Building Relationships with Rural Communities
The Key to Sustaining Rural Water Projects in Fiji
Located in one of the most remote areas of the Province of Ra, in the Western part of the island of Viti Levu, the Namuriwai Settlement can only be accessed by boat, during high tide or on horse, through very tough terrain.
This settlement is home to eight households, with a population of 20 people, including the oldest resident, an 88-year-old woman, and four children.
For more than 50 years, the community have had to source water for their daily use from a small creek, which has led to many families leaving the settlement to find alternative places to live with available water sources. This is one of many communities in the Province of Ra that Ms. Veniana Marama is responsible for, in her role as Assistant District Officer (ADO) with the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, addressing development needs, including access to clean and safe drinking water.
“When you set foot on their (the community’s) soil and you hear the struggles, how they have overcome these tough ordeals, you form an invisible connection, a relationship, that is informal and unwritten but you know is going to be honoured, with the support that you have,” said ADO Veniana, while explaining the importance of understanding and interpreting community engagement during consultation.
“We need to hear them and place ourselves in their shoes,” she said while recalling the words of village elder Mr. Rakuru. “We have been crying for clean water for years. We have been living here for 55 years and since then, we have been longing for a good water source for our children and grandchildren. That was a very challenging period for all of us,” Mr. Rakuru emphasized during the consultation process.
District Officers (DO), are considered the government representative on the ground within communities. Their role as development facilitators and coordinators is pivotal in addressing any community development issues. Facilitating dialogue and consultation with the community of Namuriwai, has ensured community engagement and buy-in. Equally important is the aspect of coordinating partners to deliver a collaborative, joint approach that provides value for money for development projects.
Discussing the recent project implemented in Namuriwai, ADO Veniana explained, “The scope of the project was developed in collaboration with the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF). Upon which private contractors were invited to inspect the site to evaluate and submit their bids. In all of these processes, community members were very involved,” said ADO Veniana. She emphasized the role of local relationships and how collaboration with partners has strengthened this approach with the community.
With community support, the ADO and WAF identified the location of the new water source, which involved climbing through mountainous terrain and crossing a number of creeks to reach to source. The new water source for the settlement is an old water source that the community's forefathers had established but was very difficult to get to, especially when it rained.
“You really need to walk the terrain to understand the struggles and get the community's acceptance. The community members guided us up to the water site during consultations and were pivotal with carrying the materials up to the site as their contribution during project implementation. Having this type of community ownership and buy-in is invaluable,” explained ADO Veniana, when reiterating the importance of maintaining good relationships with the community.
Understanding the culture, history, and the specific context of communities that are part of the district is the role of the ADO. This means being able to broker information for all actors seeking support in the District and ensuring decisions are based on evidence and participatory consultation.
The recent Namuriwai project included working closely with Health Inspectors from Korovou to assess water-related diseases in the district and correlating this to similar findings from the community.
“When we used to drink water from the river, we, as mothers, were always worried about our children's health as we do not know the contamination that could be in the water that they consume daily. I recall once, I was seriously concerned when one of my nephews contracted typhoid from consuming the water,” explained Anaseni Bete, one of the women from Namuriwai settlement.
Coordinated design and why it's critical for rural water infrastructure
The recent two category 4 Tropical Cyclones that passed through Vanuatu was a reminder to us in Fiji of how destructive and unpredictable disasters can be, and how devastating they can be for rural communities. In Fiji, 44.7 percent of people live in rural and maritime areas, and a significant portion of these have limited access to services and basic infrastructure, such as water.
Similarly, many water sources in both urban and rural areas in Fiji are not safe or safely managed[1], and while we know that climate change will affect rainfall patterns, less is known about how disasters and climate change impact water safety and security.
The Ministry in collaboration with technical agencies such as the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF), Mineral Resources Department (MRD) and rural communities are coordinating their efforts to co-design solutions for risk-informing water infrastructure to ensure communities and all their members have this basic human right ‒ the right to clean, accessible water.
What this means is that risk considerations ‒ especially the risks from climate change, disasters and gender and social inclusion ‒ are being integrated into water projects from the very beginning in order to make them resistant, resilient, durable and sustainable.
[1] WHO & UNICEF (2021) Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000‒2020: Five years into the SDGs (who.int)
A simple solution to the water shortage and storage issue challenges in Namuriwai has been to provide water tanks to the community in the settlement. However, since introducing the risk-informed approach in the Ministry in partnership with the UN Development Programme through the Governance for Resilience (Gov4Res) Project, the District Office, has benefitted in applying this approach with the Namuriwai settlement water project.
Through the risk-informed approach, the District Office dialogues with the communities to ascertain local knowledge on how the community has adapted to changing climate conditions and disaster impacts and works together to identify how best to mitigate these risks, while ensuring that the most vulnerable members of the community are considered.
Measures such as the construction of mini-dams and fencing of water sources to prevent stray animals from accessing these areas, construction of water tank sheds to protect them from overexposure to the sun and damage from cyclone debris, installation of water filters to improve the quality of the water, installation of polythene piping to ensure the durability and safety of the water supply are just some of the measures that have been identified and adopted.
“I am really very grateful that I am able to witness this new development in our village which would really help us a lot. I am thankful that I do not have to wait until I get old and frail to see this change take place in our community. I can confidently say that the improvement to our water source will really [improve] the standard of living in each of our households because not only will we be able to access water in the comfort of our homes, but we will also be able to improve our sanitation facilities in our homes as well,” said Anaseni Bete.
Embedding this approach for resilient communities
This inclusive approach on the co-design of the infrastructure and the risk management measures from inception to implementation is now being replicated at other sites. In the last 12 months, MRMDDM and partners have implemented another 28 risk-informed water projects across 28 villages/settlements in all four divisions in Fiji. Risk-informing development does come at a cost, but this upfront investment should pay itself off multiple times, if it ultimately reduces the need for disaster response and recovery, and the increased resilience of rural communities.
Recognising the increasing impacts of climate change and disasters, and the need to build productive and resilient rural communities in Fiji, MRMDDM has partnered with the UNDP Gov4Res project to ensure all types of rural development is risk-informed. To guide its investments, the Ministry has a 10-year strategic development plan (2021‒2031) focused on strengthening partnerships and creating an enabling environment for the resilience of all rural communities. This plan has embedded a risk-informed approach and informs all of MRMDDM’s development programming.
Partnership Background
The Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management is responsible for implementing and coordinating development strategies that bring Fijians living in rural and maritime regions the same level of access to essential services and economic opportunities as anywhere else in the country. We coordinate and implement the Fiji Government’s rural and maritime development initiatives with a mission to empower Fiji’s rural sector. We also spearhead disaster risk reduction initiatives at national and sub-national level including disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. We have offices for each of Fiji’s 14 provinces including Rotuma, leading the Fiji Government’s rural development and disaster risk management operations.
The UNDP Gov4Res project works with Pacific Island governments to ensure that countries adapt their decision-making and governance systems towards more resilient development. The project theory of change rests on a core assumption that Pacific Island people will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and disasters if countries manage all development through a 'risk-informed' approach.
The partnership between the MRMDDM and the UNDP has been established through the Gov4Res project, with support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
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