Market Vendors Forum 2025 Highlights Vendors as Drivers of Economic Transformation

Sigatoka, Fiji — Over a hundred market vendors, rural women farmers, and local leaders from across Fiji are gathering in Sigatoka this week for the 2025 Market Vendors Forum, a national annual event focused on strengthening women’s leadership, economic empowerment, and inclusive market systems.

Organised by UN Women’s Markets for Change (M4C) project, the Forum brings together representatives from 12 municipal markets: Ba, Labasa, Lautoka, Levuka, Nadi, Namaka, Nausori, Rakiraki, Savusavu, Sigatoka, Suva, and Tavua, alongside civil society and government stakeholders for three days of dialogue, skills-building, and collective action to advance women-led local economies.

Opening the Forum, Honourable Sashi Kiran, Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, highlighted the critical role women vendors play in national development:

“Today's theme, ‘Changing the Game: Vendors as Agents of Change’, is very timely and powerful. It recognises that you're not just vendors but entrepreneurs, community leaders, service providers and essential partners in Fiji's development journey.”

She added, “I personally have witnessed the active engagement of Market Vendors Association executives with respect to local government, and some of you are so powerful in your own spaces and are constantly fighting for positive change.”

Despite women’s central role in market systems, their participation in leadership and decision-making across the Pacific remains limited, from households to national governance. The region continues to record some of the lowest rates of women’s political representation globally. In Fiji, women make up only nine percent of seats in parliament. Within marketplaces, women vendors shoulder the bulk of day-to-day operations, yet are frequently excluded from decisions on safety, infrastructure, and disaster planning.

For vendors like Mereani Likuvaua, Vice President of the Levuka Market Vendors Association, the training provided by M4C has been transformative:

“Everything I’ve learnt through this programme has been a blessing. It encourages us to meet people at their level, to share knowledge, and to take these learnings back to our communities. Our vendors feel that someone truly cares.”

The Forum features sessions led by government ministries and development partners on sustainable livelihoods, inclusive business growth, food system improvements, income diversification, and enabling regulatory environments for vendors. Participants will also engage in field visits to Bula Agro Farm and the Lautoka Waste Management Site to gain practical insights into sustainable practices and community-led innovation.

Reaffirming UN Women’s commitment to women-centred market development, Alison Davidian, UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office Representative, emphasised the lasting impact of women’s leadership in marketplaces:

“When Pacific women shape their marketplaces, they shape the resilience of whole communities. Their leadership turns a market into a system that safeguards livelihoods and strengthens futures.”

The outcomes of the Forum will continue to inform joint efforts with government ministries, municipal councils, and development partners to embed vendor voices, particularly women’s, in planning and decision-making processes across Fiji’s marketplaces.