Communities in these areas,
they heavily rely on tourism as their main
source of livelihood. The COVID-19 impact on tourism
most villages and especially women
that work in the hotels, they lose their job.
This project was initiated
to try and assist them
you know, in not only to generate income
but also as a food source
particularly
the mothers to confidently
provide for their family.
We can help motivate other women in the village
to start their own business by utilising resources.
Some of the land we can’t, we can’t utilise
because of, its muddy or swampy.
By digging a pond we can do fish farming,
at the same time you’re using this type of plan
to support the community.
One of the most important
aspect of agriculture in Fiji
is to get food on the table
and that's where food security comes in.
This is one of the project that
encourages them to show that this is possible.
They can also sell their fish and chicken
so that they can earn income. It addresses
the nutrition needs of the community
because there's an epidemic
of NCDs in Fiji currently.
The activities, we will
work with the women and
in terms of monitoring and helping them out
to ensure that the sustainability
of the project, that investment, the returns are being realised.
Currently we have 15 members who are selected
to run this project with the help of our
tours of coral
and the village members.
Seeing that sense of achievement, that sense of accomplishment
in terms of acquiring new information
and knowledge to develop
or to take the project further
was a highlight for me.
The women themselves would be empowered to make decisions and
have a voice, have a voice in the meetings
in the village council meetings.
They are confident because they have
something to give back.
The project has taught me a lot in terms of leadership skills.
The first one is the ability to network within WLI,
with agencies, government agencies that shared
the same outcome as the project,
right down to the Provincial Office
that identify us as communities
that are in need of assistance.
We have future plans for poultry chicken.
Not only to
sell within our community but to sell to other
communities in rural areas who are also affected.
My plan so far now is to run my own business
after this project is finished.
I really do acknowledge the learning and
experience with WLI, you know.
Most importantly the network was tremendous and use
their areas of expertise to implement our objectives.
They taught us by working together, hand-in-hand
we can move anything forward.