Empowering Communities for Wellness in Viseisei Health Zone

This project, which started in February 2016, is results oriented and informed through previous projects carried out by VSHC. While working on the previous projects, the concluding results showed that many communities in the Tikina of Vuda were largely disempowered and unable to deal with their own development challenges.

The objective of this project is to use health promotion and community development strategies to empower the communities to become more resilient and self sustaining in managing their health and social challenges.

The specific objectives are:

1. Developing VSHCs capacity to facilitate community development projects by upskilling key personnel.
2. Strengthen links with Ba Provincial Council and District Office to work closely with communities in the Tikina of Vuda to rejuvenate Village and Settlement Health Committees and structures with the aim of building a more resilient community.
3. Empower the community through advocacy, education and health promotion activities to promote wellness, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and good waste management, and to reduce risks of NCDs. By changing individual's attitudes they will be enabled to adopt healthy lifestyles.
4. Encourage individuals diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular disease to appropriately manage their conditions and to be compliant with strategies to reduce complications and early death.
5. Strengthen the CHWs capacity to work and advocate for community development in NCD prevention, and for empowerment in the areas of SRH, gender violence and waste management.

This is an Australian Aid funded project and is supported by Fiji Community Development Program (FCDP). The project focuses on 3 main areas, which are NCD, SRH and Waste Management. The close link between these 3 areas encourages a holistic approach that will enhance the services and information provided to the communities encompassing the wellness concept in totality.
We are working closely with the Community Health Workers, who add value to this project having been part of other projects in previous years.
Through this project, we aim to achieve a community which understands wellness and is receptive to introducing behaviour changes in their individual lives to improve the health and wellbeing of themselves and their community.