A 10-member delegation of market vendors from Honiara has travelled to Suva to take part in the Market for Change (M4C) Fiji Pacific Women Makete 2026, an expo bringing together women vendors and artisans from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu at the Civic Centre. The group was led by Honiara Market Vendors Association chairlady Moreno Vavozo and paid its own way, according to Islands Business.
Key facts
- The event is the M4C Fiji Pacific Women Makete 2026, held at the Civic Centre in Suva, with women from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the Fiji Sun reports.
- The Honiara Market Vendors Association delegation was self-funded and numbered 10 women, Islands Business reports.
- The delegation brought handicrafts from different Solomon Islands provinces, reflecting the range of vendors at the Honiara market.
- The Makete is supported by Australia and Canada through the Markets for Change programme, according to the Fiji Sun.
- Speakers included UN Women representative Alison Davidian, Australian High Commissioner Peter Roberts, Canadian High Commission representative David Fournier and Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran.
- Not reported by either outlet: total attendance, the length of the expo, the programme’s funding amounts, and which associations the Samoan and Vanuatu delegations came from.
Why it matters for the Fiji economy
The pitch from the podium was economic, not ceremonial. Fournier said women’s economic empowerment was also an economic issue, citing World Bank research suggesting that addressing gender inequality could significantly increase economic output across the Pacific, the Fiji Sun reports.
The economic claim is unquantified as reported
That is as far as the reporting goes. The Fiji Sun does not name the World Bank study Fournier referred to, and quotes no percentage, dollar value or time frame for the “significant” increase he described. Readers looking for a hard number on what closing the gender gap would add to Fiji’s economy, or to the wider Pacific, will not find one in either report. On the available sourcing, the claim should be read as directional rather than measured. Neither outlet quantifies the contribution market trade itself makes to the Fiji economy, nor how many women earn their main income from the country’s municipal markets.
The policy ask: better products, bigger buyers
Kiran told the gathering that women vendors were entrepreneurs, innovators and economic leaders whose work supported families and local economies, according to the same report. Her two asks were commercial ones with direct bearing on Fiji’s tourism-led economy: she urged artisans to develop authentic, high-quality Pacific products for the tourism market, and encouraged vendors to form cooperatives so they could reach larger markets. Cooperatives, in that framing, are how a single stallholder gets access to buyers she cannot supply alone — hotel gift shops, export orders, or vendors in another country.
Roberts described markets as more than places to buy and sell goods, calling them centres of community, leadership and opportunity, the Fiji Sun reports.
What the Solomon Islands vendors came for
Vavozo said the delegation was motivated by the chance to meet vendors from other countries and learn how they produce, market and sell their goods, Islands Business reports. She said the women wanted to mingle with other vendors to work out how they could run an exchange market or trade together.
She told Islands Business the group had a second task: carrying ideas home to vendors who could not travel. “We learn a lot, and we meet new friends here,” she said, adding that the women were also watching how other Pacific vendors made and sold their craft. Vavozo said she had encouraged her team to walk the expo, pick out useful skills and consider products they could develop once back in Honiara.
Her advice to vendors at home, per the same report, was blunt: join associations, take part in programmes that offer learning and economic empowerment, and drop the jealousy. There was no time for jealousy or copying, she said, but time to learn — and no reason to be afraid of work that puts food on the table.
Exchanges that have already produced products
Davidian said earlier exchanges between Pacific market vendors had already produced new products and business opportunities, the Fiji Sun reports. She cited a Solomon Islands vendor, Catherine, who developed a successful pair of earrings after combining Samoan shells with traditional shell beads from Malaita province following an exchange in Samoa.
A second example in the same report runs the other way: a vendor from Labasa Market returned from Samoa with new stencil-design techniques and passed them on to other women vendors in Fiji. Davidian said the exchanges showed how a single connection could spark an idea that travels across communities. She is the same UN Women’s Alison Davidian who has spoken in Fiji about aid cuts and women’s rights.
Those two anecdotes are the clearest evidence of return on the programme in either report. Neither outlet gives sales figures for the products involved, or says how many vendors have been through an exchange since Markets for Change began.
A Fijian vendor’s view
Filomena Taina, 53, from Waisa Kubulau in Bua, said she was grateful to be selected from the Ovalau Market to take part and show her handicraft skills, the Fiji Sun reports. She said one of her challenges was the island’s small population, which held down her daily sales; her takings rose once the programme brought her to Suva.
Taina’s point, as she put it to the Fiji Sun, is a market-size problem rather than a product problem: the same handicraft sells better in Suva than it does at home. That is the practical case for the cooperatives and cross-border trading links Kiran and Vavozo were both pushing. For wider context from our own reporting on how shrinking island populations are reshaping Pacific economies — a trend neither source raises in connection with the Makete — see our earlier coverage.
A timing discrepancy in the record
The Fiji Sun report, published on 30 September, is inconsistent on timing: it says the women gathered “today” at the Civic Centre during the opening, and elsewhere says they were there “yesterday”. Islands Business, publishing on 1 October, does not give a date for the expo at all. We have not independently established the opening date.
What is still unclear
- How many vendors and artisans attended in total.
- How many days the Makete runs, and whether it was still open when Islands Business published.
- The figure behind Fournier’s World Bank economic-output claim.
- Funding amounts committed by Australia and Canada through Markets for Change.
- Which associations the Samoan and Vanuatu delegations represented, and whether they were self-funded like the Honiara group.
This article will be updated if organisers, UN Women or either outlet publish those details.
The takeaway
Suva’s turn as a regional host follows other regional gatherings Fiji is hosting this year. On the evidence of these two reports, the Makete’s stated payoff is practical rather than rhetorical: skills, contacts and products that vendors take back to their own markets. The strongest signal in the coverage is not a minister’s speech but the fact that 10 Honiara vendors judged the trip worth their own money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Had the Solomon Islands vendors been to the expo before?
Islands Business reports that most members of the 10-woman delegation were travelling to the expo for the first time. Chairlady Moreno Vavozo told the outlet the women were determined to take part despite financial constraints and the difficulty of leaving their families behind. The delegation paid its own way, according to the same report.
Has a Fijian vendor already gained skills from these regional exchanges?
Yes. The Fiji Sun reports that UN Women representative Alison Davidian cited a vendor from Labasa Market who returned from Samoa with new stencil-design techniques. Davidian said the vendor later shared those skills with other women vendors.
What advice did Moreno Vavozo give other Solomon Islands women vendors?
She urged them to join associations and take part in programmes offering learning and economic empowerment, according to Islands Business. Vavozo told the outlet there was no time for jealousy or copying, but time to learn, and that vendors should not be afraid of work that puts food on the table.
Who officially opened the Pacific Women Makete 2026?
The Fiji Sun reports the event was officially opened by Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran. The same report says the Makete is supported by Australia and Canada through the Markets for Change programme.
How much could closing the gender gap add to Pacific economies?
Neither report gives a figure. The Fiji Sun says Canadian High Commission representative David Fournier cited World Bank research suggesting that addressing gender inequality could significantly increase economic output across the Pacific, but the report does not name the study or quote a percentage or dollar estimate. On the available reporting, the claim is unquantified.
How many vendors attended the Pacific Women Makete 2026 and how long does it run?
Neither the Fiji Sun nor Islands Business gives a total attendance figure or the length of the expo. The Fiji Sun’s report is also inconsistent on the opening date, saying in one place that vendors gathered at the Civic Centre "today" and elsewhere "yesterday". This article will be updated if organisers publish totals or firm dates.
