Fiji: FAO enables resilience in the face of disaster

Sharing skills and experiences with others, both good and bad, helps to support and build stronger capacity of national institutions in order to develop resilience when dealing with disasters. This became apparent when staff from the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), who were trained in disaster data collection and analysis through an FAO project, became master trainers for other Fijian national institutions in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclones (TC) Yasa and Ana.

How we got there

Fiji and other Pacific Island States are subject to frequent weather-related disasters. Fiji alone has been struck by three tropical cyclones within a twelve-month period (2020-2021). As these natural disasters are occurring more often the costs to local economies, livelihoods and lives are increasing exponentially.

In the past, the MoA had limited capability to conduct damage/impact and post-disaster needs assessments, something deemed crucial for accurate delivery of relief and humanitarian support. The post-disaster analyses produced by the MoA and the national disaster management authorities were not always issued in a timely manner, nor was their methodology solid enough to convince donors and international partners to provide adequate support.

And that’s where this story really begins

Since 2018, the European Union-funded FAO Pro-Resilient Fiji Project has supported the MoA in building its information management capabilities and to adopt standards for disaster management and emergency preparedness, such as droughts brought on by El Niño.

The FAO project team conducted a training programme that focused on data collection, analysis and mapping for disaster and risk assessment. The aim was to ensure that few gaps and duplications existed, and that there would be good consistency across all stakeholder plans to implement food security activities. Consequently, timely, accurate and inclusive deliveries would be dispatched to the affected farmers and concerned populations, particularly to those most vulnerable.

Encompassing various technologies, the programme included mapping tools, data collection and analysis, Geographic Information System (GIS), 4/5W mapping, and developing knowledge on information management protocols to access and disseminate the GIS databases and information as appropriate. The programme also included training in software such as KoBo toolbox, a free data collection software that can be customized to assess the impacts of disasters, including impacts on agriculture and food security. The total result of this training helped to develop a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment methodology that can be applied beyond drought to other types of disasters.

A major achievement

As the year 2020 drew to a close, the Statistics and Policy units of the MoA were able to conduct, for the first time ever after TC Yasa, the Initial Damage Assessment in just 72 hours and the Detailed Damage Assessment on the food security and agriculture sector as per international standards and FAO methodology. This is a major achievement in terms of timeliness and methodology compared to the post- disaster assessments that were conducted in past years by the national authorities after previous cyclones.

Ms Sainiana Kirisitiana, Acting Principal Economic Planning Officer (Statistics) of the MoA, cannot emphasize enough how the FAO support has made an impact on the capacities and position of the MoA in the disaster analysis and programming. “This is really a game changer on how the MoA is analysing and responding to disasters. FAO assistance has produced greater impacts to the agriculture sector. The efficient and timely collection of quality agriculture data resulted for TC Yasa in effective planning, decision-making and implementation to provide relief and humanitarian support to the affected farmers.”

The comparative advantage of FAO in Fiji is to work within the MoA on a daily basis and to design jointly with the MoA responsible units for the programme and adapt it to the context, the capacities and the needs of the MoA.

Adding value

The added value of this assistance is that the tools and capacities are now fully embedded within the Ministry without FAO substituting  for the role of the national authorities. The MoA-led Food Security and Livelihood Cluster, which includes all the national institutions, the major food security stakeholders and the international donors, have directly benefited from the strengthened disaster analysis to coordinate better their interventions and avoid duplications or overlaps in supporting affected communities. The strong partnership between FAO in Fiji and the MoA senior leadership facilitated the alignment of the training activities and success of the programme.

The Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, Dr Mahendra Reddy, expressed his appreciation to FAO for providing support by working with the Ministry in the past six months, reviewing its preparedness, response and rehabilitation plans and standard operating procedures. “The technical support provided timely assistance during the Ministries’ TC Yasa response operation whereby we were able to implement our response plan in a more timely and well-coordinated manner ensuring distribution of agriculture rehabilitation items within a few days after TC Yasa,” Dr Reddy said.

Mr Ritesh Dass, Permanent Secretary for Agriculture witnessed firsthand how sound analysis supports his leadership in planning and implementing the relief activities: “This strong evidence base allows the MoA the confidence to take difficult decisions in the heat of the response”. 

The quality of the analysis and work done by MoA has been obvious and positively recognized by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other international partners. Mr Dass is looking forward on how FAO can assist the MoA to build on this success and strengthen further its capacities. “We will require additional support in providing equipment and GIS software to facilitate the accuracy and efficiency of data collection. At the same time, while we plan to conduct a lesson learnt exercise to identify the successes and challenges of the 2020/21 Cyclone season response, the MoA would appreciate FAO assistance to review jointly how to make sure that the analysis of data collected can better inform decision-making and planning. Finally, a key challenge lies in the expansion of the tool rollout through NDMO to include other Ministries and Clusters for a more inclusive and prepared food security sector in Fiji.”

Project Background

The Pro-Resilient Fiji project aimed at reducing food and nutrition insecurity derived from the negative impact of climate change-induced drought disasters in Fiji. Its main outcome is to improve climate risk identification and management capacities at national, provincial and village levels through strengthened Information Management capacities, establishment of an Early Warning Early Action system for drought as well as Community-Based Disaster Risk Management planning; and Climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, food preservation and processing technologies and agriculture water irrigation techniques adopted by vulnerable small-holder farmers.

The project was funded by the European Union and implemented by FAO in close collaboration with the MoA and other national institutions, with a successful completion by March 2021 after three years of implementation.

Obs: This practice has not been subject to an external evaluation.