Savusavu, Fiji – Fiji’s hidden paradise was a hive of activity this month, with an inaugural Knowledge Fair and a three-day workshop underpinning the theme of sharing knowledge.

Organised by the United Nations Development Programme Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), the Knowledge Fair, brought together 40 members of its grantees in Savusavu, Vanua Levu. The participants, including 11 women were from SGP  current projects located in the Cakudrove and Bua provinces.

The event was to enable SGP projects to showcase their successes and lessons learnt and more importantly to focus on strategies and ideas to improve their projects.

SGP Fiji National Coordinator, Akisi Bolabola highighted the importance of linking projects and also to the national and global levels.

“Many times communities are not able to relate how their activities link to national sustainable development and environment management goals. During the Fair, we explained these linkages which are neatly captured in the SGP tagline- Community Action Global Impact,” said Ms. Bolabola.

Day one of the Knowledge Fair focused on briefings by selected projects, after which  participants discussed what they learnt, “Talking to my colleagues from the districts in Bua, I discovered they had environment committees which ensured that all villages were aware of taboos, availability of seedlings and community activities. This is something we hope to establish in our district in Cakaudrove,” said Rosemary Georgina from Tukavesi.

The briefs were followed by a session on reporting and procedures and the importance of projects continuing to share success and lessons learnt amongst themselves and with the SGP Fiji team.

The structure of the Knowledge Fair was to encourage sharing amongst participants and to introduce them to innovative ideas. In essence, participants spent two days attending field trips to an aquaculture project, a family-run virgin coconut oil and soap company, an organic farm and a company that exports pearls.

A common factor at the sites visited by the participants, was the importance of taking care of the natural environment, such as reforestation, waste management, reduction of burning and discontinuing the use of chemicals in farming processes.

“It was interesting to see how we could add value to what we have, for example making soap from virgin coconut oil instead of just selling the coconut to the miller in Savusavu,” said Asaeli Kavika from Vusaratu village in Cakaudrove.

The other project that stole the show amongst the participants was an organic farm in Vunikura. According to some participants, they had started doing away with chemicals and were reverting to traditional methods of farming but were not sure of the next steps. Organic farmer, Paul Daveta welcomed the participants to join their organic farming collective.

Mateo Ratusili from Bua said the Knowledge Fair gave him and other participants a platform to share their stories, capture new ideas and extend their networks, “In our district we have a reforestation program and visiting a similar project in Tukavesi has given me a new idea on how we can fully utilise the nursery.”

At the conclusion of the Fair, participants had built a network for sharing information and explored opportunities to work with some of the projects they visited during the field trip. Majority of the feedback was for continued collaboration and partnerships and a get together in the next six months.

The next Knowledge Fair will be held in Sigatoka in Viti Levu in late November and will be attended by representatives of projects based in the Central, Eastern and Western Divisions.