Through Shelter, We Empower

Organisation

Habitat for Humanity Fiji was founded as a non-profit charitable trust in Fiji in 1991 and has been repairing and building homes for lower income families ever since. Since 2009 we have assisted over 200 families in disaster response. Our disaster recovery programme has grown from strength to strength, providing new homes, repairing damaged homes and community water systems and most recently, emergency repairs to cyclone-damaged homes in informal settlements.

Hand Up Methodology

HFHF assists communities to improve their living conditions by offering them a “hand-up” instead of a “hand-out”. This methodology includes the following components.

Volunteer labour: HFHF lowers the building costs of the assistance it provides to communities by utilizing their volunteer labour, working under the direction of qualified HFHF carpenters and plumbers.

Community contribution: To improve local ownership of projects therefore making them more sustainable, the communities that HFHF assists provide their own volunteer labour.

Selection for Assistance

When it comes to choosing families to assist with Transitional Shelters, special consideration is always given to ensure that HFHF’s assistance will promote gender equality among end beneficiaries. A Family Selection Committee (FSC) is responsible for selecting the eligible families to be assisted. The FSC consists of a gender-balanced and multi skilled membership of diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. This ensures a neutral and non-biased selection process.