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Tevita’s long experience in community development is being put road, they would be able to save enough to build their own home.
to great use at PCDF with its focus on education and capacity en- “Such a simple exercise was very empowering to this local com-
hancement, natural resource management, health improvement munity.”
and internal development. Components of DRM and gender are PCDF is now benefiting from the rich breadth of experience and
incorporated across all its work in Fiji, with a particular focus on perseverance and dedication to community work Tevita brings with
detached, remote and under-developed rural communities. his leadership. Even external development partners have recog-
For him, a bottom-up rather than top-down approach is key. nised this as an admirable strength of the NGO that Tevita heads. In
Benefitting communities get to have a say and are consulted on the commenting on the role PCDF played in the Fiji Agricultural Part-
kind of development they need before such development happens. nerships Project of 2020 between the Fijian Government and the
In this way, project ownership becomes a non-issue. UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development, an external
“We slot in time for research, to identify the needs of a commu- reviewer wrote:
nity before we develop a programme, so the programme is based on “PCDF as the Lead Implementing Partner (LIP) performed strongly
the community’s needs. It’s not based on what we think is best for overall and was largely responsible for the encouraging results
that community. achieved by Component 3 of the project. Strengths of PCDF includ-
ed its community-focused approach and its existing deep under-
standing of the cultural context of the target communities, as well
as the methodology piloted successfully under PHVA [Partnership
We slot in time for research, to in High Value Agriculture]. The strong performance of PCDF was
identify the needs of a community especially commendable given the short period (18 months as com-
pared to the planned 3 years) during which Component 3 activities
before we develop a programme, so were implemented, and the budget constraints.”
the programme is based on the com- Years of working with local communities in the Pacific have also
munity’s needs. It’s not based on what taught Tevita the vital need for self-care. Weeks of travel and work-
we think is best for that community. ing in the field, many times exposed to the mercies of the elements,
do take its toll on the human body and health.
After six years of working in Solomon Islands, including the dif-
ficult years of ethnic tensions in the nation, Tevita handed in his
“If the community writes, we’ll have to go back to the community. resignation and returned to his village in Fiji for a “complete rest.”
If the provincial office or government stakeholders approach us, we I spent my time fishing and gardening, was how he described this
will try to verify, validate it. One thing we usually do is to collect the time. He was also infected with malaria while working in Solomon
primary information, and we will get it right from the village and link Islands and lives with the illness to this day.
it to the secondary information from stakeholders. “I couldn’t run away from malaria because it’s everywhere. I don’t
“So it’s not like we just say, “Oh! I think we have to target that vil- take tablets to protect myself but I take them to recover. I have to
lage.” No, it’s not that thinking anymore. It’s the reality. It’s what is develop that immunity in myself.
on the ground that we work on. The approach we’re doing in PCDF, “Some others cannot cope and be flexible. Some of my friends
and what we’re good at, is to see the needs of the community first find it too hard. But I think having malaria had helped me in my work
because funding will come to support what we do best.” in Solomons, Vanuatu, PNG and being invited to do short term work
To be an effective community worker and leader, Tevita believes in Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Taiwan, Laos, Cam-
patience, hard work and the tenacity to stay focused are key virtues. bodia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.”
Being aware of the cultural and traditional environment and struc- Tevita believes the coronavirus pandemic has helped built re-
tures that you work in are equally important. This he said was a vital silence and unity in PCDF. During Suva’s brief lockdown in 2020,
lesson he learnt in a health programme World Vision was running at Tevita said PCDF staff learnt to work better together although they
a remote community in Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. could not work under the same roof. More interaction was encour-
“This was a very remote tribe in an area called Big Bush Bay, and aged through the use of technology in the form of the internet and
our work there was to last three years, yet the first two years was mobile telephones.
spent just trying to get this community to trust and believe in us. So what keeps Tevita going now into his 35th year as a commu-
“Traditional beliefs were still very strong among them, and even nity development leader in the Pacific?
the good health practice of boiling drinking water was so foreign to “I think the drive is, I have the heart for the people to serve. Even
them. But two years of persistence and hard work paid off, and dur- in the last two weeks, I was doing Zoom meetings at night from
ing the third and final year of the programme, we were successful one o’clock to four o’clock in the morning with IFAD in Rome. We
in building a health clinic in the area, and getting their children to finished off with that last week. After that Zoom meeting, I left for
attend school.” home at 430 in the morning, changed my clothes and came back
Another project which tested Tevita’s experience in community straight to work.
development was in Morobe Province in PNG. This time he was “I managed my life properly as well. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I
working for the Habitat for Humanity NGO’s Save and Build project. don’t socialise.”
“Here, I learnt very quickly that to motivate the community to save “I do lots of work in the church, prayer meetings and church ser-
money in order to build their house, I need not ask them of their vices. I love to look after people. At home, I have three children who
income. Rather, I got them to list their weekly expenses, how they are not mine. They stay with me, and I look after them. Before I got
use their income in a week. married, I used to look after my siblings, the younger ones. When I
“As part of this exercise, they will add up their weekly expenses got married, my wife and I looked after other family members.
and very quickly they themselves will come to the realisation that “Before we had our own children, I already had my relatives at
they can save their money [and] that four to six months down the home. I love that and I continue to do it now that I’m 61 years old.”

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