Associate Professor Dr El-Shadan Tautolo has been recognised for his outstanding achievement and leadership in Pacific public health. The Public Health Association of New Zealand honours outstanding contributions to the nation’s public health in the annual PHANZ Awards. Tautolo was the recipient of the inaugural 2020 Pasifika Award, which he dedicated to the late Dr Joe Williams. Tautolo says, Dr Williams’ work provided an example of how public health research can influence clinical practice and help address health issues for Pacific peoples. The award was unexpected. “I was really surprised, but happy to accept it on behalf of our Pacific families and communities, and all of the…

Vanua Levu farmer, Isikeli is one of the many Fijians who saw his property destroyed during Tropical Cyclone Yasa in late 2020. The roof of his home came off in the strong winds. But the first thing he is doing to recover from the cyclone is to work on his crops, and he is relying on a liquid soil conditioner and soil microbial stimulant, Karyon, to help him do just that.   Karyon Organic is made from plant by-products and is fully organic. It is not a fertiliser and is meant to be used in combination with fertiliser, whether organic or chemical. This is because Karyon…

  Fiji’s first business accelerator program for micro-entrepreneurs successfully graduated nine businesswomen in a simple ceremony last November. An intensive six-month program, which combines formal training sessions with onsite business coaching, South PacificBusiness Development’s (SPBD) Fiji Bloom Program has three main components:• Business Formalisation – this is intended to assist theinformal business sector to become part of the formaleconomy by registering their businesses with the Registerof Companies and Fiji Revenue & Customs Service, and by obtaining the necessary business licenses.• Business Development Services – the micro-entrepreneurs are linked to existing reputable business development services providers and SME Preparation Workshops to help them prepare strategies for their growth.•…

20 years ago, serial social entrepreneur Greg Casagrande made his first foray into the Pacific Islands, setting up the South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) Samoa operations with the aim of helping women in need to help themselves out of poverty.   The network of microfinance institutions now spans five Pacific nations and continues to lead and innovate in the microfinance space. SPBD works to eradicate poverty by empowering women in rural villages with the opportunity to start, grow and maintain sustainable, income-generating micro-enterprises, build assets, and finance home improvements and childhood education.   SPBD provides its clients with training and…

Our 10 years of Service “Our 10th anniversary celebrations is not only to recognise our achievements operating as South Pacific Waste Recyclers, but to acknowledge especially that in these 10 years we “walk the talk”. When we started in 2010, we were committed to protecting the environment and that is exactly the foundation of our work as a recycling plant and we have not wavered from that focus in any way.” Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Charan Jeath Singh   South Pacific Waste Recyclers Ltd, a subsidiary of the Charan Jeath Singh Group of Companies, celebrated its 10th Anniversary on Thursday 26 November at its factory in Laucala Beach, Suva. The 350…

Early this year as borders closed, and the depth and severity of the impact of the coronavirus on Pacific island economies became evident, experts predicted a dramatic decline in remittances to our region.   In revised figures, the World Bank now predicts a less pronounced decline of 7% in remittances to low and middle income countries this year. However Fiji’s Reserve Bank reports that total inward remittances from January to October this year stood at around F$521 million, with a total of $69 million in October alone, the highest monthly remittance since 1993.   ANZ Pacific Economist, Kishti Sen said…

A study of Pacific mothers in New Zealand reveals that being fluent in both English and Pacific languages may decrease the likelihood of postpartum mental disorders.   English-and-Pacific speaking mothers had the lowest rate of mental disorder symptoms, followed by those fluent in Pacific languages only. Both were significantly lower than their English-only speaking peers.   Associate Professor El-Shadan Tautolo, Director of the Pacific Islands Families (PIF) Study at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), says: “Language fluency speaks to a person’s ethnic identity, who they are and where they come from. And a strong sense of self and belonging is…

Creative and cultural sectors across the Pacific and the world, have been among the hardest hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the value of arts and culture is often framed in strictly economic terms and there is no denying the significant contribution to the tourism industry, or the taxation revenue created by cultural events and exhibitions, the creative and cultural sectors of the Pacific serve a far deeper and more important role for the people of this region. In the Pacific, our culture is our identity; one that comprises spiritual faith and customary beliefs and practices. We…

A national survey shows that stroke is not recognised as a major cause of death. It also reveals low-level awareness of stroke among Pacific peoples. A random sample of 400 adults participated in the national telephone survey. When asked to identify the most common cause of death, participants named heart disease (37 percent) and cancer (33 percent). Only 1.5 percent of those surveyed named stroke as a common cause of death. “The recognition of stroke as a common cause of death was low, well below heart disease and cancer. This may be due to low level awareness of stroke as…

Congratulations Fiji Pacific Trade Invest New Zealand extends its well wishes to the people of Fiji on the 50th anniversary of their independence.New Zealand and Fiji have long enjoyed a strong trading relationship with Fiji being New Zealand’s largest trading partner, in the Blue Pacific and in NZ’s top twenty trading partners worldwide.Through mutual business, trade and investment New Zealand and Fiji continue to support each other’s regional growth and integration.   Who We ArePacific Trade Invest New Zealand is an agency of Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and is funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade…

From Reaction to Prevention: Civil Society Forging Partnerships to Prevent Conflict and Build Peace In July 2005, a thousand peacebuilders gathered at a GPPAC civil society conference at the UN Headquarters in New York. They all felt that it was time to finally prioritise the prevention of violent conflict and to build a global peace movement. Together, we joined hands to launch People Building Peace: A Global Action Agenda for the Prevention of Violent Conflict. A 15-member delegation conveyed Pacific  priorities during regional consultations. They included Rev. Akuila D Yabaki, Noelene Nabulivou and Lillian Thaggard from Fiji, the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva and…

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…