FCOSS Executive Director Vani Catanasiga

The Fiji Council of Social Services is working with the community, especially children, to gather vital feedback to improve rural community readiness and resilience against future climate-related shocks.

FCOSS Executive Director Vani Catanasiga has highlighted the need for community involvement in assessing the performance of development programs.

Catanasiga says they have identified important areas of concern highlighted by communities based on the lessons learned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are looking to establish a community to embed a community feedback mechanism so that as development stakeholders, organizations like FCOSS and government can know whether their work in communities is effective. Without community feedback mechanisms, we have no idea whether what we have been doing in the last 10 years in the communities is effective.”

The FCOSS intends to construct a robust community feedback mechanism to provide development stakeholders, including the government and organizations, with insights into the effectiveness of their work on the ground.

Catanasiga believes that by addressing the complex convergence of climate-related concerns and the current global health crisis, the collaborative effort will ensure that development initiatives are not only effective but also connected with the needs and ambitions of the communities they seek to empower.