Changing the Culture of Violence in Fiji

A special grant from the Ford Motor company was added to the funds raised through GlobalGiving for the Fiji project to specifically address the problem of violence against women and children. This report shows that a strong process has been initiated that will continue to grow and develop its ability to reach many more people than was possible in the relatively short period of the project funding.

A training workshop held just before Easter gave 20 youth, 2 women from Koroipita and several people from the business community the skills to teach individuals and communities the 5 strategies of The Virtues Project to specifically address the issue of violence against women and children.

The Youth

While working with the communities to address the problem of violence it was established that the current conditions giving rise to an increase in violence in families and towards women and youth were:

1. Unemployment which has substantially increased with the covid crisis
2. Poverty – which has increased with rising costs and unemployment
3. Economic instability of Fiji
4. Alcohol abuse (which increases in the above conditions)
5. Women going into prostitution to find an income
6. The ongoing increase in the cost of food and other items for basic living with no corresponding increase in income adds to the frustration in the families that still have employment.

The Veiyasana youth group worked in an area close to Lautoka city and began by addressing a group of 40 people from the community including men, women and youth. They followed this with three visitations. A death in the community caused this activity to cease.

Another youth facilitator presented The Virtues Project to 7 communities totalling over 60 participants from half the island including the capital city, Suva. The focus of these meetings was how to deal with violence against women and children and to present the 5 strategies of The Virtues Project as a tool to address this issue.

The outcome of these presentations was that the presenters and the communities agreed that they do observe violence in the communities, both physical and emotional. The members of the communities agreed that they need to work together to bring an end to this violence. However, until participants had the tools of the 5 strategies they do not know how to intervene when they see a situation where violence is occurring. This project will address this problem and as people work together and learn from each other they will witness the level of violence in the communities decrease.

Koroipta

This township developing near Lautoka city to house the poor is managed by having households grouped into 10 houses per sector with one of the householders elected to be the leader of that group.

The two women trained at the workshop reached more than 15 households explaining how to use the 5 strategies and providing sets of virtues cards and posters to the participating families. The outcome was that one child took posters to school and shared what they learned with their class. All parents commented on the change in behaviour that they observed with their children as the family practiced the 5 strategies in their daily living.

As families develop their skills more and more families will be included in the project taking 5 households at a time as of now.

Nadi Special School

One of the Koroipita women teaches at a special school in Nadi and reported that the virtues skills help her to work with children with special needs. She has learned the importance of using her patience, understanding, caring, love and compassion in her day-to-day activities.

GENERAL COMMENT

As mentioned at the beginning, this is an ongoing project. The work undertaken by those who were trained at the workshop in April ranged from close work with families in Koroipita and families while the trained youth worked to provide widespread dissemination of the skills of The Virtues Project in communities covering half of the main island including Suva. It is clear from what the workshop participants learned that the problem of violence is increasing with the rise in the cost of living and unemployment in the country. As communities start to work together to deal with this problem solutions and the application of The Virtues Project skills will contribute towards solving these problems over time.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITH THE VIRTUES PROJECT IN FIJI.

Funded by Ford Motor Company through GlobalGiving the first activity was to train women and youth with the five strategies of The Virtues Project™ in a three day workshop. The workshop included staff from Punjas company who generously provided the training facility at their office. The total number of participants were 25, including 17 youth, two women, 6 from businesses houses.

The participants were so excited to learn about TVP that the entire three days were filled with enthusiasm and courage as they shared their stories and learned how the virtues heal the pain of their life experiences. Courage was an important virtue for these participants as many had been unable to deal with some of their issues so that the workshop opened the opportunity for them to tell their stories in a safe environment and learn how they can help others.

The last session of the workshop was given to consult on how they would use their new skills as a consequence of their new knowledge. They formed two groups of youth, one for the women and one for the business participants.

The two women came from the Koroipita small township providing housing for the poor which includes many troubled families. The households are put into groups of 10 families who can support each other. The two participants came from two different groups which enabled them to implement their plans for 20 households. They will visit each family and talk to them about the Virtues Project and listen to the particular challenges faced by each one. Using the five strategies they will enable the families to solve their problems and address the process of raising their children in a virtues environment. In this way they will identify specific issues around addressing the violence in the families.

The youth live close to each other in their communities and discovered they knew nothing about the struggles their neighbours were having. The outcome of this workshop is that they set a plan to support each other and assist other youth to address the issues confronting them at this time.

The workshop was closed with the presentation of certificates from Mr. Umit Narayan, of Shreedah Motors which is the agent for Ford motors in Fiji.

TAKE OFF – THE VIRTUES PROJECT TO ADDRESS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN IS MOVING FAST.

Immediately following this program 8 youth were invited to a workshop in Suva from UNDP Youth Empowerment to share what they had learned. Over Easter they were to carry out a workshop on the Virtues Project. This workshop is part of the training they are to have to be registered as facilitators.

The two women were from the target community of Koroipita. They immediately set their plans to work in that community. The households are clustered in groups of ten so each of the women would work in her cluster, teaching the families how to use the 5 strategies of The Virtues Project and giving them a set of cards and a virtues poster. In less than two weeks 13 household had been introduced to the project with set plans to revisit and support the families as they learn to deal use these strategies to work with their children.

While the facts speak for themselves in terms of the commitment and enthusiasm of the trainees and their clients, what is very evident is the excitement that has been generated as first the workshop participants and now their contacts learn these skills and discover ‘who they really are’. As one of the women discovered when two of her children had a fight, when she got them to do a virtues pick, one got Justice and the other Peacefulness which had a big impact on them. 

The  photos show Mr Narayan closing the workshop, the youth making their presentations and the women making their presentation.