FIJI CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX REPORT A CIVIL SOCIETY IN TRANSITION CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Fiji Mohammed Hassan Khan, Ashiana Shah and Suliana Siwatibau Suva, 2007 Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) An international action-research project coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE FCOSS PRESIDENT ........................................................................................................... 2 FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................................ 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................. 7 INTRODUCTION 10 STRUCTURE OF THE PUBLICATION ................................................................................................................... 11 I CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX: PROJECT AND APPROACH .................................................................................... 12 1 PROJECT BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................. 12 2 PROJECT APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 13 2.1 CSI CONCEPTUAL & ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 13 2.2 PROJECT METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 LINKING RESEARCH WITH ACTION ...................................................................................................... 17 2.4 PROJECT OUTPUTS .................................................................................................................................... 18 II CIVIL SOCIETY IN FIJI ........................................................................................................................................ 18 1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................... 18 2 THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE FIJI ISLANDS ............................................................ 19 3 MAPPING CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE FIJI ISLANDS ........................................................................... 21 III ANALYSIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN FIJI ........................................................................................................... 26 1 STRUCTURE........................................................................................................................................ 26 1.1 The Extent of Citizen Participation in Civil Society....................................................................................... 27 1.2 Depth of Citizen Participation in Civil Society .............................................................................................. 29 1.3 Diversity of Civil Society Participants ........................................................................................................... 29 1.4 Level of Organisation..................................................................................................................................... 31 1.5 Inter-Relations within Civil Society ............................................................................................................... 33 1.6 Civil Society Resources.................................................................................................................................. 34 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................ 35 2 ENVIRONMENT................................................................................................................................... 36 2.1 Political context.............................................................................................................................................. 36 2.2 Basic Freedom and Rights.............................................................................................................................. 40 2.3 Socio-Economic Context................................................................................................................................ 41 2.4 Socio-Cultural Context................................................................................................................................... 42 2.5 Legal Environment......................................................................................................................................... 43 2.6 State-Civil Society Relations.......................................................................................................................... 44 2.7 Private Sector- Civil Society Relations .......................................................................................................... 45 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................ 47 3 VALUES................................................................................................................................................ 48 3.1 Democracy ..................................................................................................................................................... 48 3.2 Transparency .................................................................................................................................................. 49 3.3 Tolerance........................................................................................................................................................ 51 3.4 Non-violence .................................................................................................................................................. 51 3.5 Gender Equity ................................................................................................................................................ 52 3.6 Poverty Eradication ........................................................................................................................................ 53 3.7 Environment Sustainability ............................................................................................................................ 54 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................ 55 4 IMPACT................................................................................................................................................ 56 4.1 Influencing Public Policy ............................................................................................................................... 56 4.2 Holding the State and Private Corporations Accountable............................................................................... 59 4.3 Responding to Social Interests ....................................................................................................................... 60 4.4 Empowering Citizens ..................................................................................................................................... 61 4.5 Meeting Societal Needs.................................................................................................................................. 64 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................ 66 IV STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES .......................................................................................................................... 67 STRENGTHS ........................................................................................................................................... 67 WEAKNESSES......................................................................................................................................... 68 V RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................................................................... 70 VI CONCLUSION & NEXT STEPS........................................................................................................................... 73 ANNEXES ..................................................................................................................................................................... 76 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................................................... 95 CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report – Fiji Islands 2 MESSAGE FROM THE FCOSS PRESIDENT Informed decision-making is one of the most important aspects of a liberating leadership. When such is nurtured with commitment to serve humankind and to care for one’s environment it often results in creative transformation of the society and its people. It is with this conviction that the Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS)