13 Sep 2012

Fiji rural radio project exposes women's alienation from political processes

7:08 pm on 13 September 2012

The co-ordinator of a community radio project in Fiji says a consultation with older people in the rural area of Ba has shown how disconnected many of them feel with the process being used to draft a new constitution.

The consultation with 30 senior citizens will be broadcast tomorrow as part of FemLINK Pacific's Not Just Sweet Talk rural broadcasting campaign, which got underway last month.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls says the group comprised mainly women and the consultation exposed their political and geographic remoteness.

"How disconnected they have felt from political processes and how important it is through this process and into and beyond the elections that people feel connected to the political process and one of the things is that they can feel that the constitution will work for them and to be able also to then hold political leaders more accountable to the constitution."

The executive director of FemLINK Pacific, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls.