Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Inia Seruiratu visited Naimasimasi Village in Tailevu to witness how the villagers have been empowered and assisted through the Saemaul Undong (SMU) initiative yesterday.
The SMU concept is a Korean community development program implemented in Fiji, which focuses on building a village or community to improve villagers’ quality of life based on the spirits of diligence, self-help and cooperation, and approaches by the villagers, of the villagers and for the villagers. The concept is also based on self-reliant decision-making through the process of planning, implementation, evaluation, and feedback to the next phase.
Naimasimasi Village is among the three Fijian villages that have adopted the SMU concept and have also been subsequently assisted under the initiative.
Through their adoption of the concept, the village has so far been assisted with the provision of a community hall and the retrofitting of their village church to be used as an evacuation centre in times of disasters.
While addressing the villagers during his visit, Minister Seruiratu said he had been impressed with what the village had achieved so far, and urged the villagers to continue with the work currently done to improve lives of families within the village.
Minister Seruiratu also reminded the villagers about the importance of investing in their families first before contributing towards the collective development of their village. He said it is crucial that families are first empowered at home before participating in the development of the broader community.
During the visit, representatives from various Government ministries and agencies also enlightened the villagers about some of the initiatives available to them.
These included representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Forestry, Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Fiji Police Force.