The 20-Year Development Plan provides the forward-looking vision for “Transforming Fiji” towards an even more progressive, vibrant and inclusive society. It outlines a framework that encompasses strategic policy manoeuvres, new approaches to development and the aspirations of all Fijians.

Click here to learn more about the Fiji’s National Development Plan

We aim to be the epitome of purposeful, responsible and empowering international projects and experiential learning programmes. Central to this is the depth of our association with local communities, government departments and organisations within Fiji, which is unique and unrivalled.

Every project is planned in collaboration and at the request of rural communities and directed and monitored by Fijian Ministries to ensure our projects have real purpose and long term sustainability.  We are respected for working within the framework of the government, adding benefit to long term strategies and the advancement of education, access and opportunity for youths and children living in rural areas.

We work alongside many leading international universities and hold many partnerships to support the formal delivery of global mobility. Through our structured projects, we guide hundreds of students annually who develop leadership, transferable skills and expand their cultural understanding, whilst contributing to the aims and initiatives of our Fijian partners.

Hear from villagers talking about their experience with Think Pacific.

The purpose of these sessions is to stimulate grassroots discussions on topics that are relevant and important to all young people today, often not regularly openly discussed in community settings. The sessions are led by our program partner who are trained to facilitate sessions on the topic. Their workshops in collaboration with Think Pacific are a fantastic opportunity to facilitate an opportunity that is unique and exciting, through cultural exchange allowing for the development of all involved. No one joining needs to be an expert… positive participation is all we ask for to ensure tangible outcomes for all involved.

The initiative also comes with the overriding purpose of encouraging attributes and awareness amongst young people in rural areas of Fiji, the leaders of tomorrow, where future change is made real in the next generation.

Funding from your participation also not only funds the initiative itself but contributes to year-round support the Think Pacific Foundation provides to our local partners and the community you visit.

For You

• Developing inter-cultural competence and ability to successfully communicate within a foreign cultural environment.
• Adaptability to changes in your own and foreign cultures.
• Tolerance: while working in teams, learn to listen more attentively, to respect each other’s opinion, team-work and team-spirit.
• Personal Skills: personability and set-up of sessions allows you to grow in confidence and communication.
• Appreciation of diversity: appreciation of the opinions and values of others, sensitivity to cultural diversity, and becoming more aware of your own context.
• Broader Perspective: Reconsider the cultural framework you have been brought up in and acquire skills that will enable you to observe and analyse encounters with diversity and to extend these beyond the framework of your own culture.
• Critical thinking.
• Soft skills: Presentation skills, time management, resilience, communication.

For Community Youth Members

• Engaging in topics that may be taboo subjects and coming to reflect on how they may be responded to on a community level.
• To encourage personal growth in the form of a boost in confidence, communication skills, team working, leadership, time management and presentation skills.
• Financial support for those involved and the youth group of the community.
• Any outstanding individuals can be highlighted for scholarship / employment opportunities.
• Appreciation of diversity: appreciation of the opinions and values of others, sensitivity to cultural diversity, and becoming more aware of their culture.
• Broader Perspective: Reconsider the cultural framework they have been brought up in and to acquire skills that will enable them to observe and analyse encounters with diversity and to extend these beyond the framework of their culture.
• Critical thinking.

The official definition of ‘Youth’ in Fiji according to the Ministry of Youth and Sports is anyone between the ages of 18-35. Villages in rural locations in Fiji more often than not have a registered ‘Youth Group’ that is made up of members of the village of that age. The extent to which that group is utilised within the village varies due to member commitments and their re-ignition is a real focus for the current Ministry of Youth.

18-35 year olds in the village often come with a variety of backgrounds and life stories: some may have dropped out of school as early as the age of 14 who engage in farming within the village’s subsistence lifestyle, others may be returning university students or school finishers, but all will be gain from the interactions that the project facilitates. Due to a variety of reasons, rural communities in Fiji have a significantly lower access to opportunity to urban areas and the ‘Youth’ are the primary demographic to be affected by that. This means that fundamentally out projects are outreach initiatives.

Crucial to the whole project is investing in Fiji’s youth to create sustainable solutions, capacity building and achieve mental health promotion long term.  Your project is the first introduction, conversation and activity surrounding mental health in rural areas.  What follows is 7 steps to achieve the training of local Fijian ambassadors, and implementation of sustainable local mental health support in rural villages.

Empowering Fiji’s Youth = Sustainability & Long Term Change

The long term aim is to help build communities that are knowledgeable and resilient in addressing issues surrounding mental health, providing support to community members facing mental health difficulties and establishing an enabling environment where local people are able to interact with others, contribute effectively to community decision making processes and be included in mental health activities.

Training of local youth ambassadors is delivered by leading mental health NGO’s and the Fijian Ministry of Health and funded by Think Pacific Foundation.  30% of your project fee funds the work of our Fijian charity.

We know that our projects aren’t for everyone and that’s Ok! They are a challenging, busy but rewarding experience. Below are some attributes that we are looking for in anyone who wishes to join our projects but also attributes that if you do join, we would like you to have the opportunity to continue to develop!

Our aim is for every student to complete their project with a set of experiences, personal attributes and transferable skills, which can positively impact their future education, career ambitions and transition to life beyond study.

TP participants will be expected to undertake leadership activities in a challenging and changing environment, which means they can achieve the following learning outcomes:

The course is set up to encourage an appropriate mindset from participants during the project, facilitate a meaningful experience for them but also works towards wider goals.

Fijian culture can be identified firmly as having an oral tradition – cultural knowledge is not written down and is transferred from generation to generation! A fear for many in Fiji’s current cultural climate that young people are not engaging with integral aspects of local custom and culture and knowledge is being lost. In line with requests from the Ministry of iTaukei affairs, this initiative aims to stimulate engagement with and revitalise local customs and traditions amongst rural youth. It aims to harness a pride in one’s culture and upbringing as well as practicing skills and communicating knowledge that defines the region and Fiji more broadly.

It ensures that all involved are learning cross-cultural skills through experience which they can not only support the rest of the aims during the project, but they can also utilise moving forward.

In addition, it is a clear opportunity to provide those youth leading the course a leadership opportunity, giving them a further platform to develop their soft-skills and boost personal and professional development.

For You:

• Learn in-depth about the lifestyle, culture and traditional skills that make up rural Fiji and importantly understand how they all relate and why.
• Develop inter-cultural competency and the ability to successfully communicate within a foreign cultural environment.
• Adaptability to changes in your own and foreign cultures.
• Tolerance: while working in teams, learn to listen more attentively, to respect each other’s opinion, team-work and team-spirit.
• Personal Skills: personability and set-up of sessions allows you to grow in confidence and communication.
• Appreciation of diversity: appreciation of the opinions and values of others, sensitivity to cultural diversity, and becoming more aware of your own culture.
• Broader Perspective: Reconsider the cultural framework you have been brought up in and acquire skills that will enable you to observe and analyse encounters with diversity and to extend these beyond the framework of your culture.
• Critical thinking.

For Community Youth Members

• Pride in their culture and upbringing and the practicing of traditional skills and knowledge.
• To encourage personal growth in the form of a boost in confidence, communication skills, team working, leadership, time management and presentation skills.
• Financial support for those involved and the youth group of the community.
• Any outstanding individuals can be highlighted for scholarship / employment opportunities
• Appreciation of diversity: appreciation of the opinions and values of others, sensitivity to cultural diversity, and becoming more aware of their culture.
• Broader Perspective: Reconsider the cultural framework they have been brought up in and to acquire skills that will enable them to observe and analyse encounters with diversity and to extend these beyond the framework of their culture.
• Critical thinking.

Central to any rural Think Pacific experience, the course has an agreed and consistent structure that is delivered across all projects. This ‘syllabus’ allows room for local variation of skills and knowledge but also remains consistent across villages. This syllabus therefore is made up of ‘themes’ rather than specific universal sessions.

Four themes explored:

• Identity and Custom
• Perspective
• Art
• Food

These categories are not mutually exclusive as almost all of them will relate to at least another one of those categories. (Eg. Meke would come under the category ‘art’ but can easily also relate to identity and language, even food.)

What they can be used for, however, is structuring each week consistently with other projects whilst allowing for local variations on each category. If x2 sessions from all categories are hit and delivered, that will make up the successful completion of the course.

x5 key youth members are highlighted by the community prior to your project beginning. These will be consistent members who would be leading delivery. Community youth will lead the sessions based on what they feel comfortable delivering and facilitating within the community and Think Pacific leaders are there to support. They can have free creative license to teach about any aspect of culture they feel passionate about (there may be a unique tradition that they wish to include), and there are a variety of interactive actives that come under the four themes of culture we’re exploring. Every village is unique and therefore every project has its own flavour.

As we have said, every village is different and the youth may wish to teach you skills and knowledge entirely different from what is mentioned below! But if you were interested in the sorts of things that you may get involved with, here are some activities and topics that have been covered in the past:

Identity and Custom

• Fijian Family (family tree and unique relationships)

• Origin stories and local history

• Yaqona (Fiji’s ceremonial drink)

Food

• Farming

• Lovo (traditional method of cooking)

• Cooking at Home

• Fishing / Gathering

Art

• Meke (traditional dance)

• Vucu (traditional song)

• Handicraft (local designs)

• Bilibili (traditional raft building)

• Pottery

Perspective

• The Effects of Globalisation

• Youth Perspective

• Gender Perspectives

Hear our Fijian staff talk about life in a Fijian village.

Follow the village headman (Turaga ni Koro), as he gives you a guided tour of Buliya, Kadavu.

Hear about Fijian culture from one of our Fijian Project Managers.