The Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei will soon hold a market day in a bid to revive and conserve traditional craft and knowledge. Association vice-president Lagamu Vuiyasawa said part of the $53,000 funding they received from the US embassy’s Economic Resilience Grants would be diverted towards efforts in preserving traditional native knowledge.
Ms Vuiyasawa said the Soqosoqo Vakamarama associations in the 14 provinces across the country were working with indigenous women’s groups holding workshops in the teaching of knowledge in traditional craft.
“We normally invite craft experts from villages to teach other women in the manufacture of traditional artefacts such as mats, pottery, and tapa,” she said.
“Apart from preserving knowledge, the platforms provide women with an opportunity to generate income from their knowledge.
“Currently we are working at sharing traditional knowledge from a locality as widely as we encourage women to perfect this knowledge and use it to their advantage. “Lately we have also been working with financial literacy trainers to teach women in how to generate much needed income from these crafts.”
Ms Vuiyasawa said since the Soqosoqo Vakamarama was no longer receiving any form of grants from Government, they were grateful for the support of organisations such as the USAID, to give women at the grassroots level an opportunity to create their own livelihoods.
