Northerners take up Beekeeping - 5th February 2009. Fiji Sun.

It is clear, beekeeping makes sense. There's just something about honey, something that makes it special. It may be the simple fact that such small insects can work so efficiently together to create a beautiful food which is enjoyed by millions of people every year.

Without bees there would be very few flowering crops. Today 60% of our food plants depend on bees especially tree fruit, soft fruit, salad crops and beans. No bees – no healthy diet.

The MORDI* team arrives at their host village, Nakorovou, in the far western region of Vanua Levu, after a 24-hour journey from Suva. A sea of small faces appears out of the darkness to greet us and after a hearty meal we all retire.

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Music video to de-stigmatize mental ill/health issues - 26th November 2009. Fiji Times.

“Keep on walking” and “you can overcome your challenges” is the message of a new locally produced mental health music video to Fiji youth. The video will be launched tomorrow (Thursday 26 November) at the Partners in Community Development Fiji Office in Suva at 2.30pm.

“The video is aimed at de-stigmatizing mental ill/health”, said Partners in Community Development Fiji Director, Alisi Daurewa. The purpose of the video is to empower young people to overcome their challenges through accessing support that is available. Its’ creation was inspired by a true story of a young person in Fiji, his journey through depression and his ability to overcome hardship.

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Struggling to accept changes - 25th October 2009. Fiji Sun.

Thousands of people living in Fiji’s rural areas could be struggling to cope with the changes in the economic climate - and every month this number grows. That is why the dedication of those working on the Mainstreaming of Rural Development Programmes (MORDI) is so essential to those communities.

This pioneering ‘bottom up’ approach to community development is proving to help thousands move out of the poverty cycle. It has been estimated that 90 per cent of the 180 million poor households in the Asian Pacific region lack access to financial services.

The global economic crisis has seen a fall off in trade - causing a widening gap between the revenue they would have normally and that that they are bringing in now. It is the less fortunate people that are seeing and feeling these gaps, it is they who are affected. MORDI helps to fill these gaps.
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Poverty downplayed by nation's leaders: Panel - 12th September 2009

The poverty situation in Fiji has been downplayed by leaders of the nation, a panel made up of NGO’s stated yesterday.

And this has been done in order to hide the fact that wrong decisions including corruption have forced the poor into more poverty.

Semiti Qalowasa of ECREA (the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy) said reports compiled by economist Professor Wadan Narsey show that in 2002, 32 percent of the population was living below the poverty line.
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Time to clean up the NGOs - 8th September 2009

Alisi Daurewa has been a civil society leader and advocate for the last seven years.

She leaves her job this year with some pretty intense opinion about Fiji’s civil society sector, the NGOs (Non Governmwent Organisations).

Her judgment is not new; she has had her own criticism of the way things have been done in civil society circles since she became executive director at Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) in 2002.

She says that a lot of NGOs have claimed they have empowered communities but spend more money, resources and time in wrong places.
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Demystifying a taboo - 4th September 2009

Fiji can stand proud with the knowledge that it has broken one of society's taboo by demystifying mental health, through young and courageous Gary Rounds, who was crowned at the weekend as Hibiscus King. Gary's win is mental health win.

Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) through its Youth for Mental Health Champs spawned the Youth Champs 4 Mental Health, the proud sponsor of Gary Rounds in the Hibiscus Festival.

Gary used the platform of the Hibiscus Festival and told Fiji and the rest of the Pacific that mental illness is like any other illness, it is not a mystery and, should not be shamed. PCDF first raised awareness on mental health in 2005.

Since then its Youth and Mental Health Project has been working with the St Giles hospital, the headquarters at the Ministry of Health, other Government ministries, the Fiji School of Medicine, the Psychiatric Survivors Association and the Youth 4 Mental Health Champs.
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Hope in sight for water problems - 1st September 2009. Fiji Times.

If human lives could come under the microscope for people to see the individual qualities they portray, than Kristy Barnby's life would be all about charity.

It would be the tale of her life with the dreams her heart followed to the shores of this country, thousands of miles away from the western regions of England.

It was a dream not even the hundreds of weary long hours of travelling could deter. It was all for the cries of help she answered serving the numerous communities and villages in third world countries. And in those communities, her communication skills set alight like a torch in the darkest night, the eyes of the world on those who really needed assistance for better living standards.

People just don’t do that in England! - 29th August 2009. Fiji Sun.

When Kirsty Barnby arrived at PCDF Suva two weeks ago, Alisi Daurewa opened the car door, got out, flashed a big Fijian smile and swung her arms around her waist.

“She looked at me, deep in the eyes for a second longer than normal,” Kirsty shares. “It’s good to see you and put the face to the name’ - she made me so welcome to Fiji.”It was something this small, enthusiastic 30-year-old from the South East England country-side, will remember for the rest of her life.

Daurewa’s greeting had effectively sealed what became Kirsty’s baptism and initiation into nine months of volunteer work at PCDF (Partners in Community Development), Fiji’s largest development NGO, based in Suva.

It had all started in the plane, on her way from home through Los Angeles. Kirsty was seated next to “a larger-than-life Fijian lady” who struck up a conversation.

“She is older with an air of warmth and authority about her,” Kirsty says. “We reached Nadi and I helped her collect her six big bags and two cooler boxes full of Alaskan salmon for her niece’s wedding. I was soon invited to join that wedding and offered a lift all the way to Suva.”
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Rev. Eloni Goneyali Advisor – Ra Provincial Educational Committee.

"… The workshops conducted by PCDF have given us, the people of Ra, a great opportunity to analyse, prioritise and monitor important activities in our lives - especially the education of our children. Any development that provides life to mankind is a God given gift, likewise, the activities provided by PCDF are provided by God to improve the status of people in rural areas.”