Leaving No One Behind The Office of the Prime Minister is promoting inclusive growth in Fiji to ensure that no one is left behind. It is argued that national sustainable development can only be achieved if activities and projects are implemented across all four divisions of Fiji, reducing the risk of some communities being excluded while others benefit from development progress, as evidence has shown has been happening. When identifying projects to receive government support, it is deemed necessary to conduct needs-based assessments on the priorities required for growth, particularly for those people and communities in the greatest need. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) conducted a “Leaving No One Behind” (LNOB) analysis based on Fiji’s recent 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). This analysis reveals that the size and composition of the furthest left-behind groups, in terms of various Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, vary across the country’s four geographical divisions. While individuals living in poorer households (i.e., the bottom 40% of the wealth distribution) are the most common furthest left-behind group nationwide, the place of residence and level of education emerge as key drivers of inequality in the Western and Eastern regions, respectively. On average, the furthest left-behind groups represent a much higher proportion of the population in the Eastern and Northern divisions. Inequality refers to the unequal distribution not only of income and wealth but also of opportunities and services in education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, social protection, and access to justice. Inequality of opportunity undermines the realization of human rights and acts as a barrier to social mobility. The dissimilarity index (D-Index) measures the differences in access to certain opportunities or the disproportionate experience of certain barriers among different groups, such as women, poorer households, or rural residents. Like the Gini coefficient, the D-Index ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates no inequality and 1 indicates that access to a service is entirely reserved for a specific group with shared circumstances (e.g., men from urban areas). The figure below shows the D-Index for 20 indicators related to SDGs 1 to 8 and 17. The highest inequality is observed in access to clean fuels, followed by access to early childhood education, tertiary education attendance, and pandemic preparedness. There is virtually no inequality in access to skilled birth assistance, while minimal inequality is observed in access to various basic services and child malnutrition.64
64
140
Note: ESCAP calculations based on MICS 2021.Standard analysis with up to 5,467 observations. (*) To keep the same interpretation as for other positively defined indicators (opportunities), inequality in the absence of the barrier is calculated.
The chart below illustrates the extent of inequalities in Fiji across various SDG indicators. With the exception of access to skilled birth assistance, where no one has been left behind, there are significant gaps between those who are furthest ahead and those who have been left behind. The largest gaps exist in access to clean fuels (a difference of 69 percentage points), followed by the ability to protect against the pandemic (a difference of 45 percentage points), and closely behind is internet use in the past three months (a difference of 44 percentage points). Data Legend
Furthest Ahead & Furthest behind Fiji, 2021
Rate best-off group Average rate
Skilled Birth Attendance
Rate furthest behind group
Basic Drinking Water Wasting* Mobile Phone HH Stunting Overweight* Electricity Bank Account HH Basic Sanitation Mobile Phone IND Internet Usage VAW Justified* Secondary edu 20-35yrs Pandemic Preparedness Family Planning Clean Fuel Tertiary edu 25-35 yrs Secondary edu 35+ Early childhood edu Tertiary edu 35+ 0
20
40
60
80
100
Access rate/prevalence (%) Source: MICS Note: For barrier indicators (*) the rate shown refers to the absence of the barrier (e.g. stunting becomes absence of stunting), to allow for data comparability with opportunity indicators.
141