Over the past few weeks, we have been collating all the data gathered from phase 2 of the Bougainville Transition Dialogues into excel spreadsheets. Our team has been reading through responses from each constituency across Bougainville and entering the survey responses and facilitator feedback into spreadsheets. With the survey data, we can continue to analyse the main questions and concerns arising during the transition period.
The preliminary data from this year shows that we had a total of 540 dialogues over three months with over 10,000 participants. The table below shows a further breakdown of the people surveyed, which included over 2000 young women across all constituencies. However, it is important to note that the table is not finalised as we are still missing some data.
This year we have taken a new approach to data presentation with a different table layout and a new set of codes that help us grasp the overarching themes of each constituency. The new format was developed with help from new research assistants Valeska Wood and Deepthi Srikanth. Instead of predicting themes that may occur with the answers, we have decided to categorise the spreadsheets into the questions asked. We have also spent some time developing codes that relate to recurring statements and themes in the survey answers. From our initial data collection, we decided to categorise the responses into, Transition Process, Governance, Security, Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution, Education, Economy, Health, Culture and Spirituality. These codes are helping us categorise answers into more accessible data points and provide an overview of what is considered most important in each constituency. We have also noted the social demographics of those surveyed to investigate whether there is a correlation between a specific concern and their place in society. For instance, with the initial data analysis, we have already noticed a link between questions about job opportunities in the future within the youth demographic.
Questions and concerns about the transition process have been the leading theme across the initial constituencies we have started to analyse. Many are concerned about the length of the transition period and whether they will be represented in the formation of the new government. However, questions about transparency and the need for more awareness has been the most repeated comment across all the constituencies. Governance and Security have also been leading themes, with many concerned about the potential outbreak of violence if independence is not achieved by 2027.
Although we are still in the initial stages of collecting and analysing the data from this year’s dialogues, the results highlight major themes and shared discourse as the transition process continues.
