Collective Community Ownership of Health and Social Issues (CCOHSI) – A Pilot in Ba Province, Fiji

The CCOHSI project started in January 2016, and was funded by European Union (EU) and VSHC in partnership with Empower Pacific (EP). The project aimed to strengthen VSHC to empower existing community structures and leaders to take ownership of and express their need to tackle health and social issues which impinge on human rights and socio economic productivity within their communities.  

The project objectives were:-

1. To establish an enabling environment for VSHC and EP to work with local authorities (LA) through inclusive making policy making, to address targeted health and social priorities in Reproductive Health (RH), Non Communicable Diseases (NCD), Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) in the Ba Province, Fiji.
2. To enhance the capacity of communities in Ba province to support sustainable improvements in specific, modifiable, lifestyle risk factors in health, and in social indicators, by empowering leaders and community structures.

These actions enhanced the capacity of community leaders such as the Ba Provincial Council (BPC), District Officer (DO), Turaga ni Koros (TnK), Advisory Councillors (ACs), Women and Youth leaders, Faith based organisations (FBO) and school teachers. Community Health Workers (CHW) were also trained and existing CHWs revitalised. Wherever Health Committees (HC) did not exist, attempts were made to establish new ones and empower them with accurate information and knowledge so that they could initiate a collective movement for the betterment of their societies. The project area aimed to cover 30 areas throughout the Ba province.