The Sport Development Project
In Partnership with the Fijian Government
Do you have a passion for sports? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to explore that passion with some of the most passionate sports enthusiasts on the planet? If so, our 1-month Sports Project in Fiji could be the most purposeful, adventurous and life-changing month of your life.
In partnership with the Fiji National Sports Commission, The Ministry of Sport and National Sports Organisations, we develop training, structure and coaching practices with youth groups in Fiji, as well as using physical activity and exercise to promote health and wellbeing community-wide.
Not only will you gain unrivalled gross roots coaching experience, you’ll gain a second home in Fiji as you live with local families and immerse into traditional island life.
- Meaningful 1-Month program in the Fiji Islands.
- In partnership with the Fijian Government, registered Youth Groups & Fijian Charities.
- Complete cultural immersion – Live with a traditional Fijian family.
- Work alongside Fijian youth in every aspect of the project
- Travel to rural locations in Fiji, off the beaten track.
- Opportunity to develop your own skills alongside encouraging others to do the same.
- Develop cultural intelligence and leadership skills that employers really value.
- Foster confidence, self-esteem and life skills in young Fijian adults.
- Project includes; food, accommodation, 24/7 in-country support, domestic travel, charitable donation. (Flights not included).
- Expedition costs from £1,595 / $2,895 AUD for 16-Days in Fiji. (See cost below)
- University scholarships & bursaries available – Learn More Here
Join a Discovery Session 💻
Attend a live webinar hosted by a member of our team
Think Pacific Discovery 
Monday’s 5pm [GMT – London] / 12pm [EST – New York] (Register Here)
Monday’s 2pm [FJT – Suva] / 12pm [AEST – Brisbane] (Register Here)
Projects in Fiji 
Biweekly on a Wednesday’s 4pm [GMT] / [11am EST] (Register Here)
Biweekly on Thursday’s 2pm [FJT ] / 12pm [AEST] (Register Here)
👇Whether you’re looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience or to enhance your studies, on a Think Pacific project you can;
- Experience: Gain hands-on work experience alongside representatives of major sporting organisations
- Contribution: Make an impact to grassroots sports and community health
- Challenge: Expand your comfort zone and throw yourself into island life.
- Learn: Learn about a new culture by living ‘vakavanua‘ (in the way of the land)
- Play: Alongside inspiring Fijians, you’ll learn and develop your own game
- Skills: Develop ‘soft skills’ such as teamwork, communication & leadership.
Team Challenge + Cultural Immersion + Contribution = Huge Personal Growth
Say goodbye to everyday life and arrive into the tropical Fiji islands. You will land at Nadi Airport, meet your team and your leaders and begin preparing for your project ahead.
Every expedition starts with a 2-day briefing at a resort. This is the time for you to get to know your team mates, acclimatise, prepare for life in the village and potentially meet our Fijian partners.
Leaving your briefing, you will travel to a remote traditional Fijian community. Depending on your village, this could be a truck to the jungle highlands or an overnight ferry to an outer island.
Arriving into your Fijian village is an exciting and nervous moment. Every door is open in a Fijian community and the generosity, warmth and genuine excitement of the local people is profound. This is where you will meet your host family for the first time.
‘Vakavanua‘ translates to ‘in the way of the land.’ After village orientation, some of your greatest experiences will be the simple activities of daily rural Fijian life, learning from your host family and surrounding community through true and unaltered immersion.
Contribute towards project aims and initiatives: undertaking and leading sports sessions in the mornings and collaborating with Fijian youth in the ‘Culture Course’ in the afternoons.
Live at the heart of some of the most rural communities and immerse yourself in local village life where every day is an adventure filled with new unique memories and moments. Weekends provide an opportunity to explore the surrounding area and have fun with your team and the community.
Leaving your Fijian village is an emotional experience due to the precious bonds that are formed between our project participants and the local community. You’ll be saying farewell to your newfound friends and family.
We finish the project by enjoying a final night of de-brief. This is time to rest, relax and reflect as a group as we discuss the project goals and celebrate project achievements.
Locally led aims & initiatives.
Go where only we can take you.
Teams of up to 28 participants.
Targeted sustainable development.
Facilitating Fijian Government objectives.
Join a traditional village, become a member of a Fijian family and work alongside a Fijian youth groups (aged 18-35) as you explore local and global issues together. Develop cross-cultural skills and discuss solutions to achieve key aspects of Fiji’s National Development Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
An outreach programme for rural communities, each morning you will collaborate with members of a Fijian youth group (aged 18-35 year olds) to develop techniques and skills of your favourite sports at a grassroots level. In small groups, mixed international participants and community members, a variety of sports will be delivered at your discretion to not only focus on improving technique, knowledge of developing an effective structured session and the dedicated planning and intention behind a session, but also promoting physical activity in a fun way, supporting the aims of our partners in rural communities.
50% of the project’s aims and objectives, you will be on the receiving end of an initiative in partnership with the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs (Arts, Heritage and Culture). You will learn about Fiji’s culture from those who know it best, the youth in your village, as they deliver an interactive cultural education course that boosts their own skills and cultural competency. Appreciating and celebrate traditional Fijian lifestyle specific to each village.
Supporting the Fiji National Development Plan through Community Sports and Physical Activity
‘Rugby is more like a religion than a sport in Fiji’ – Epeli Ratumaibulu, Savulotu
Sport is a passion for Fiji, it is a love that runs deep across the whole country. Because of this, sport is used as a tool to promote health and wellness for rural communities by many of our partner organisations. Fiji is facing a national health crises, with the highest rates of NCDs in the world, caused by changing diet and lack of activity for specific groups, particularly women, children and the elderly. These projects are a fantastic opportunity to, at a community level, boost energy with outside participation and begin developing the confidence and knowledge of the next layer of community leaders, the youth. The sport sessions on the project are fun and engaging, but there is more to them than just playing the game! Think of a sports camp… now place that in a Fijian village… that’s what this project is. See below to understand more.
An integral part of the process of delivering a sport session effectively, there is structured time during the week for you and your group (5-6 members) to sit down and really think about what you are going to deliver and how. There will be guidance provided to you by your leaders about what may need to be included in your sessions, but ultimately you have creative licence with your group! The discussion here is important and allows you to be fully ready to deliver when the time comes.
You and your group must be able to comfortably explain the purpose behind each drill, warm up, cooldown and session as a whole. This is a fundamental part of planning an activity and a great skill to practice. If you are particularly passionate about sports coaching and have experience, this may be an opportunity to go into the science, specifically what skills are you exercising and how will participants be developing. Other than this, what would the use of the session be beyond delivery within the community, what other reasons have you chosen your session structure, sport and activity selection?
Next step is to lead your session. The group that designed the session will lead all aspects and deliver it to the rest of the participants, international and community youth. Each project will consist of roughly 20 International participants and 20 Fijian youth, they are the numbers you’ll be working with.
Delivery of the sessions itself is a great opportunity for you to test yourself in that setting with new challenges and encourage the development of others around you in that safe and fun environment. If you need any support, qualified project leaders will be on hand to help.
A crucial step of the process is reflection, a debrief with everyone involved in the session each day. Days on project are long but it is important to reflect on the sports sessions aside from everything else. It is a lovely chance for you to give yourself a pat on the back after undertaking the session and also a chance for constructive feedback to be shared as a group. This is where a lot of the self-development is realised and where everyone is reminded of their personal and professional goals set at the beginning of the project.
The purpose of these morning 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 subjects that have been identified by our program partners were chosen as being directly relevant to youth in Fiji now. The sessions are a fantastic opportunity to facilitate an opportunity that is unique and exciting, allowing for the personal development of all involved. No one 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 soft skills and attributes of leadership amongst young people in rural areas of Fiji 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.
The Fiji National Development Plan – ‘Transforming Fiji’
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, underpinned by the UN SDGs – all of our projects are designed to support this strategic plan.
Click here to learn more about the Fiji’s National Development Plan
All sport sessions are planned and delivered during the project in small groups within the village. Each group is made up of both international and community participants and it is this interaction which is part of the project focus, where discussions and collaborations benefit all involved. These sessions are open to creativity and equipment will be provided. If you’re passionate and you’ve discussed it with your team, any sport is on the cards.
You will not be left alone to do this and we are not expecting you to be an expert; project leaders (Think Pacific staff members) lead every aspect of your experience and at least one of the individuals in your leadership will be a trained Fijian representative of one of our partner organisations that sit heavily in the sporting space. They will be able to guide you and assist you should you need support during the planning or delivery of the sport sessions.
The sessions are then led by a small group and delivered to the rest of the group in a fun and supportive space. There may also be opportunities to create and deliver sessions for other demographics in the village (children and over 35s) and we expect every project to end with a sports big village sports tournament.
Who are the ‘Youth?’
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 than urban areas and the ‘Youth’ are the primary demographic to be affected by that. This means that fundamentally our projects are outreach initiatives.
For You
- Developing inter-cultural competence and ability to successfully communicate within a foreign cultural environment.
- Leadership skills development: opportunities to lead groups of young people in a sport environment
- 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.
- Sporting skill development: Bottom line, you’ll be playing a lot of sports with some passionate and talented people!
- 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
- Developing skills applicable to a variety of sports
- Leadership skills development: opportunities to lead groups of young people in a sport environment
- The ability to communicate healthy habits and deliver sports sessions at a community level
- Exposure to sports that are not common in Fiji
- 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.
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.
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, underpinned by the UN SDGs – of which our projects are designed to support – all of our projects are designed to support this strategic plan.
Click here to learn more about the Fiji’s National Development Plan
“Culture is how we act, think, and behave based on the shared values of our society. It is everywhere, and we continually develop and define our culture on a daily basis.”
The Culture Course is an experiential learning programme as standard with any rural Think Pacific project. You will be immersed in rural Fijian culture throughout your project but this course intentionally goes deeper! Through immersion, the course aims to educate project participants about the nuances of indigenous Fijian culture through structured sessions delivered by members of the community youth group themselves and Think Pacific leaders.
- Learn skills that are unique to Fiji, regions/provinces or even villages
- See Fijian culture in a light that no tourist can ever see
- Learn about history and identity that defines rural Fijian culture
- Learn skills that have existed in Fiji for around 3000 years
- Engage in a cultural exchange that examines what culture really means, what makes us what we are?
- Support in the empowerment of local community youth as they develop soft skills
- Be at the receiving end of a key initiative in our engagement with the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs
- Present what has been learnt in a final showcase event to the community
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.
Course Delivery
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
- Religious Perspective
Fijian life is incredibly communal and friendly. The entire village live and work together. Fijians farm together, maintaining crop plantations which feed the whole village. They fish together, later dividing their catch, and families will all come together in the evenings to play cards, strum the guitar, chat and dance the night away as they drink Kava.
The villages are all relatively small and close knit communities with usually around 20-50 or so families. During the project, you will stay with your own Fijian family in the village. The Fijian families will treat you as one of their own. If you are lucky, you may also live with a family who has children and your little Fijian brothers and sisters are always so intrigued and incredibly excited by the arrival of visitors from afar! Conditions are basic; expect cold bucket showers, pit toilets and limited electricity.
You will eat with your Fijian family, who provide all of your meals in the community. Think Pacific fund any costs of this food so our teams pose absolutely no burden on the local resources. You may often find many different people at your home for lunch and dinner – in Fiji it is custom to invite anyone who is passing into the home to eat. Food is very carbohydrate heavy, so expect lots of root crops such as dalo and cassava, and also lots of fish, as this makes up the bulk of a typical Fijian diet.
Trust us when we say that there really is nothing like a Fijian village! However, the comparatively basic standard of living, the communal nature, the strong religious beliefs and the traditional customs and values in the village, may take time to adjust to. It is completely normal to feel a little out of your depth in the first few days. With the support of your Fijian family, your team and our leaders, we find it doesn’t take long to adjust to life in the South Pacific.
The majority of Fijians speak both Fijian and English. There may be some language barriers with pronunciation, but as long as you talk slowly and clearly in English there is little difficulty in understanding each other. Young children and some elderly members of the community may not speak any English at all and it’s great to learn a few Fijian words as early as you can.
‘Fiji time’ is something you will soon be accustomed to – and it has the ability to change everything. South Pacific Islanders take everything at their own unique, mystifying and incredibly slow pace. This can sometimes seem frustrating, but don’t let it get to you; its better to smile and take any changes in your stride and welcome this beautiful, relaxed and refreshing way of life!
Hear our Fijian staff talk about life in a Fijian village and 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.
Hear from community members talking about their experience with Think Pacific…
We pride ourselves on the delivery of a safe, structured and personally supported experience.
Your expedition fee includes your food, accommodation, in-country travel, resort briefings, R&R, weekend activities, emergency support and your expedition leader team living alongside you 24/7. Expeditions also fund the work of the Think Pacific Foundation (Fijian charity FJ 989) enabling us to support thousands of youths annually to ensure sustainability of the aims.
£195 GBP / $345 AUD
This secures your place in the team and gives you access to our Global Skills Programme, an online course to give you the foundations of success before departing for Fiji. It also provides personal support from your project co-ordinator, full access to our pre-departure resources, live online preparation webinars and your expedition t-shirt. Your registration fee is additional to your project fees.
Students can apply for scholarships and bursaries to join our projects in Fiji.
To find out if there’s funding available at your university or in your area, download our funding guide. (Coming soon)
16 Day = £1400 GBP / $2550 AUD
1 Month = £1950 GBP / $3500 AUD
Our philosophy is to provide a high quality and exceptionally well structured volunteer project. Our expeditions are packed full of adventure and cultural insight, whilst having safety and support at their core. Click ‘What’s Included’ below to learn more.
Your travel costs are not included in the project fees. We support you every step of the way to book return flights, personal travel insurance and we process your visa when in Fiji. Please see the approximate costs below within ‘ What’s Not Included’.
Think Pacific works in partnership with many universities across the world to support student mobility and employability. There are scholarships and grants available for students from individual university departments and/or governments in several countries.
Students can apply for scholarships and bursaries to join our projects in Fiji. To find out if there’s funding available at your university or in your areas, click here to access our grants and funding guide.
If you have any questions about funding prior to our funding guide being launched, please email info@thinkpacific.com.
Our philosophy is to provide a high quality and exceptionally well structured international project. Our expeditions are packed full of adventure and cultural insight, whilst having safety and support at their core. We also ensure that through our charity, the communities you support receive long-term financial and physical assistance year-round. Think Pacific is not the cheapest volunteer organisation around, but this is for all the right reasons.
All our expeditions include:
- Airport welcome by Think Pacific Expedition leaders (or resort meet and greet if you arrive early).
- All in-country project-related travel.
- All project accommodation.
- Briefing and orientation at a resort.
- All meals during your briefing, 3 and a half weeks staying with your Fijian village family and during your final day of R&R.
- Guided weekend activities such as a short trek or attending community events.
- Organised evening Fijian activities including kava ceremonies, lovo feasts, mat weaving,
- Think Pacific Leaders and Fijian guides living with you 24/7.
- In-country Director, Fiji based Project Managers and UK team providing planning, risk assessment and 24-hour back up support.
- Comprehensive pre-departure information & personal project planning.
- Your project donation towards the youth development goals in Fiji (which is used to purchase educational and sports equipment, fund scholarships and training for local people and build village facilities and school classrooms).
What’s Not Included?
- International flights – £800 – £1200
- Personal travel insurance £60-£100
- Spending money for extra food and snacks, Fijian clothes and items of a personal nature (we advise bringing £200 – £300 spending money).
Apply for university funding to cover flights and insurance.
- International flights – £800 – £1200
- Personal travel insurance £60-£100
- Spending money for extra food and snacks, Fijian clothes and items of a personal nature (we advise bringing £200 – £300 spending money).
Apply for university funding to cover flights and insurance.
- Access to the Pre-departure Portal.
This portal provides the step-by-step process to prepare for Fiji, including fundraising information, flight information, kit list, visa, cultural preparation. Student can watch videos with our team in Fiji and download document.
- Contact our team.
You can contact our team anytime between office hours, either give us a call on 0113 335 9919 or email; info@thinkpacific.com.
- Online community/network.
You can communicate with fellow volunteers, alumni and our team through our online community, hosted on the Might Network app. Within 3 months of you departing to Fiji, you shall be entered into a private group with your volunteer team.
- Live Pre Departure webinars
Our team host live sessions in the months leading up to your project. These are a great way for you to ask questions and delve deeper into planning for your project. They also add to the excitement!
- Global Skills Programme
We have created an online course to give you the set you up for success before departing for Fiji! Complete short-courses in: Fijian Culture, Sustainable Development & Global Leadership.
1-Month Project
- Briefing (3 nights) = Resort Accommodation
- Project aims (24 nights) = Traditional village homestay
- Rest & reflection = (1 nights) = Accommodation in Nadi
16-Day Project
- Briefing (2 nights) = Resort Accommodation
- Project aims (13 nights) = Traditional village homestay
- Rest & reflection = (1 nights) = Accommodation in Nadi
1-Month Project Dates 
27 May – 23 June 2024
19 June – 16 July 2024
27 July – 23 Aug 2024
