By Eleanor Gee

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced an extra USD$4.5 million for the second phase of the Tonga Rural Innovation Project (TRIP) this week after officials visited ‘Eua and Tongatapu.

The project focusses on continuing to improve livelihoods and helping communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as building cyclone proof homes and community halls, farming, and marine special managment areas.

IFAD Associate Vice-President, Donal Brown, with the Asia and Pacific Division Director, Nigel Brett, and Regional Coordinator Sakiusa Tubuna, looked at some of the work on the ground with the communities in 'Eua, as part of reviewing IFAD’s funding support to Tonga for the next financial phase of the project.

The team were impressed with the positive effect the program has had on rural communities, especially ones supporting and empowering women such as new community halls that allow for tapa processing and mat weaving.

Communities

“We feel this is one of the most successful projects that we have in the Pacific,” said Donal.

The projects were driven by communities “so it’s a bottom up process not a top down process”.

“And that’s a real bonus because communities feel they get what they see are their priorities, not priorities that are implemented upon them.”

Nigel Brett said the project was an example of an intervention, which had been building over time and was now working very well with very visible high impact on the ground and 122 communities across Tonga.

He was also impressed with the projects being sustainable long term and how much support was contributed by various parties, including the communities.

“A good marker of sustainability is how much the community is actually contributing of their own resources into these projects. And in this particular case, we have very high contributions from the community both in terms of their in-kind contributions during construction for example but also in cash contributions.”

Communities were also making commitments to look after the infrastructure, something which should have been financed by the project.

“I think that’s a good barometer for the likelihood of post project sustainability,” he said.

Meanwhile, Donal highly commended MORDI, led by Soane Patolo, for their strong leadership in managing the project.

“The real success of the project is the leadership management by the project, the team itself,” said Donal.

‘Eua site visit

On ‘Eua, IFAD were warmly welcomed with an official kava ceremony. Following that, the communities were eager to show them how their funding contributions helped their villages.

The team visited community halls in Houma, Angaha, Sapa’ata and Fata’ulua, where women keenly displayed their tapa processing and mat weaving skills, before presenting IFAD with gifts to show their appreciation.

The team also visited a citrus farm, marine special management areas, a cyclone proof home, and a cluster farm.

The communities thanked IFAD for their contributions to various projects and spoke about their next priorities, which included extending or building new halls, access to water in some areas, and to raw materials such as the mulberry plant for handicraft work.

The visit wrapped up with a lunch provided by Manase Siu, who manages the largest farming area on ‘Eua.

The Tonga Rural Innovation Project (TRIP) is the product of a partnership between the Tongan Government, IFAD, and Mainstreaming of Rural Development Innovation Trust Tonga (MORDI TT).

IFAD is an international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency based in Rome, Italy, dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. It provides grants and low-interest loans to projects.

Fourteen Pacific Island Countries, including Tonga, are member states of IFAD.