An outreach development program to rural and remote communities of Tonga is delivering essential governmental and non-governmental services.

The ‘Reach A’u Tonu Kiai’ program operating through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, takes teams of civil servants and others on missions to locations, where they set up in village halls, allowing rural people to access different services that are typically unavailable at where they live.

Siaosi Leuha Faka'osi, the Tonga Outreach Coordinator for UNDP, said the mission recently returned from ‘Eua where they delivered many services to residents of the eastern district community, at Kolomaile, registering over 1,000 public responses from ‘Eua alone.

The REACH Mission To ‘Eua lasted over a week, from 13-22 March 2023.

Government Representative of ‘Eua, Lolomana’ia Fili, said increasing public access to Government, NGOs, CSO and business services was important, as a majority of Tonga's population live in rural and island districts.

The project delivered over 30 diverse services ranging from passport and visa applications, driving license examinations, and voter registration and many other services. MAFF distributed vegetables and seedlings in preparation for the MAFF Show in June.

Physical and emotional stress counselling was offered along with other services such as domestic violence awareness and family disputes assistance.

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It's also an opportunity for rural people to complain about government services or the lack thereof. Siaosi said there was a “high volume of registering public complaints through the Ombudsman Office.”

Siaosi said, “The Reach service delivery team of stakeholders in 2022 completed missions to Tongatapu, Ha'apai, 'Eua, Vava'u and chartered the MV Koe Kelesi Pe travelling over 615km to Niuafo'ou and Niuatoputapu.”

The Rights Empowerment and Cohesion A'u Tonu Kiai Reach project aims to contribute to Tonga’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, TSDFII, Government Priority Areas and Community Development Plans, among the 17 SDGs. It is an integrated multi-sectoral service delivery platform. Funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the project gathered 16 different organizations comprising NGOs, CSOs, government and other business services.

The initiative also targets Goal 16, which is a commitment to promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. Goal 5, the last target of the initiative which is a commitment to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.