The Pacific Risk Resilience Programme is tapping into private sector partnerships to be the extended arm of government and agencies in helping build resilience in remote island communities.
Presenting at the recent Pacific Climate Change Roundtable in Samoa, Vinaka Fiji Yasawa Trust Foundation shared their experience in assisting the 26 villages in the Yasawa Group of Islands in addressing their vulnerabilities to risks relating to climate change and disasters.
According to Foundation Manager Ms. Elenoa Vakabunoya ‘In climate change and disaster risk, it’s everybody’s business and its including my company. We need to all work together.’
The private enterprise who have the resources to access and maintain presence in these remote locations took the opportunity to support the government under PRRP and give back to the communities as part of their corporate social responsibility.
Kese and Soso villages are two remote communities in the Yasawa Group of Islands, North West of Fiji that lie close to the cyclone path and is one of the country’s high risk communities. Food security is a major issue and due to its remote location, government’s relief efforts are finding it more and more costly to consistently and effectively respond to its development needs after a disaster.
‘I know there is a gap. The gap between government sectors, between NGOs, between the funding agencies- there is a gap and the gap that will link you to the communities (remote). It is we that have businesses in these region’ said Ms. Vakabunoya
An outcome of this ongoing partnership is the establishment of Food Banks to ensure communities have supply of food and water ready before, during and after disasters i.e. drought or cyclone. The Food Bank initiative involves crop planting, storage and selling excess crops to raise funds for any climate change adaptation or disaster risk reduction implementation. There are currently two Food Banks established each in Kese and Soso village.
The initiative was realised through a Community Development Planning process using Live and Learn Environmental Education’s Rapid Assessment of Perception technique of development needs assessment.
There are plans to expand the scope of the partnership to involve the Tourism Board and secure strong buy-in from tourism operators in the western division. Over the course of the partnership, there has been a strong sense of community ownership and leveraging core competencies can lead to mutual benefits for partners involved and strengthen long term partnerships.
‘We believe that by bridging the gap between the public and private sector on the issue of adaptation and disaster risk reduction that the communities can collectively address the underlying causes and impacts of climate change and disasters’ said Mr. Moortaza Jiwanji- PRRP Manager.
The Pacific Risk Resilience Programme is funded by the Australian Government and implemented by the United Nation Development Programme and the Live and Learn Environmental Education executed in Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Fiji partners include the Commissioner Western’s Office under the Ministry of Maritime and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Vinaka Fiji Yasawa Trust Foundation.