Dr Wendy Poussard TONGAN ROTARY TALK

Dr Wendy Poussard TONGAN ROTARY TALK

Household Survey

In Tonga, I worked with staff members from Tonga Trust, to design and carry out a household survey. We wanted to visit all the households in Popua Village that had taken part in the project.

We wanted them to help us document the outcomes of the project and evaluate its effectiveness.

For your interest I’ve brought along some copies of the survey. It’s a very simple survey.This is the English language version, but the one we used in the village was in Tongan. Many people in Tonga are bi-lingual in Tongan and English, but Tongan is their first and their own language.

As you can see, we asked people how they participated in the project: what actions did they take?

You have heard already how the project enabled people to improve their gardens by adding rock and topsoil, how they built fences to keep out the pigs, and planted vegetables, fruit trees, medicinal plants and flowers, composted garden waste to improve the soil, built poultry sheds and raised chickens.

As well as improving their own properties, we found that most people had also helped in their neighbours, friends and relatives gardens. The Director of Tonga Trust, Papiloa, says that this project was not just about home gardens, but also about building harmonious neighbourhoods and families.

Next, the survey asked people to identify the results that they achieved, and decide which results were most important to them.

We expected that people would benefit financially from the project and so we asked them to estimate how much income or savings per week they made.

We asked how different members of the family were involved in the work they had done.

Then we asked people to rate how valuable the project had been for them on a scale of 1 to 10.

Finally we invited themto make their own comments and suggestions.

Why did we want to do a household survey?

I think household surveys are valuable because more people get a chance to express their views. People involved in the project get more feedback. They don’t just hear the voices of the people who are most articulate or most successful.Everyone is included.

A household survey also opens the window to different kinds of information.People in their own house and garden can show us, as well as tellus, what they have accomplished. Most people feel more comfortable, more able andwilling to communicate,when they are at home. For a visitor, especially someone coming from another country, household visits are great opportunities to get a better understandingof people and their needs and concerns and priorities.

A survey also makes it possible to count and measure results. It gives a record of outputs and outcomes, of what’s working and what’s not working. Sometimes a survey confirms expectations, and sometimes there are surprises

Doing the survey

Tonga Trust told the people in Popua village knowthat we would like to visit them, and gave them a written copy of the survey.The next day we drove to the village and walked from house to house. Project participants helped us to find our way. I was accompanied by a member of Tonga Trust, first by Na’aa and then Viliami. We were able to meet people, some women, some men and sometimes children too, in eighteen of the original twenty households involved in the project. Some people filled in the survey during our visit, and some had already completed it at home. People were keen to show us their gardens and their chicken sheds, and share their ideas and feelings about the project. We didn’tmake a set time for each visit but the complete survey took us about five hours.

Results of the Survey

People said that the most important benefit of the project was that they could provide healthy home-grown food for their families.

Everyone said that they and their families were able to eat fresh home-grown food. They told us that food from their gardens tasted better, and was healthier, than food from other sources.Since I’ve been eating food from my own garden, I’m not sick anymore!

The next most important was that they saved money. Nearly everyone saved money because they did not have to buy as much food at the shops and market. Saving money was the most valuable result for of the households.The average estimate of money saved was $A30 a week throughout the year.

The third big benefit was that people enjoyed working in their gardens. They said the project gave them confidence and new skills. “This is really good for me. It becomes a regular job and I don’t just sleep and be lazy”

“I am happy that this program has given me, and the community, something to do together”

We found that women, men, children and grandchildren helped in the gardens, with regular duties and roles.

What did I find out from the survey that surprised me?

I was impressed at how terrific people’s gardens were, and how much people loved them. Some are very experienced and knowledgeable gardeners. For others the project has opened up a new area of interest, a “like a regular job” which involves hard work and both material rewards, such as food and savings, and psychological benefits, satisfaction, happiness, motivation, orderliness.

There are social benefits too, which seem closely linked to Tongan cultural values about the importance of family links and obligations. Food is shared with the extended family and with friends and neighbours. One of the people we interviewed told us that he had no family members to share the produce from his garden, so he packed the food from his garden into baskets and gave them to the pastors of various nearby churches for people who needed it. It wasn’t the food so much that moved me about this story, but the baskets.

I was surprised at the amount of money that people had saved by eating more home-grown food and buying less in the shops and market. One householder said that he saved $T100 a week which is about the equivalent of $A60. Wow that seems a lot, I said. “Well”, he explained, “I do have eight children”. Another big saver explained that there were thirteen people to share the food in his household.” People have come to Popua to establish a base near the resources of the city, with access to work and education, not so much for themselves as for their children and grandchildren.

I was surprised that very few people said they sold any of their produce. In the village people, one gardener explained, it seems more appropriate and beneficial to share and exchange.

I was surprised how highly people valued the project When we asked people “how valuable has this project been to you” most rated it 9 or 10 on a one-to-ten scale. The lowest score was 7.

I think that it’s important for participants in a project to also be involved in its evaluation. The Popua household survey was a way to include the project community in acknowledging and celebrating the success they achieved.

Household Survey and Evaluation Workshop

Popua Village Garden Project,June, 2014

Dr Wendy Poussard, Development Consultant
Horrie Poussard, Secretary ALI

Introduction to the Project:

Popua is a peaceful village a few kilometres from the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa. People began to migrate to this area from outer islandsin the mid-1970s in order to find work and educational opportunities for their families.Popua Village is located in a low-lying area on the edge of a large lagoon, and parts of the village are subject to storm surge and flooding following heavy rain.

Three years ago, the Popua Village Garden Project was established,with the help of Bob Edgar, avisiting AustralianRotarian agricultural project manager and member of Australian Landcare International. Bob was advised to work with the Tonga Community Development Trust which has many years of experience working effectively with local communities. He made friends with people in the area and the Rotary Club of Frankston North with support from other Victorian clubs secured funding from the Rotary Foundation.

The project has improved people’s livelihood and food security, and also their natural environment. The main activities supported by the projectare the development of home food gardens and poultry sheds. Following a call for interested applicants,residents of twenty households were selected. With project fundingaveraging $TOP 1500 ($A1000)per household, residents built up their gardens, adding topsoil and additional rock where necessary.

LesieliHufanga in her new garden

They alsoconstructed poultry sheds and raised chickens.They planted vegetables, fruit trees and flowers and composted garden waste to improve the structure and fertility of the soil.Despite the natural hazards of their area, people’s enthusiasm and mutual support have enabled them to achieve impressive results.

Landholders in Popua planned and worked together in a way that is very similar to the Landcare model of community development adopted by Australian rural communities.Landcare encourages local people toorganise and work together to meet local needs and solve common problems,improving food production and protecting the environment. In 2013, project participants in Popua declared themselves to be the first Landcare group in Tonga, and their project to be a Landcare project.

The Crawford Fund supported training for participants, and in 2013Bob Edgar and Horrie Poussard (Secretary of Australian Landcare International) carried out training on soil management, composting, vegetable growing and livestock management. This was done in conjunction with the Tongan Ministries for Agriculture, Health and Environment.

In 2014the Crawford Fund continued the support and we provided additional training in food production, fruit tree selection and project evaluation, again in conjunction with extension staff from the Ministries for Agriculture, Food Forests and Fish (MAFFF), Health and Environment. The Project team worked with staff from the Tonga Trust to undertake a household survey assessing the effectiveness of the original project. We identified what activities were carried out by the participants and what results and benefits they had achieved. The process provided good social survey training to Trust staff.

Village leaders visit Tokomololo Forest Department Nursery to get more information on fruit trees.
The Tonga Community Development Trust provided organisational support to the Popua project and will project manage a new TongaTapu Market Garden Project using the existing project as a pilot and involving 3 villages and 300 households. The new project is funded by Rotary and NZ Aid Program.

Results of household survey: Learning from experience

The survey team was able to visitand talk with participants from 18 of the 20 selected households.We spent time visiting participants’ gardens and poultry sheds and listening to their stories and suggestions. All the participants whom we interviewed had built sheds for raising poultry. Most households had raised the level of garden beds, adding gravel and additional topsoil supplied by the project. Most of the participants reported that as well as improving their own propertiesthey also helped neighbours, friends or relatives to build their sheds and gardens.

Project Results

Project participants felt that the project had been very valuable to them. People harvested fresh vegetables for their families,and were able to eat fresh eggs and chickens. They saved money because they did not have to spend so much money on food. Fourteen of the eighteen participants who took part in the survey said that they were pleased with the results they had achieved.

Raising chickens in protected surroundings

Providing and sharing healthy food for the family

All eighteen participants felt that an important benefit of the project was that their families were able to eat healthy, home-grown food. Most people shared their produce with their families and neighbours. One participant said that he gave baskets of food to the pastors of the churches in his neighbourhood to give to people who needed it.

Saving Money

Sixteen respondents told us that they saved money by growing and harvesting vegetables and raising chickens at home. Nine participants told us that this was the most important result of the project for them. The average estimate of the amount of money saved was $A30 a week. Many participants in the project are supplying produce to their extended families of children and grand-children.

Sharing and selling

Very few people sold their produce. Some explained that they felt uncomfortable about the idea of selling to friends or neighbours, and that informal exchange and sharing of produce seemed more beneficial and appropriate for them. Two respondents sold spring onions commercially to outside markets.

Meaningful work

Nearly everyone reported that managing gardens and poultry required extra work for them. Weexpected that hard physical work might be considered a negative aspect of the project, but the survey showed that participants really enjoyed working in their gardens.For some this was the most important benefit of the project. People spoke about their gardens with pride and enthusiasm.

Working together

Some of the landholders said that one of the benefits of the project was the opportunity to share ideas, develop new skills and help one another solve problems. The project not only helped them to build gardens, but also brought people together harmoniously in their families and neighbourhood.Some explained in detail how husbands, wives, children and grandchildren all had their regular duties and roles in the garden and poultry shed.

Room for improvement

Some participants said that they would have benefitted from more advice and guidance, for example about controlling garden pests and the best position to locate poultry sheds.

While many worked closely with others,some feltrather isolated. And would have welcomed more contact with neighbours. It must be remembered that Popua is not a traditional village but one containing people from many islands and areas.

Some participants suggested that closer monitoring of the project, and more expert advice would have been welcome.Others said that they had made mistakes in positioning poultry sheds, and that garden beds needed to be higher.

The erosion of top-soil by floods and inundation by high tides and heavy rain remains a threat, and raises questions about the viability of home gardens in some areas of the village. These are issues that should be considered and addressed in the new project.

Popua Village Workshop

Following the household survey, a workshop for participants in the Popua Village Gardens Project was organised by Tonga Trust andwas held in Popua Village on 13th June, 2014. Eighteen project participants attended along with some village leaders. Visitors from the Rotary Club of Nuku’alofa also attended as did some children from Popua Primary School and their teacher.

Participants and trainers at the 2014 workshop

Village participants worked in small groups, each with a different task: The first two groups identified the benefits of the project for the family and the reasons why these activities were successful. Group three identified the difficulties encountered, and the ways that problems had been solved. Group four discussed how the project can continue to benefit the whole village.

Guest speakers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Food and Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and Tonga Health listened to participants’ reports and responded to their concerns with useful information and advice.

Certificates of achievement were presented to all project participants, and a certificate affirming that Popua Landcare Group is the first Landcare Group in Tonga was presented to Luisa Latu, one of the village leaders in the Popua project.

Project benefits and reasons for success:

• The main benefits were saving money and providing healthy food for families.
• The whole village benefitted from the sharing of food, and from the village becoming tidier and more beautiful.
• Positive changes in the environment included the productive use of former wasteland and the use of organic fertilizers.
• The project created opportunities for people to work together harmoniously.
• People encouraged and inspired each other.

Difficulties and problems