Leadership in Action - Community and Youth Project
In Partnership with The Fijian Government
This expedition requires scholars to step out of their comfort zone, experience true cultural immersion and expand their skills, whilst contributing to the personal development of young Fijian adults and facilitating the ambition of a rural village to create a community health facility.
Our aim is to facilitate sensitive and purposeful cross-cultural dialogue and action, where both international scholars and Fijian youths learn and develop their skills, whilst achieving wider local ambition for rural communities.
- 6 week LiA project unique to Laidlaw Scholars
- In partnership with Fijian Government, registered Youth Groups & Fijian Charities.
- Challenging cultural immersion, based within a rural Fijian village.
- Advance UN SDG’s & Fiji’s National Development Plan.
- Collaborate with villagers to build a community health clinic
- Work with youth groups (young adults aged 18-30) in cross-cultural workshops
- Facilitate discussion of key sustainable development themes
- Support the personal development and leadership of young Fijian adults
- Achieve SMART goals and test your leadership skills
- Project includes; food, accommodation in resort and homestay, in-country travel, 24/7 in-country support, weekend activities and all project materials.
Join a Discovery Session 💻
Learn all about Think Pacific’s Summer 2023 Programs for Laidlaw Scholars:
Monday 28th November at 5pm (London). Register Here
Think Pacific is an organisation build upon local partnerships. Together, we believe we can learn from each other and achieve the aims of Fiji’s National Development Plan. Our core program partners include:
- Fijian Ministry of Health
- Fijian Ministry of Youth and Sports
- Fiji National Sports Commission
- Ministry of ITaukei Affairs
- University of the South Pacific and Fiji National University
- A network of Pacific based NGO’s working in a diverse range of fields, including UNDP, SPC, Alliance For Future Generations, Fusion Hub, Youth Champs 4 Mental Health, Precious Plastic and Child Benefit.
Say goodbye to everyday life and arrive in the tropical South Seas. You will land at Nadi Airport where you will meet your team and begin preparing for your project ahead.
Every expedition starts with a 4 day briefing at a resort. This is time for you to get to know your team mates, acclimatise, prepare for life in the village and 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 jungle highlands or a 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 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: constructing a Health Clinic in the Mornings and collaborating with Fijian youth in the ‘Youth Empowerment’ program ‘Culture Course’ each afternoon.
Live at the heart of some of the most rural communities and immerse yourself in local village life where everyday is an adventure. 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 close bonds that are formed between our project participants and the local community.
We finish the project by enjoying your final 1 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.
Learn What Makes Us So Unique…
All our focus is on Fiji.
Authentic and purposeful
Teams of up to 20 students.
Targeted sustainable development.
Facilitating Fijian Government objectives
Our biggest project combines multiple aspects of our projects and programs. For this project, there are 3 key initiatives that you will be assisting to facilitate; completing the construction of a community build at the request of the Fijian Ministry of Health, collaborating with the local youth group in our youth empowerment program and completing the ‘Culture Course.’
Leave a physical legacy by building a community health centre. Each building has been requested by the Fijian Ministry of Health and provides each village with amenities for their community health worker to conduct medical assessments, stock and administer medications. All this is completed alongside community youth members who will also be unskilled and trained in carpentry.
Take part in activities and work alongside Fijians aged 18-35 enrolled in local youth groups. These sessions are active, fun and engaging and crucially open up a cross-cultural discussion on across a range of subjects, on behalf of our local partners.
The sessions are facilitated in small groups of international participants and Fijian youth, taking turns to lead discussions and activities.
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.
In Partnership with the Fijian Ministry of Health
Our building development projects make a substantial difference to rural villages. We predominately create nursing stations and heath centres to expand the provision of medical care and increase the capacity of the local nurses and health teams. They are deeply valued and appreciated by local people who must request projects and be involved in each stage of the assessment, building and ongoing maintenance of the project. This will be completed throughout your 6 weeks living in the community and will take up the mornings of each weekday.
Who should join a TP Building Project?
Our building project is great for gaining international experience and expand their global perspectives. You don’t need any prior building experience to join the project, this project is open to all students. You will, however, need resilience and a desire to implement our project aims.
What’s Involved with a Building Project?
The day-to-day build will be supervised by our qualified Fijian team, who provide lots of support and training but ultimately it is up to the commitment of you and the local community to work together to complete the project in our set time-frame. It’s hugely rewarding to see the project take shape and utilise the building on project with your youth group, after an a huge opening ceremony.
Think Pacific has been delivering building projects for the Fijian Government Since 2009.
In the past decade, our teams have complete 70+ building projects. Each project adheres to our highest standards of due diligence, community collaboration, youth training & responsible volunteering.
All building projects are led by the Fijian Ministry of Health, who highlight locations and work in collaboration with rural communities and health workers to plan and evaluate each project. This ensures the project is genuinely needed and can be assessed and monitored at community and national level. Each build contributes to the Fiji National Development Plan and the ‘Towards a Healthy Fiji Islands’ initiative. These Government policies work towards the outcome of creating ‘healthy communities living in healthy environments’.
Alongside our partners at the Fijian Ministry and Fiji National Employment Centre, each building project facilitates training and skills development for Fijian students and unemployed youths. The project is a mechanism to teach basic carpentry skills to unemployed youth and fund spaces for Fijian students to gain work based experience. The cross-cultural nature of our project introduces Fijians to global understanding and develops their ‘soft skills’ and leadership. Finally, we highlight unemployed youth for further training and apprenticeships within our Foundation and other local organisatons.
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.
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.
“For us, empowerment comes organically when we collaborate, appreciating the perspectives and strengths of others and finding encouragement ourselves.”
The Youth Empowerment Workshops aim to stimulate conversation on important topics at a grassroots level. The discussions and activities themselves are taking place on behalf of our partners who are utilising international participants as a fantastic opportunity for these discussions to take place whilst also using the project itself as an outreach for existing initiatives, tailored to guide everyone involved to reflect on important topics and become leaders within their communities.
These sessions will take place in the afternoons of the second half of your project. The sessions are facilitated by the participants involved in your project, supported by your Think Pacific leaders. They cover six themes:
This aspect focuses particularly on encouraging a diverse range of engaging physical activity sessions. From sharing ideas for team sports and warm ups with Fijian youth groups, to introducing yoga and Zumba for community members to inspiring kids with fun sports and games.
Learn about Fijian perspectives of mental health and engage in healthy and honest discussions on what is an incredibly important subject. Reflect on effective methods of reducing stigma as young people within a variety of contexts and expand our understandings of mental wellbeing as one that is culturally sensitive but also practically important.
Consider responsibilities to climate change in different global settings. Discuss relevant environmental action initiatives, which depending on location may address plastic pollution, deforestation, mangrove replanting, renewable energy or coral protection or larger policy implications.
Engage in team building and group challenges in areas of communication, decision making, self-leadership, time management, presentation skills, positive mindset and empathy which encompass effective leadership cross-culturally, advancing employability skills and boosting confidence.
Reflect on the rising non-communicable disease crisis globally and how healthy habits can be used as intervention. Address dangers of smoking and alcohol use, the rise in sugar and fats in rural diets and issues of reduced activity and discuss community based strategies.
Explore different opportunities for business creation in global contexts. Consider model examples of success and deconstruct their challenges and viability specific to rural community and cultural settings, all whilst having fun in the activity based workshop.
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 subjects that have been identified by our program partners were chosen as being directly relevant to youth in Fiji now. The workshops 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 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.
Think Pacific projects support and expand existing aims of the Fijian Government through formal and long term partnership with relevant local departments and agencies.
In addition, Think Pacific collaborate with a range of dynamic local charities and organisations active in the field of youth development and community empowerment to provide nationally recognised and endorsed content for our programmes.
All programmes support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Fiji National Development Plan. This 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 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:
- Global Leadership Abilities
- Able to Communicate Think Pacific Outcomes, Goals and Vision
- Displays Global Intelligence & Empathy with an Open Mind
- Ability to Lead Activities & Others
- Social & Cultural Awareness
- Build Relationships with Fijian Community Members
- Adapt to Fijian Culture with Passion & Empathy
- Approaches New Settings with Emotional Intelligence
- Effective Communicator
- Can Language Personal and Team Reflections
- Can Speak Effectively to a Group
- Can Communicate with Individuals from Different Backgrounds
- Self-Awareness
- Has an Understanding of Own Leadership Style/s
- Is Open to Feedback and Open to Change
- Curious attitude and Continual Learner
- Resilience
- Ability to Persist within a Challenging Environment
- Motivates Others through Consistency
- Persistently Displays Determination to Achieve End Goal
- Critical Thinker
- Decisive in New Environments
- Drives Innovations and Ideas
- Takes initiative to implement ideas
- Collaboration & Team work
- Be a Positive Member of a Think Pacific Team
“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. These sessions will be conducted in the afternoons of each weekday during the first half of your time in the village.
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
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.
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.
2023 Project Dates 
To be confirmed…
