Fiji Council Of Social Services
A focal point of Civil Society Organizations involved with non-formal and adult education, shelter and care for homeless, people with different abilities and marginal groups, population and family life education, consumer, environment, social and economic justice issues and tackling poverty, crime and unemployment and strengthening organizations in delivering humanitarian service effectively and efficiently.
FCOSS Vision
Our vision is for a society where members care for each other and particularly those who are less fortunate than themselves, where diversity is celebrated, where self sufficiency is promoted, and where life long learning is upheld.
FCOSS Mission
FCOSS, a body celebrating cultural diversity, works to sustain itself, as a vibrant organisation. It exists to provide a focal point for Fiji’s Civil Society Organisations and supports people centered development initiatives of the community, fostering strength and self sufficiency of local organisations.
What FCOSS Does?
- Fostering development of Civil Society Organizations across Fiji Influencing government’s social and economic policies.
- Ensuring concerns of member organizations are heard in the public arena and by relevant authorities.
- Producing well-informed researches to highlight needs of low-income earners and disadvantaged people and to identify gaps in service provision.
- Fostering links between member agencies and with other organizations, which have similar objectives.
- Assist member organizations in delivering humanitarian service effectively and efficiently.
National And International Relations
National
- National Disaster Management Council
- Coordinating Committee of Children (CCC)
- National Advisory Council on AIDS
- Fiji Law Reform Commission
- National Committee on Crime Prevention
- Non-formal & Adult Education Taskforce
- National Youth Congress of the Fiji Islands
- National Substance Abuse and Advisory Council
- Taskforce on Violence Against Women
- Taskforce on Poverty Eradication
- National Committee on Prevention on Suicide (NCOPS)
- PM’s Disaster Relief Trust Fund Committee
- FFONSA
- National Economic Development Committee (NEDC)
- SWG of NEDC
International
- AusAID
- New Zealand Aid (NZAID)
- Canada Fund
- International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW)
- International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE)
- Commonwealth Foundation
- HelpAge International (HAI)
- International Federation of Ageing (IFA)
- International Federation of NGO’s for the prevention of Drugs and Substance Abuse
- Pacific Islands Association of non-governmental organizations (PIANGO)
- CIVICUS International
- Asia Pacific Forum on the Families (APFAM)
Specific Issues FCOSS Deals With
- The Family
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
- Land Tenure
- Building the Social Economy
- Leadership
- Networking and Collaboration
- Postal, Telephone and Banking Charges
- Health and Social Health
- Issue of Ageing and Older People
- FNPF Watch
- Advocacy
- Social Welfare
The fact that the family plays the pivotal role in the lives of all the citizens, makes it the single most important issue for the nation. Every thing revolves around the Family and for the voluntary social welfare sector the family strengthening programme needs to be the top priority. 2004 marked the end of the decade for the Family as 1994 was the International Year of the Family. Sadly, for the reasons best known to the leaders of the world, the ISSUES OF FAMILY DEVELOPMENT, remained extremely low priority in the corridors of the United Nations Systems.
The Family is the only social capital the humanity has on which to build all other empires and programmes. This is why it was like a breath of refresh air, when, Ministry for Reconciliation held consultation on the Family late in 2004.
Family development should become the top national priority. There is no alternative.
Within ten years, the CSO sector has been completely revolutionized by the overflow of information and advancement in technology. This in turn has impacted the thinking of community leaders and activities of voluntary welfare organizations particularly in Suva area which, have greater and easier access to many opportunities, while smaller rural community based groups are still holding on to their traditional bonds.
The benefits of email and websites (www) services have also made lives easy for the younger generation while at the same time the older folks have to struggle. On the negative side serious concerns are being expressed about access to pornographic materials that corrupting the mores and morals of the society.
The issue of digital divide between the older parents and children and rural and urban populations needs to addressed as soon as possible.
From the social point of view land is the mainstay of all communities and the rapid expiry of leases since 2000, is now affecting the operations of the CSOs. It has a very profound effect on the operations of schools in the rural. During 2004 only one, the Wainikoro Arya School was closed, while about another ten have drastic reductions in their school roll. Internal migration has swelled the squatter population between the Suva –Nausori corridor bringing with it a wide range of social and economic problems. However this has also opened up a new service area for social action and increased the demand for places in schools in the area.
The civil society micro finance institutions like the FCOSS Micro Finance Unit and AGLOW MFU, crossed the $1 million mark in savings, which is a major achievement as this in itself has contributed to meeting the educational cost of children and uplifted the economic status of the families.
The mobilization of the rural and disadvantaged communities has brought about financial literacy. Social cohesion and village development.
The success of social enterprises and entrepreneurship is reducing the demands on various government agencies like the Ministry of Education and Dept. of Social Welfare. At the same time people are able to meet their own basic social services needs. It is also helping voluntary social welfare organizations as they are now able focus on needs of the very poor.
The element of Social Economy is the strengthening of the Social Capital by providing the rural communities with opportunities to save and develop social enterprises. The MFIs have proved the viability of the this venture and now the private commercial banks have entered the area placing the MFIs under strain as the banks have more finance . The concern is the possibility of over commercial exploitation. One would hoped that the Government would have reserved this area of service to social entrepreneurs.
FCOSS has taken strong and positive leadership role in championing the cause of the civil society which includes the voluntary social welfare sector and faith based organizations, through the submissions to Ministry of Finance and National Planning on Budget Priorities and also new directions in education.
FCOSS leadership in bringing about a dynamic community of social welfare and development agencies effectively collaborating to attain human wellbeing is seen in a much diversified activities and sustainability of the sector.
The civil society sector itself is known for its leadership in the field of education. It started the public and community based formal school system, the early childhood education (kindergarten), the form seven education despite strong official opposition and last year one civil society organization put the icing on the cake by registering the UNIVERSITY of Fiji, the first in the Western Fiji.
The 16th National about social justice Conference on Social Development (NCSD), was once again a landmark event that brought together almost 200 participants from just as many organizations to talk and social progress. The NCSD, held every two years, is the premier event which helps consolidate the network of social welfare and development agencies and peoples’s organizations as a force for collective action in facilitating the sharing of information, resources, experiences and expertise amongst members.
The CSO Summit, Suva involved about 40 NGOs and here again FCOSS input helped networking especially amongst new organizations who are not aware of the rich history and non profit culture.
The District Councils Of Social Services, (DCOSS) in Nadroga, Nadi, Lautoka, Ba, Tavua and Ra were revived as it is very important for community groups to work together.
The most important achievements were establishing and maintaining the connections with Government agencies, like the National Planning and its Summit Working Groups (SWGs) of the National Economic Development Council. FCOSS also helped the Ministry of Education to network with NGOs in the efforts to organize the Education Summit and setting up of Task Forces on school, curriculum, human resources, community, Technology, and the child.
The Fiji Forum for Non State Actors (FFONSA) was formally established as a network to facilitate European Union grants to NGO projects.
The increased charges in postal, telephone and banking services are of very serious concern as it is eating away very large chunks of limited budgets of voluntary social welfare organizations. This in turn is having devastating effects on the delivery of basic social services to the poor and the needy. There is a distinct possibility that NGO initiatives, social enterprise and entrepreneurship will be stifled thus hindering the much needed social engineering efforts of the civil society organizations.
The rising incidence of lifestyle diseases, non communicable diseases, like diabetes, heart problems, mental health, depression and stress are having long term social impact on the families and communities through out Fiji. These are posing serious challenges to activities of social service organizations but at the same time providing new avenues of service. While the CSOs have the interest and will to do this, they lack the necessary funds to take on the challenge. A little foresight of the Ministry of Health could result in cost effective preventative service provided by the NGOs.
The 2001 Bureau of Statistics (BoS) figures had the sixty plus population at,54,311 that is about 6.7% of the population. In the absence of any updated figures it could safely estimated that we now have 60,000 plus or 8% of our population over 60years. Of these almost 90% would be living in the rural areas and without any form of pension. By the year 2020 we are looking at about 10% of the population (100,000 plus). There is no mention of any policies or service commitments of this section of the Fiji community in the Ministry of Health Strategic Plan nor the National SP. The plans and activities of the civil society organizations too, are very silent on this issue. Interestingly, both Houses of Parliament consists of majority members over 60 years, and there too, no mention of need for welfare of the older people. The need for a social pension for senior citizens or any other form of social security scheme, is now an urgent priority. The nation needs a definite strategic plan for the older persons which is holistic, appropriate and affordable.
During the year serious concerns were raised in the media about extent of borrowings from the FNPF funds and other related issues. An exploratory meeting was held with a few interested persons which brought concerns like cessation of pensions for members retiring after 2008 and the absence of members representatives on the FNPF Board. It was pointed out that the employers and employees contribute while others benefit. The prime purpose of the setting up of the FNPF was to provide income security to its members in old age. If this is not going to be possible than there has to serious discussions and a matter of concern for all.
One of the key responsibilities of FCOSS is to speak out on issues of injustice especially those that impact on disadvantaged groups in the community and the operations of the voluntary welfare organizations. FCOSS maintained nonpartisan approach in making balanced and constructive input on a wide range issues through the media, submissions to government, public debate, parliamentary submissions and national budget submissions.
Voluntary social welfare organizations reported increase in the number of poor families requiring assistance. Food was the main need, followed by educational requirements like uniforms, travel costs, stationery, text books and fees. New and growing area of need is medical social welfare both for the patients in hospitals, family members and relatives. The small community based organizations providing direct care and support to the people in need are themselves in urgent need for capacity building. This was identified and FCOSS plans to organize a series of training to strengthen them for effective services.