Delivery Guidance

Delivery Guidance

Here, we provide more insight into the daily structure of our project and some tips and advice for engaging with the youths and community members to achieve the aims.

Project Aims

Every project is designed to support the Fiji National Development Plan. Through our partnerships with the Fijian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Youth and sports we strive to contribute to the ‘Towards a Healthy Fiji’ initiative and empower Fijian youths. The specific focus of your project will be dependant on which specific project you have chosen to join!

Our sessions aim to raise awareness and upskill community youths in the areas of public health, mental health, leadership and life-skills. We can then facilitate training in these areas and increase employability opportunities for Fijian Youths. Your project is the first phase in this process.

Cultural exchange is the heart of Think Pacific, by which international participants and Fijian youths can learn new skills, achieve personal development, explore cultural differences and similarities and gain a greater understanding of leadership and global citizenship together.

An Average day in the Village…

This is an example of a typical day within the village.  Please note that timings and objectives do vary. However, this provides a general idea of the structure of our projects:

  • 7am – Wake up and time for a cold water shower.
  • 7.15am – Breakfast with your Fijian family
  • 8am – Team briefing by the leaders to discuss the day’s objectives.
  • 9am – Work with local youth groups on a range of different themes, dependent on your project e.g Sports Development, Public Health, Mental Health, Life Skills, Enterprise & Leadership.
  • 12pm – Lunch time.
  • 1pm – Pacific Skills programme with the Fijian youth – Exploring Fijian culture 
  • 3.30pm – De-brief – Leaders and the team review the days’ objectives 
  • 4 – 6pm – Free time within the village such as games with kids, play sport, cultural activities, talanoa, read, relax
  • 6pm – Dinner with your Fijian family.
  • 7:30pm – Team & village activities such as mat weaving, bilo making, grog parties, music nights and quiz nights.

Workshop Delivery

We deliver the projects aims through fun and engaging ‘workshops’. Each day you will engage in structured activities as a group and with local youths from the region, guided by our leaders. All content we use is designed and overseen by specialist and leading Fijian charities and the Fijian government ministries.

We cover different themes, which are based upon the overall objectives of your project, however we follow a similar structure for each workshop with the following components:

Devotion – As you will learn, religion is a huge component of rural Fijian life and often provides context to meetings, weekly schedules and tradition. Each day will begin with a devotion to provide this context to the workshop content and to respect local custom.

Learning Outcomes – Each day has specific learning outcomes, which will be fully explained by the leaders at the beginning of each session.

Group Activity – these will form the main component of the sessions and will involve a range of activities and learning techniques  (be this sport practices or a workshop to brainstorm mental health stigma)

Energisers – short, sharp games to ‘break-the-ice’, divide longer sections of discussion, and, most importantly, have a little fun!Presenting & Reflection – An opportunity for everyone to look back on a module, test understanding and highlighting key learning points and review any goals set. 

More information and support will come to you soon regarding specific information on the delivery of the focus sessions of your project. In-country briefing will also be heavily focused on this to make sure you are fully prepared for project delivery.

Ideas to maximise your impact

Remain Humble

Many of the topics in this programme you will have been taught about during your years in education, some of them you may not have. Either way it is important to accept that you don’t know all the answers and that our understanding is not specific to Fijian village life. In this sense, the locals become the experts, and whilst this is a learning experience for all, appreciating this will help you maintain a balanced perspective.

Listen before you leap

Listening is integral to learning. It is easy to jump to conclusions about the local culture and community needs. Listen and learn from the locals and your leaders to help you develop cultural sensitivity. By doing this you will find you are far better at having the right conversations in the community sessions.

Be culturally sensitive

A Fijian village is home to a wonderful variety of different customs and cultures which shape the mindset and actions of the community members. Ask lots of questions and you will soon learn their appreciation for family, faith and community. This will help you in understanding what is appropriate in the community and also to help generate better ideas in the workshops.

If you are unsure about specific cultures and customs it can often be best to ask “would you yourself do this?” rather than “can I do this?” to avoid the almost inevitable answer of “yes” as they strive to make you as comfortable as possible.

Consider the social structures

There are specific processes by which things are done in a Fijian village and these are often in respect of a number of hierarchies. Your leaders will guide you through the workshops and work closely with the village headman and youth leader so as to conform to these. Your leaders will be your point of contact for any concerns that arise.

It’s natural for everyone to be shy at first 

It is only natural for yourselves and the community to be shy or apprehensive during the beginning sessions or when discussing challenging topics. Here are a few tips which should help you in the workshops:

Ask open-ended questions – By avoiding yes or no answer questions you are able to open up the conversation and allow people the chance to speak their mind.

Be supportive – there is no such thing as a bad contribution. Let ideas flow and people contribute their thoughts. Later you can discuss the pros and cons of different thoughts and ideas but you can do so confident that you have let everyone have their say.

Reflect continually

You will experience a whole host of new experiences. Through being proactive in reflecting on them you can ensure you are processing them fully. Your debriefs and PPPs will be a great opportunity to do this with a leader. Individually you can reflect in thoughts or by keeping a journal. You might find it interesting to not only think about everything that’s going on around you but also your emotional responses.

Go offline

Fijian village life can be remote and increasingly it is one of the few areas in the world where we can experience this whilst having such community around us. You may see, learn and experience far more by going offline or by scheduling only weekly check-ins back home. Its not often you have an opportunity to do this.