Browsing by Author "Vunibola S"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    From absences to emergences: Foregrounding traditional and Indigenous climate change adaptation knowledges and practices from Fiji, Vietnam and the Philippines
    (Elsevier B.V., 2024-04-01) See J; Cuaton GP; Placino P; Vunibola S; Thi HD; Dombroski K; McKinnon K
    The differential impacts of climate change have highlighted the need to implement fit-for-purpose interventions that are reflective of the needs of vulnerable communities. However, adaptation projects tend to favour technocratic, market-driven, and Eurocentric approaches that inadvertently disregard the place-based and contextual adaptation strategies of many communities in the Global South. The paper aims to decolonise climate change adaptation guided by the critical tenets of ‘Decolonising Climate Adaptation Scholarship’ (DCAS). It presents empirical case studies from Fiji, Vietnam, and the Philippines and reveals the different ways that Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and strategies are devalued and suppressed by modernist and developmentalist approaches to climate adaptation. The paper then foregrounds some of the adaptive techniques that resist and remain, or have been re-worked in hybrid ways with ILK. Ultimately, this paper combats the delegitimisation of ILK by mainstream climate change adaptation scholarship and highlights the need for awareness and openness to other forms of knowing and being.
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    Revitalising rural development in the Pacific: An itaukei (indigenous Fijian) approach
    (Development Studies Network at the Crawford School of Public Policy in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, 1/11/2019) Vunibola S; Scheyvens R
    Indigenous groups who live on and work with customary land and resources occupy many rural settings in the Pacific. In Fiji, as life has become dominated by economic demands, many itaukei (indigenous Fijian) communities have struggled to see how bula vakavanua (tradition, culture and the way of being)—such as solesolevaki, or unpaid communal work for collective good—can aid in sustainable development of their resources for their people’s benefit. This struggle, along with a lack of opportunities in rural settings, has given rise to rural-urban migration and increased related social problems. This paper aims to demonstrate that indigenous driven, effective rural development is possible in the Pacific despite these challenges. Case studies of successful itaukei businesses based on customary land in Fiji—and how solesolevaki has been revived to support itaukei entrepreneurial success and community wellbeing—were conducted and analysed.
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    Te Hononga—Modelling indigenous collaborative enterprise. A research report on Māori enterprise collaboration in Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Te Au Rangahau, 2021-07-13) Mika J; Cordier J; Roskruge M; Tunui B; O'Hare J; Vunibola S
    This study explores the theory and practice of Māori enterprise collaboration. There exists a strong rationale for Māori enterprise collaboration as it builds on the relationality of a Māori world view, shared values and existing whakapapa (genealogical) relationships. Collaboration is considered integral to Māori development because it is set against a background of self-determination and self-governance. Waiū Dairy and MiHI (Movers in Hemp Innovation) are two Māori enterprise collaborations that have been facilitated by Poutama Trust and are at distinctly different stages of maturity. Interviews were conducted with participants from Waiū Dairy and MiHI to gain insights from those involved in the practice of Māori enterprise collaboration.
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    The Productivity and Innovation of Māori Frontier Firms
    (Productivity Commission, 2021-03-17) Vunibola S; Mika J; Roskruge M
    Te Au Rangahau (Massey Business School’s Māori business research centre) was invited by the New Zealand Productivity Commission (the Commission) to provide a review of the Commission’s report on its frontier firms inquiry, with a focus on the Māori frontier firms. The inquiry adopts the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) definition of frontier firms – those within the top 10% of firms’ productivity distribution in an industry. This definition brings around 30,000 firms into scope for this inquiry. Identifying Māori firms within this cohort becomes functionally complex. Some of the approaches of identifying Māori firms include business owners’ ethnicity, employees’ ethnicity, the nature of the product and service, or commercial and social enterprises operating with Māori values, philosophy, and tikanga (Statistics New Zealand, 2016). The Commission recognises that there is no single agreed definition of a Māori business or Māori firm as the Māori economy comprises a range of organisational forms and structures under various legal frameworks.