1. Background
Key demographic & development indicators
Population: 133,515 (2023) Source: World Bank, Kiribati
Life Expectancy: 68 (2022) Source: World Bank, Kiribati
GDP per capita: 2,089.9 (2023) Source: World Bank
HDI: 0.628 (2022) (ranking 137) Source: UNDP, Global Report
MPI: 0.080, with 30.2% of the population vulnerable to multi-dimensional poverty. Source: UNDP, Global Report
Gender inequality: The 2022 female HDI value for Kiribati is 0.555 in contrast with 0.654 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.849, placing it into Group 5, meaning low equality in HDI achievements between women and men. Source: UNDP, Kiribati
Key economic activities
(sectoral breakdown, formal/informal/subsistence employment – see national statistical agencies)
- Labour force participation rate (LFPR): 35.8%; this is low compared to the average Pacific regional rate of 62.7%4.
- Urban concentration of workforce: 68.5% of the Kiribati labour force was concentrated in urban areas.
Breakdown by sector
- Agriculture, forestry and fishery: 16.9%
- Industry: 8.9% of the working population in this sector
- Services: 74.2% of the working population in this sector (this includes government administration and tourism activities)
- Youth unemployment: 49.8% of youth in Kiribati are not in employment with men making up 50.6% of this.
- Informal sector: 47.6% of people are employed in the informal sector; this includes 21.2% of workers who also work in the formal sector.
- 32,622 persons of working-age were exclusively involved in unpaid HH care, accounting for 42.4% of the working-age population. There were 19,280 women (or 49.2% of women in the working age population), and 13,342 men (or 35.2% of men) engaged in unpaid HH care.
Source: LHIES, Labour in Kiribati, 2019-20
Main humanitarian/development/climate challenges
(crisis/pressure points within triple/quadruple nexus)
Climate/Humanitarian
- It is also one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of the climate crisis, Kiribati is experiencing air and sea temperature rises, storm surges, high winds, erosion, drought, and flooding. This poses direct and indirect threats to human health, including injury, disease outbreaks, and malnutrition.
- Water Insecurity: In June 2022, the government declared a state of emergency because of a prolonged drought. Kiribati’s water table to salinization. The water is replenished by rainfall, but when there’s no rain, people’s access to clean water is limited. Source: MSF Report Drought
- Kiribati’s ecology is highly sensitive to heavy rainfall events, drought, and saline intrusion. These same events also present risks to human health, notably increasing the risks of bacterial and pollutant contamination and, through its impact on subsistence agriculture, and hence on food security. The vulnerability and sustainability of groundwater resources under climate changes and potentially amplified extremes in Kiribati are enhanced by legislation and regulation enforcement issues. Source: Asian Development Bank Report
Development
- Geographic challenges pose great difficulties for Kiribati in achieving economic growth. Challenges due to its remoteness, large geographical dispersion, small size, and environmental fragility has resulted in high cost of infrastructure and public service delivery, but also in high cost of production and thus underdevelopment of the private sector.
- Economic growth in Kiribati has increased but has significantly lagged other Pacific Islands and low-income countries.
- In 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kiribati’s real GDP per capita was almost unchanged at 99.5 percent of its level 30 years ago.
- The other key feature of Kiribati is the dominant role of the public sector; Kiribati has one of the highest government expenditure-to-GDP ratios in the world during 2015-19, significantly higher than most of the PICs, as well as the global average. This high public spending is backed by government revenues from fishing license fees, tax revenues, investment income, and development aid flows. Source: IMF Profile Kiribati
Health
- Kiribati has a complex health burden. It has the highest prevalence of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and leprosy, in the Pacific and has the second highest prevalence of non-communicable diseases among the world’s low-middle income countries, including diabetes. * It’s difficult to grow fruit and vegetables here, and accessing healthy, nutritious food is not easy. Most food is imported, and it’s high in fat and sugar. Source: MSF, Nation-faces-triple-threat-health
2. Aid profile
ODA trends
(total / per cap / to CSOs – see existing case study cluster data on SP)
- Australia: $42.6 million of ODA (2022-23), their development aligns with Kiribati’s KV20 plan and state that they work in partnership and cooperation to deliver outcomes that align with Kiribati’s three core pillars of Te Mauri (Health), Te Raoi (Peace) and Te Tabomoa (Prosperity). Source: DFTA, Kiribati Development Assistance
- New Zealand: 51,076,780.32 NZD of ODA for 2023-24
Health is the sector with the highest level of funding at 39.86%. Source: NZ MFAT Development Data
In the Kiribati four-year plan that covers New Zealand’s engagement in Kiribati, the term localisation is not referred to or covered. The plan refers to KV20, which is Kiribati’s 20-year development plan and engagement plan. It also states that it intends to ‘navigate’ with Kiribati. Source: NZ Kiribati Four Year Plan
- Japan: Priority areas of environment/climate change and overcoming vulnerability. Source: Japan, County Assistance Kiribati
The Japanese Government offers a financial assistance scheme for development projects designed to meet the diverse needs of developing countries. Known as Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), this scheme supports projects proposed by such bodies as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local government authorities. The GGP has acquired an excellent reputation for providing flexible and timely support to development projects at the grass-roots level. Source: Japan, eco-corporation Kiribati
- EU: The relationship between the European Union and Kiribati is governed by the Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (the Samoa Agreement). Kiribati and the EU work together on a number of shared interests and common challenges, such as climate change, oceans and human rights, which they address in bilateral Political Dialogues at various ACP-EU policy dialogues and at global multilateral levels. Source: European-union-and-republic-Kiribati
Top i/NGOs in the aid chain (see funding cluster docs on SP)
- National/regional/local government involvement in the aid chain
(see via OCHA FTS database) - Localisation breakdown (see existing breakdown of data on SP)
3. Civic space (cultural context for CSOs)
Customary law
(re age, ethnicity, gender roles etc.) – any constitutional basis?
The preamble of the Constitution recognises the importance of custom and tradition in Kiribati, and customary law can be recognised and enforced by the courts as part of the laws of Kiribati, subject to the Constitution (Laws of Kiribati Act 1989, ss. 4, 5 and Schedule 1).
Men are traditionally the leaders and heads of households. Decision-making largely takes place in traditional communicative spaces called maneabas (Maneabas are the largest buildings in the community and are used for both formal decision-making and social events).
Source: Whincup, 2010
Gender
- Kiribati’s constitution affords women formal equality before the law but stops short of providing them with all the benefits and outcomes required by the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This means that discrimination against women is technically legal in Kiribati, and laws that discriminate against women cannot be declared unconstitutional.
- Abortion is illegal in Kiribati, with a limited exemption where the life of the mother is in danger.
- Kiribati provides for an equal minimum marriage age of 18 for both men and women.
- 73% of women reported experiencing some form of physical or sexual violence.
- Since 2007 women have comprised more than 50% of the workforce but only slightly more than a third of those are in paid employment.
- Girls currently outnumber boys in secondary and tertiary education; however, they are still under-represented at all levels of decision-making.
Source: Asia Pacific, UN Women Kiribati
Religion
- The Constitution provides for religious freedom
- According to the 2020 census, approximately 59% of the population are Roman Catholic and 21% belong to the Kiribati Uniting Church (until 2016 known as the Kiribati Protestant Church).
Source: Government reports International Religion
Legal freedoms
- No internet restrictions imposed by the government and no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
- The constitution provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally respects these rights in practice.
- Domestic and international human rights groups generally operate without government restrictions.
- The law protects the right of workers to form and join independent unions, conduct legal strikes, and bargain collectively.
Age
The law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14. Children under the age of 15 are prohibited from industrial employment and employment aboard ships.
Civil associationism
(community-based orgs (CBOs), relations to wider traditional civic space)
- KANGO: Kiribati Association of NGOs
The Kiribati Association of Non-Government Organizations (KANGO) is an independent body in Kiribati with more than 50 Member Organizations (MOs), including Community-Based Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations, Disability Groups, Youth Groups, Women Groups, International Non-Governmental Organizations, and Other Interest Groups such as Fishermen, Local Weavers, and more.
- AMAK (Aia Maea Ainen Kiribati), which is the national women’s association
- KFHA (Kiribati Family Health Association)
- KNYC (Kiribati National Youth Council)
- KCSP (Kiribati Civil Society Platform)
- KRCS (Kiribati Red Cross Society)
- KiLGA (Kiribati Local Government Association)
- Kiribati Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) (Private Sector)
- KiriCAN Kiribati Climate Action Network. Source: KANGO contextualizing-good-governance-through-an-i-kiribati-perspective
- Tibau Karotu Association Incorporated is a not-for-profit organization with charitable purposes, a legal entity registered under the Incorporated Society Act of the Republic of Kiribati. Source: Development aid organisations, tibau-karotu-association-incorporated
- Urban vs. rural differences (“new” urban civil associationism?)
- Local private sector involvement in the aid chain. (not-for-profit CSO focus, but also other in/formal grassroots CSOs and for-profit private orgs)
4. Policy landscape (see existing document reviews via SP)
Donor civil society policy positions (if any)
This point is covered in section 2
Recipient civil society policy positions
This information was challenging to identify, but a 2022 US report on human rights notes that in Kiribati, the constitution provides for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government generally respects these rights. In addition to this, the constitution provides for the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the report found that the government generally respected these rights.
Source: US Govt report on human rights in Kiribati
CSO coordinating body policy positions (if any)
KANGO is the National Umbrella of NGOs and CSOs of the Republic of Kiribati. Identifying information about KANGOs commitments was challenging, they made a commitment under the Agenda for Humanity. This is an operational commitment under ‘Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems’ it states that KANGO commits to establishing a common approach to providing information to affected people and collecting, aggregating and analysing feedback from communities to influence decision-making processes at strategic and operational levels.
Source: Agenda for Humanity stakeholder commitments
Recipient national development plans
Kiribati Development Plan 2020-2023: A wealthy, healthy, peaceful nation.
This plan involved consultation with CSOs and NGOs to identify the key priority areas for development in Kiribati.
Source: Kiribati Development Plan 2020-23
KV20
- This is Kiribati’s long-term development blueprint for the period 2016-2036. This was developed by the government and is Kiribati’s first long-term national development plan for Kiribati.
- The plan identifies four pillars that will enable transformative development Kiribati which include wealth, peace and security, infrastructure and governance.
- It seeks to achieve the development aspiration by maximising the development benefits from fisheries and tourism as key productive sectors. The development of these sectors is expected to stimulate the development of other sectors through backward and forward sectoral linkages.
Source: Kiribati-20-year-vision-2016-2036
Recipient participation in global/regional development positions
Kiribati government looks to ensure development cooperation in accordance with the high level global commitments for development effectiveness, including the Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Action, the Busan Commitment, the Istanbul Plan of Action and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism as set out by the Pacific Islands Forum.
Source: Government of Kiribati Development Cooperation Policy
5. Regulatory structure
Domestic charity regulations
This information was challenging to identify, but the Incorporated Societies Act of Kiribati includes regulation for the construction of a society.
Source: Parliament government 2021
Transparency & accountability requirements
This information was challenging to identify.
- Programme assemblage case study example (needs more thought)
- Visualise key actors in the aid chain via dynamic meso-economic funding/governance flows
- Actor-network mapping exercise
- Basis for macro overview??
*Critical realist methodology & ontology
*assemblage thinking