Before joining the South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) program, Vani Vakacegu worked hard but found it difficult to get ahead. At 32 years of age she had four children, with another on the way. Her husband, the family’s sole breadwinner, was a fisherman, but “life was very hard”. Then Vani was introduced to SPBD, at that stage a new microfinance institute that was holding workshops around Fiji to help women secure loans without security, to go into business. Vani’s first loan was for F$850, which enabled her to start buying and selling fish. She quickly saw returns. “The first thing…

As Fiji commemorates its 50th anniversary of Independence the Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation (FDPF) and its 4 affiliated organizations together with its branches reflects on its achievements over the past 5 decades. Originally established as the Fiji Paraplegic and Paraplegia Association in the mid 1970s mainly focused on sports representation for Persons with Disabilities, Organizations for Persons with Disabilities in Fiji begun advocating and carry out awareness on and for issues relevant to disability. In the early 1980s as the members of the association grew with representation of cross-disability there was a change to the Fiji Disabled Peoples Association in…

Fiji’s celebration of its 50th year of independence is not only a celebration for the country but for the region as well. It has also been 50 years since the father of modern Fiji and Pacific statesman, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara coined the words “Pacific Way” at the United Nations in 1970, to symbolise a way of doing things specific to the Pacific where people of different races, opinions and cultures can live and work together for the good of all, can differ without rancour, govern without malice and accept responsibility as reasonable people intent on serving the interests of…

Although it was formally established in 2010, Fiji National University (FNU) has a long and colourful history of relevant education dating back to the origins of its component Colleges through institutions that were established according to national needs and aspiration as these developed. FNU was formally instituted under the Fiji National University Act 2009 (Act 39 of 2009) and commenced operations on 15 February 2010. The formation of a national university for Fiji has since then brought together a diverse range of former national educational and training institutions as one entity and corporate body. The guiding vision of the founding…

How do clownfish on coral reefs react to encounters with humans? Human intervention is putting marine ecosystems under increasing pressure. On coral   reefs,   rising   water   temperatures, ocean  acidification, pollution  from  plastic waste or overfishing threaten the organisms living there - be they fish, sea cucumbers or corals. But how does the direct physical presence of humans under water change the behaviour and ecology of animals on coral reefs? Researchers from AUT’s School of Science and the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine  Research  (ZMT)  in  Bremen studied the behaviour of anemone fish during  encounters  with  humans  off  the coast of Vanuatu…