18 Oct 2012

UNDP to broadcast to Fiji vendors

5:28 pm on 18 October 2012

Vendors at a market in Fiji will now be able to get education without leaving their stalls.

The Rakiraki market is part of a project supported by the UN Development Programme, which will see learning sessions broadcast in the market on busy days.

The UNDP's Ernesto Bautista says the market learning centre is part of a larger project to make markets better places for vendors, who are most often women.

He says at Rakiraki, they are also developing an agreement between the town council, which administers the market, and the vendors' association.

"Both in terms of empowering them to be able to claim their rights and citizens and as payers for services in the market, and also, trying to empower them in terms of member[shiop] of the association and teach them some basic skills."

Ernesto Bautista says vendors have also been taught some basic financial literacy, and they're now working on record keeping.