Building of Resilient Communities in Ra , Fiji

On behalf of the local residents of Nakarotubu District on the coast of Ra Province, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to GlobalGiving Donors for your generous support to our project.

In collaboration with the other stakeholders, OISCA-Fiji conducted a number of workshops at Saioko Village to involve the community in sustainable management of the natural resources.

As an aftermath of the cyclone Winston in 2016, the communities on the Ra coast were greatly affected in terms of resource for subsistence living. The extent of damages and the usage of remaining resources resulted in the reduced capacity of the natural ecosystem to recover and provide efficiency to the users.

We are tapping relevant agencies to provide as much information, educate the locals of the need to adopt climate change patterns, and help in its mitigation, and most importantly, the assurance of food security and sustainable subsistence living.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the mangrove project at Nacoubao Village which involves the locals encourages coastal protection and enhancement of local biodiversity. We are encouraging the locals on their roles and responsibilities. It might take some time for them to fully grasp conservation means due to different levels of knowledge and skills.

Another area is that to sit with the community and discuss with them of issues and at the same time present and use real life situations and examples to simplify the practices we are implementing–this has provided some understanding to learn of the difficulties the locals are facing everyday therefore as discussed all activity to be forwarded and discussed in the village meeting .Conducting of the activity might be easy yet to change their mindset is a must since that is where their decision to act appropriately and be more proactive to any conservation means and practices.

We would be grateful for outside support, in any forms for us to materialize these plans and realized our goals.