn had been trained by Dr. Tin Myaing Thein of the Pacific Gateway Center in Hawaii). After several weeks of practicing their survey technique with the Ronge-lapese living on Majuro, the survey team went out to Mejatto where they remained for six weeks to complete their interviews. The results of the survey will be the basis for an economic development strategy for Rongelap, to be developed by PBCP.
Building Local Capacities
A major thrust of the Pacific Business Center Program’s mission is to build capacity in the communities that we serve. “It is not enough to assist a community to solve a problem-the community must be given the tools and expertise so that it can solve problems with its own people and its own resources. Capacity building, creating local experts and problem solvers, is the difference between producing temporary solutions and sustainable solutions; between developing dependent communities and independent communities.
Building local capacity was a primary consideration in the organization of the Rongelap community survey. The Pacific Business Center Program (PBCP) through the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) trained CMI staff and students to become community surveyors. Once the Rongelap community survey was completed, the CMI survey team had gained enough experience in utilizing PRA techniques to do similar surveys on any of the islands in the Marshall Islands. The importance of this contribution to Marshall Islands development cannot be overstated since all of the atoll communities in the Marshall Islands are seeking sustainable development strategies and sustainable strategies should evolve from community input.
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The value of working with the College of the Marshall Islands is that they can continue to provide training in this area, building upon an initial contribution made by PBCP. In the future, it will be the CMI staff that will be training surveyors to interview Marshall Island communities, not PBCP staff. When this occurs, PBCP’s mission of capacity building will have been fulfilled.
PBCP also employs Pacific Islanders to work as student assistants and project analysts. Currently we have Sharon Sakuma (Palau), and Melissa Kramer and Dial Keju (both from the Marshall Islands) on staff working on Pacific Island projects.
PBCP Brokers University of Hawaii Expertise
One of the strengths of PBCP is its link to the many departments and programs at the University of Hawaii (UH). The University of Hawaii has a long and distinguished history of research in Pacific Island anthropology, agriculture, architecture, business, communications, ethno-botany, finance, marine biology, and ecology. For the Rongelap project, the Center was able to draw directly upon many of these programs and departments. Professors Kim Bridges in Marine Biology and Will McClatchey in Ethno-Botany did an inventory of the marine and land based resources on Rongelap. Professor Fred Creager in the School of Architecture used the Rongelap project as the basis for a class in which his architecture students prepared the designs for the homes and several public buildings to be constructed on Rongelap. Professors Luciano Minerbe and Karen Umemoto in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning used their experience in community planning in Hawaii and American Samoa to advise and assist in the preparation of the Rongelap community survey. Professor Bob Kiste, the Director of the Pacific Islands Program at UH, and Leonard Mason, retired professor in Anthropology at UH, provided many helpful insights into the problems of resettlement based on their experience from having been involved with the Bikini Atoll resettlement. Dr. Cheng-Sheng Lee, Director of the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture provided research and staff support for aquaculture feasibility studies in Rongelap.
There are also a number of graduate and undergraduate students who have significantly contributed their energy, and enthusiasm to the project. MBA students prepared feasibility and market studies. Mike Lurvey from the College of Business Administration assisted with project management. John Cassel from the School of Architecture spent a week on Mejatto obtaining information about housing. Dial Keju from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning assisted in training the CMI survey team (see Participatory Rural Appraisal). Several students from Professor Kim Bridges’ marine biology assisted in preparing an environmental assessment of the Rongelap atoll.
The sharing of University expertise and experience is part of the University of Hawaii’s long-standing commitment to be a leader in the Pacific. The flow of information has not been one-way. The Rongelap Government, by providing UH faculty and students the opportunity and privilege of visiting the atoll, have allowed them to gain valuable insights about Pacific Island culture and environment.
Pacific Business Center Report
Pacific Business Center Program
College of Business Administration
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2404 Maile Way, A413 Honolulu, HI 96822
Phone: (808) 956-8628 Fax: (808) 956-6278
Email: director@pbcp.cba.hawaii.edu
http://www.cba.hawaii.edu/pbcp
Dr. Joyce Tsunoda: Principal Investigator, PBCP
Senior Vice President, University of Hawai'i and
Chancellor for Community Colleges, University of Hawai'i
Papalii Dr. Failautusi Avegalio: Director, PBCP
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