BACKGROUND:
FCOSS is incorporated under the 1945 Charitable Trust Act, established in 1957 to provide relief and welfare to the vulnerable in Fiji. FCOSS has facilitated nearly $15 million in grants from international donor agencies for community development, health, education, and social services between 1980 and 2005. FCOSS has evolved from a NGO umbrella body into a civil society platform orga
nization, comprising approximately 300 community-based organizations and seven national NGOs across Fiji. FCOSS is a member of the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO), serving as its National Liaison Unit for Fiji. MISSION:
FCOSS advocates for just and inclusive development, strengthens the non-government and civil society sector, builds quality partnerships across sectors to improve the resilience and well-being of communities. STRENGTHS:
1. Strong membership and volunteer base with positive relations at the sub-national level with government counterparts.
2. Recognized role in CSO coordination on national policy platforms.
3. Advocacy through collaboration and stakeholder engagement. CHALLENGES:
1. Fragmented and competitive CSO sector hindering coordination.
2. Limited resources for membership-driven and decentralized activities.
3. Capacity gap at the secretariat level for results-based management and reporting. SCOPE OF WORK:
FCOSS aims to:
- Foster solidarity, coordination, and networking for people-centered development.
- Advocate for community access to improved social services and humanitarian support.
- Develop effective communities of practice.
- Uphold good governance.
- Manage assets and resources for long-term sustainability. STRATEGIC PLAN (2022-2026):
VISION FOR FIJI: The Fiji We Want by 2030 is a Fiji whose;
A) PEOPLE: Have a high level of awareness and participation in development of their communities, are empowered and innovating about solutions, their voices and that of their communities are heard and all members of their communities are included
B) GOVERNANCE: respects and upholds human rights, driven by people centred leadership
C) VANUA: as a dialogic space, is sustainable and robust, promoting resilience and inclusion
Strategic Goal 1: Community Inclusion, Leadership, and Innovation: Enhancing community capacities, meaningful inclusion and leaving no one behind
Strategic Goal 2: CSO Coordination and Development Effectiveness: Strengthening coordination and supporting effective development approaches. Strategic Goal 3: Effective, Responsive Secretariat: Supporting transformative programmatic approaches through innovation and accessible finance. Highlights of Achievements:
1. Revival of the 18 volunteer-led District Councils of Social Services network.
2. Strengthened organizational governance through policy review, a new Constitution and a constituent based National Executive Committee or board
3. Improved CSO-Government relationships, enabling civic space participation including in public finance management, disaster risk management and climate change.
4. Challenging unsustainable development models and approaches by popularizing and mainstreaming indigenous approaches or philosophies such as Sautu through project Lololo, project Cokonaki Cogea and the promotion of localization in national and regional policy discourse. Target Populations:
FCOSS's work from 2018 to 2022 has benefited:
- Communities impacted by natural disasters, health crises, with a focus on children, women, people with disabilities, and the elderly.
- Informal settlements lacking access to social services and infrastructure.
- Civil society organizations, government agencies, and development partners in the humanitarian response space.
- Community groups and leaders supporting vulnerable members and facing impacts of unsustainable development such as extractive industries
-Many of those listed above are indigenous people. This is significant as three quarters of Fiji's poorest people are the indigenous Fijians, or i-Taukei. (https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/452689/survey-honest-snapshot-of-fiji-s-poverty-position-says-sacked-statistician)
PARTNERS:
1. Bread for the World currently supports the FCOSS Project Cokonaki Cogea – an indigenous and community –led climate change relocation project in northern Fiji.
2. Childfund Australia and Australian Volunteers International through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership provide financial and technical support under the Disaster Ready 2 Project to strengthen FCOSS work in CSO Coordination in Humanitarian Response.
3. UNDP Pacific’s Vaka Pasifika Program and the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) supports the FCOSS People’s Participation and Oversight in Public Finance Management Project.
4. UNICEF Pacific’s collaboration with FCOSS is to implement the Supporting Community Preparedness and Resilience to Future Climate Related Shocks and Public Health Emergencies across 25 communities in Fiji.
5. Jubilee Australia and FCOSS’s collaboration for the Black Sand Mining Project is connected to the Jubilee and Nia Tero Foundation for the project “Indigenous Guardianship in the Sepik Basin, PNG, and other parts of the southwest Pacific”. The BSM Project has helped FCOSS and Jubilee Australia to leverage the voices of communities fighting to protect customary land from mining in Ba and Nadroga provinces.
6. CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness and PIANGO have supported FCOSS work on promoting development effectiveness in Fiji and to an extent in the region since 2018. The Country Initiatives grants initiated the People’s Resolutions for Effective Development Cooperation in Fiji in 2022.
7. Early warning of conflict/atrocity and human rights protections are key themes of the FCOSS partnership with the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APR2P), University of Queensland. The collaboration has allowed for discussions spotlighting the important role of civil society and the NGO sector in atrocity prevention.
8. The Asia Foundation and FCOSS’ Project -Sereki seeks to improved prevention through enhanced local and community-based mechanisms and strategies to prevent Trafficking In Persons. This project is expected to commence in October 2023.
9. Balance of Power and FCOSS partnership is aimed increasing women’s political leadership and in particular building a women’s leadership talent pipeline from community to national level.
10. RedR Australia support to FCOSS disaster preparedness work is in fact its first deployment to a civil society organization. The RedR deployee is based in FCOSS western office and supports CSO Coordination in the western division as well as a fledgling Community Women in DRR Network.
