ITAUKEI communities have strong support networks that can play a critical role in addressing social issues, making community ownership and leadership essential in tackling Fiji’s growing drug crisis.
Speaking on how communities are responding to the issue, Great Council of Chiefs chairman Ratu Viliame Seruvakula said engagement through existing community structures was key to encouraging people to take responsibility for finding solutions.
“The members of the community, it is important to understand the nature of the existence,” he said.
Ratu Viliame said people were shaped by the environments in which they lived and that communities naturally looked after one another, particularly when their safety was at risk.
“The community, the boundaries of the village, they support each other.”
He said reaching communities required working through established leadership structures and maintaining effective communication.
“So in order to find the community, you have to go through a certain structure, that you need leadership. Along that line, leadership is communication. If you don’t use it, things cannot work the way you’re trying to deal with the community or get the community to come out and dance together in a very critical issue such as this.”
Ratu Viliame said community participation was crucial if long-term solutions were to be achieved.
“I think in the situation we’re faced with, it is very important to do that in getting the community involved so they take ownership of it.
“For them to drive it and own the challenge of the ways to fix the problems and move from there because it’s only then that we go from involvement for other people to come and work for themselves.”
He added that traditional structures within communities could help guide efforts to address the issue.
“Especially in this part of the world where, like I said earlier on, we all have traditional structures and they have the do’s and don’ts,” he said.
“So it’s a matter of finding the right way in that will help.”
