The Strengthening Citizen Engagement in Fiji Initiative (SCEFI) is a three year initiative implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the European Union. SCEFI aims to strengthen sustainable development in Fiji by enabling the citizens of the country to engage in nation-building through community-based activities and improved service delivery that help build a better future.

A number of villages on Taveuni Island are located so far from the island’s town that accessing public services can be such a strain. Their capacity is already stretched as they recover from the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston that hit Fiji almost a year ago, while other settlements located further from shore are enduring dry weather.

The linkages between climate change, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development needs to be strongly emphasized in order to facilitate an integrated and holistic approach to climate action.

The women of Nacokaika village, Naitasiri make significant contributions to their families and village through kai gleaning and selling. Kai or freshwater bivalves gleaning has been a job performed by women in villages along the river banks of Fiji and selling them has been a major source of their household and village income.

At the fifth Responsible Business Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on business leaders to take a greater role in the new development era in order to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Forum, opened in Singapore by UNDP and Global Initiatives, aims to address a sea change in the nature of development funding by creating a new partnership for sustainable development.

While foreign funding (Official Development Assistance) is still essential for the development system, it now accounts for 0.7 percent of total financial flows in Asia-Pacific (down from 13.5 percent in 1990), while domestic public and private finance accounts for 89 percent, according to a UNDP report launched last month.

While there has been remarkable progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in the Western Pacific region over the past two decades, the disease remains a major public health problem and a renewed effort is required to end the epidemic, said public health experts who gathered this week in Fiji for a regional TB meeting.

Thank you Mr. Preston for the introduction, and thank you to Global Initiatives and the Marina Bay Sands for walking the sustainability talk – for making the Responsible Business Forum the first zero-waste zero-emission conference of this scale.

The United Nations Development Programme and Global Initiatives, Singapore will welcome over 600 business and sustainability leaders, senior government officials, UN agencies, Non-Government Organisations from across the globe for the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development in Singapore on 22-24 November 2016.

Findings from a new joint study by the UNDP, UNICEF and the University of New South Wales indicate an urgent need for reforms in Pacific island countries to adequately address HIV and STIs among vulnerable populations.

A new pilot partnership in Papua New Guinea providing affordable green energy has the potential to drive the adoption and usage of financial services among rural low-income Papua New Guineans.

An agro-forestry farming approach introduced in Vanuatu aims to help communities address agricultural risks worsened by extreme weather patterns. With Tropical Cyclone Pam impacts still fresh in the minds of many, there is an increasing focus on food security as well as domestic food production to support the resilience of local communities.

The Government of the Russian Federation in partnership with the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji today launched the Regional Disaster Resilience in the Pacific Small Island Developing States (RESPAC) Project in Nadi, Fiji.

A training to increase agricultural productivity and income of market-vendors is helping many who are both farmers and market vendors. The United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture is using the training to broaden market vendor-farmers’ knowledge and awareness on how and what effect climate change can have on their farms and ways in which it can be mitigated.

Seventeen women from a diverse range of backgrounds gathered on this week for the start of Tuvalu’s second Women’s Practice Parliament. Deputy Prime Minister, H.E. Maatia Toafa, in his opening remarks spoke on the importance of carving out a space for women in politics.