Community Development
Naqaqa Giving Foundation delivers customized community development support to remote Fijian villages, responding directly to local requests and needs. Its programs range from village-wide assistance, such as housing, water and electrical systems, school support, and infrastructure like bridges and roads, to individual assistance for families facing specific hardships. NGF also operates Tui Tai and works to reunite family members who have been separated, helping strengthen the social fabric of the communities it serves.
Rural Villages in Fiji provide a great deal of support to community members, acting as a kind of family. The elderly are usually cared for, as are the very young. But even in a village there are those who, for various reasons, receive a disproportionately small amount of care. Children of abusive parents, alcoholic parents, and absent parents have many of the same life-challenges as children in similar situations all over the world, village or no village. The Disadvantaged Youth Full-Life Sponsorship (DYFS) Program seeks to identify children in such a situation as this, and provide entire life-sponsorship, including financial, housing, familial, education, medical, integration into better- functioning-families, reuniting with never-met fathers and never-known mothers, and providing opportunities intended to compensate for the absence of early opportunities.
NGF began sponsoring 14 children in this large and ongoing program. These young people have lived at our Primary Facility in Savusavu and travelled the world, visiting India, the USA, Africa, Australia and New Zealand as part of NGF’s sponsorship. Most are now grown and two have children of their own. We hope all those sponsored are stronger and wiser and better equipped thanks to our support. Graduates from this ongoing program (remember: it’s full-life sponsorship!) are now successful nurses, engineers, sailors, chefs, farmers and hotel managers.
DYFS
As all NGF staff are Fiji citizens and most live in rural Fijian villages themselves, we are aware of how to help and what help is needed. NGF is mindful of cultural and practical challenges in completing projects in villages. NGF receives direct requests from villages, or we receive recommendations of specific needs from Fiji Government bodies, such as the Provincial Council or the Provincial Administrator. Examples of projects which help the whole village, or settlements, include: Installing Rain catchment systems; Building Community Halls; New housing; Electricity bills paid; Providing internet connectivity; providing land for farming; building septic tanks; installing water lines; built school buildings; funding women’s groups; assistance with funerals; Providing medical outreach clinics, and building libraries, among countless other contributions.
Village Assistance
NGF usually provides direct support to rural communities, however, sometimes it is more effective and beneficial to more people for a project to be based in an urban area. Savusavu Town is the main transport and economic hub for Cakaudrove Province and one of two urban areas (it is still a very small down) on Fiji’s second largest island, Vanua Levu. NGF provides Savusavu with the Savusavu Medical Centre, a venue which offers the community’s only Private General Practitioner of Medicine as well as the only private Veterinary Care. A one-on-one consultancy with the private doctor is kept affordable by NGF subsidy and costs only $5US for an adult and $4US for a child. The facility also offers a subsidized and discounted pharmacy. The Savusavu Medical Centre has provided over 55,000 consultations, as well as provided many free specialist clinics.
NGF has funded the Savusavu Squash Association to offer free squash tuition which resulted in three Savusavu youths representing their country internationally.
NGF staff are also active in the development of Savusavu Town and provide assistance to Town Council and hold unpaid positions on multiple committees for the betterment of the town and surrounding areas, including the development of the Nakama Hot Springs as a tourist destination, education site, and improved access to renewable free cooking in the hot springs themselves.
Town Assistance
NGF uses a written-application system for individuals requesting aid. We help applicants with a qualified need with funerals, travel, education, school supplies, flush toilets, student housing, medication, business plans, surgery and other medical needs, housing, provided utilities, and much more. We provide long term sponsorships for disadvantaged children, provide advice, emergency assistance and efforts to establish long-term independence and prosperity.
See Disadvantaged Youth Full-Life Scholarship program above for more details on how we help individuals.
Individual Assistance
Naqaqa Giving Foundation helps Fijian children and young adults reconnect with biological parents who have been absent from their lives, often due to family separation, remarriage, or long-held secrecy about a parent's identity. These reunions are approached with care and cultural sensitivity, honoring traditions like the sevusevu ceremony while navigating the emotional complexity for everyone involved, including parents who may be hesitant or fearful of what a reunion could bring. The stories below share three such journeys.
Reuniting Family Members
