Kiribati: Maneaba Floor Forum for Fair Turn-Taking

Maneaba Floor Forum for Fair Turn-Taking, Kiribati

Context

Across Kiribati’s atolls, the maneaba, an open-sided communal meeting house, has long served as a key venue for social organization and decision-making, with roles and seating shaped over time by precolonial practice and later mission and colonial influences. It functions as the largest and most symbolically important structure in a village and is described as the “centre of village life and the basis of island and national governance.” * Government, too, borrows the term: the national parliament is the Maneaba ni Maungatabu, literally the “maneaba of the Sacred Mountain.” *

Protocol inside a maneaba is precise and may feel egalitarian to visitors: visitors stoop under the low eaves on entry as a sign of respect; seating is on mats, legs crossed or tucked under; and a master of ceremonies, the te tia babaire, invites and sequences speakers, while speaking rights are also shaped by boti allocations, age, gender, and the authority of unimwane elders. The etiquette aims to preserve face, grant turn-taking, and keep the circle inclusive. * * The culture office and tourism authority openly encourage visitors and professionals to understand these norms, and a brief glossary with verified spellings, meanings, and pronunciations should be provided at first use. *

That tradition is not nostalgic: it actively shapes organizational life today. In May 2025, the Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources inaugurated a new on‑compound maneaba in Tanaea specifically to “host important discussions” on ocean governance, with a public naming competition and a remit to be used by other agencies and the Tarawa community. * The parliament has modernized access as well, streaming sittings of the Maneaba ni Maungatabu for the first time in December 2024. *

Meet the Company/Cultural Tradition

The heart of the ritual is cultural: the maneaba’s spatial logic and speaking order, and this chapter should include short emic quotations from I-Kiribati facilitators and participants (with consent and credit) to reflect lived perspectives. Seats around the perimeter, boti, are traditionally allocated to family groups (kainga), and each boti historically carried responsibilities such as opening a meeting, replying, or coordinating repairs. This “who sits where” quietly encodes roles and respectful turn-taking. * *

Organizations in Kiribati transpose this into work settings. The Ministry of Fisheries’ new Tobwaan Marawa maneaba was purpose-built for deliberation and staff–stakeholder gatherings. * The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) likewise runs professional development inside maneabas: in June 2024, TAK delivered a four‑day “Mauri Way” customer‑service program for North Tarawa operators at the Moturerei Motel Maneaba, using role-plays and group presentations in the traditional hall. *

Even the vocabulary of collective dialogue anchors public-sector facilitation. UNDP described maroro as a Kiribati practice of facilitated conversation used with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to surface risks and align on actions, and noted its use alongside, but distinct from, the regional talanoa framework, mirroring maneaba norms of listening, turn-taking, and consensus. *

The Ritual

Minute	Scene	Purpose
0–3	Stooped entry under low eaves; everyone removes shoes, settles on mats in a gentle U or perimeter	Signal respect; shift from task mode to communal mode. *
3–5	Te tia babaire (MC) opens with a “mauri” greeting and names the topic	Shared focus; sets psychological safety via clear rules of turn-taking. *
5–12	“Boti round”: each sub-team speaks in a set order (left to right), 60–90 seconds each	Equal airtime; maps traditional seating to modern teams. *
12–18	Maroro segment: clarifying questions only; no debates	Active listening; reduces cross-talk and status effects. *
18–25	Decisions or commitments read back by the MC; hands or gestures confirm consensus	Public commitment; accountability without confrontation.
25–30	Closing thanks; mats tidied together; optional quick photo for the intranet	Reinforces reciprocity; visible memory of progress.

Adaptations for offices without a maneaba: designate a quiet open area; default to chairs in a U or circle for accessibility; appoint a facilitator; make participation opt-in with an equivalent alternative; keep the order and signals while avoiding sacred cues and I-Kiribati language unless I-Kiribati members invite and lead them; and avoid safety-critical or fast-response contexts without prior consultation.

Why It Works

Embodied equality. The maneaba’s low eaves and floor seating can signal humility and reduce visible status markers, but traditional hierarchies of age, gender, and role still shape interactions and require inclusive facilitation. Etiquette, such as a brief respectful entry, a comfortable seated posture that does not strain participants, and facing speakers, encodes humility and attention. That choreography helps junior staff find voice and senior staff model restraint. *
Role clarity without rigidity. The boti convention gives everyone a place and a turn. In work teams, mapping departments or project pods to a predictable speaking order can reduce interruption and social loafing and enables a simple metric such as the percentage of meetings with at least four speakers, while the term “boti” should be used only in I-Kiribati-led settings or with co-design by I-Kiribati partners. * *
Conversation over contest. Maroro/talanoa emphasizes story, listening, and context, ideal for complex, risk‑laden work. Kiribati ministries already use this format to reason about climate and operational risks, suggesting it can surface nuance without escalating conflict in those contexts. *
Space shapes behavior. Research on seating arrangements shows semi-circles and crescent/round configurations increase eye contact, participation, and collaborative behaviors relative to rows: precisely the layouts a maneaba affords. * *

Outcomes & Impact

Institutionalization in government. The 2025 opening of the Tobwaan Marawa maneaba at the Fisheries compound confirms sustained investment in culturally rooted deliberation spaces for staff and stakeholders, and explicitly invites cross‑agency use. *
Transparency uplift. Livestreaming the Maneaba ni Maungatabu’s sittings for the first time in December 2024 modernized a traditional forum, letting citizens and civil servants alike observe the cadence of respectful debate and decisions. That visibility reinforces the norm that big choices belong in an open circle. *
Private‑sector uptake. Training for hotel and tour operators in North Tarawa was deliberately held in a maneaba, with role‑plays and group work conducted on the mats, embedding “Kiribati ways” of service and teamwork in daily commerce. Participants came from multiple businesses, strengthening an island‑wide peer network. *

Together these signals show a living ritual that appears in documented public and professional settings on Tarawa and in some outer-island communities, rather than a universal weekly practice across all communities. *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why It Matters	How to Translate
Seat the circle	Layout nudges behavior; face-to-face boosts engagement	Use a U- or circle‑shaped seating plan; sit low if culturally appropriate. *
Name the MC	A visible te tia babaire protects airtime and civility	Rotate facilitation; publish the speaking order up front. *
Map “boti” to teams	Predictable turns reduce interruption and status games	Assign departments to seats; swap monthly to mix perspectives. *
Practice maroro	Dialogue before debate yields wiser decisions	Build a clarifying‑questions round before proposals. *
Keep it frequent, short	Rituals stick when rhythmic	Protect 30 minutes once or twice a week; end on time.

Implementation Playbook

Choose a space. Choose a space that is open, quiet, and interruption-free, document core elements (U-/circle layout, facilitator, fixed speaking order, questions-only pass, read-back) versus adaptable elements (seating height, greeting, cadence), and define a remote/hybrid variant.
Set etiquette. Publish a one-page briefing that states the session is voluntary with an equivalent chair-seated option, devices are silenced, a comfortable and accessible seating choice is offered, and a simple ‘excuse me’ is used when passing. *
Appoint a facilitator (te tia babaire in I-Kiribati-led settings), and name the accountable meeting owner and data/photo owner. Train facilitators to time‑box, invite the quiet, and pause cross‑talk. *
Honor the boti principle by mapping a speaking order, and avoid labeling office seating as ‘boti’ or ‘maneaba’ unless co-designed with I-Kiribati partners. Place sub‑teams around the perimeter; post the order to speak; rotate quarterly to avoid cliques. *
Run maroro. Use two passes—brief updates by each sub-team in the posted order, then a questions-only round—calling it maroro only in I-Kiribati-led contexts and otherwise using neutral naming. *
Close with commitment. The facilitator reads back decisions; use hands or a quick poll to confirm, offer an anonymous dissent option, and take photos only with explicit opt-in consent and a no-photo seating option, with the organizer as data owner and a 90-day retention limit, and no photos in community or sacred spaces without permission.
Review after an 8-week pilot with pre- and post-surveys and talk-time observations, then set thresholds and stop rules before scaling. Ask: Did layout and order help? Who spoke least? Adjust boti and facilitation accordingly.

Common Pitfalls

Treating it as a meeting, not a ritual. If attention drifts and seating stays in rows, you will lose the focus.
Skipping the MC. Without a named te tia babaire, dominant voices will crowd out others.
Ignoring local comfort. If sitting on mats is inaccessible for some, offer chairs by default with cushions as optional, allow footwear for comfort or faith needs, duplicate sessions across shifts and time zones, and provide a remote variant with a hand-raise queue.
Token use. Holding one annual “maneaba” session dilutes impact; it works because it’s rhythmic.

Reflection & Call to Action

Kiribati’s maneaba shows how architecture, etiquette, and dialogue can braid into a simple, repeatable ritual that binds teams. When adapting this practice outside Kiribati, credit Kiribati origins in agendas, partner with I-Kiribati advisors where feasible, avoid sacred cues and language unless invited by I-Kiribati members, and share benefits through an honorarium or donation to a Kiribati cultural organization. Start next week: offer a voluntary 30-minute U-shaped, chair-seated session with an anonymous dissent option and origin credit, and track balanced airtime, perceived fairness, and time-to-decision over eight weeks.