Women lead Vanuatu’s food and climate resilience

Nov 3, 2025 | Initiatives and Projects | 0

Across Vanuatu’s islands, women are preserving more than just food — they’re preserving futures.

In 2025, the Vanuatu Community-Based Climate Resilience Project (VCCRP) has brought together over 180 women from 108 women-led groups in 20 Area Councils across six provinces to lead the way in food preservation and climate resilience. These forums have become powerful spaces for women to share traditional knowledge, learn modern techniques, develop income opportunities, and build household food security — all while preparing their communities for cyclones, droughts, and everyday challenges that threaten food access.

The final provincial forum concluded this week in Lenakel, Tanna, in TAFEA Province, gathering more than 42 women from four Area Councils to learn about Government priorities and services available to help women’s groups, share knowledge with their peers, and develop a business canvas for their group linked to food preservation techniques for both disaster and non-disaster periods.

In addition to climate-related events, sickness, heavy rain, injuries, old age, and caring for infants can all make food access difficult. Having preserved food in the cupboard ensures safety and dignity for families across the islands. The practices promoted in the forums include solar drying, freezing, jarring, vacuum-sealing, and soap making, all designed to build autonomy and stimulate local circular economies.

Vanuatu faces unique logistical challenges, from limited transport networks to small population scales. In this context, VCCRP will support women to implement food preservation and small business development activities within their local environments while reinforcing the Government’s decentralisation agenda.

To achieve this, VCCRP is partnering with multiple government and statutory bodies, as well as CROP agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Department of Climate Change (DoCC), Department of Local Authorities (DLA), Department of Industries (DOI), Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (VCCI), Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta (VKS), the Cooperatives Department, Provincial Governments, the South Pacific Community’s Pacific Women Lead Program, and the National Bank of Vanuatu — to assist women in receiving training, materials, and technical support for sustainable and safe food production.

“When women and youth lead with knowledge and skills, they don’t just preserve food — they preserve futures. Through community-driven innovation and resilience, they are transforming food systems, strengthening local economies, preparing for disasters, and ensuring no one is left behind in the delivery of the National Sustainable Development Plan and Vanuatu Agriculture Sector Policy,” said Antoine Ravo, Director of DARD.

While modern food-processing techniques are often imported, Vanuatu’s own heritage of preservation — such as traditional drying, fermenting, or smoking breadfruit — remains invaluable. The forums celebrate these local skills while introducing practical tools to improve quality and shelf life.

To ensure sustainability, reproducibility, and operational efficiency, VCCRP integrates technology in locally adaptable ways to support women who are already balancing church, youth, household, garden, community, and family responsibilities.

As VCCRP moves forward in 2026, the focus will shift to supporting women-led groups to develop community-level business plans, improving nutrition, and linking production with local markets. Solar dryers, solar freezers, and community kitchens will help preserve nutritious food for children and the elderly while creating new income opportunities. Through these activities, over 2,500 people will directly benefit from training, equipment, and business planning.

VCCRP is the Pacific’s largest community-led climate adaptation initiative, funded primarily by the Green Climate Fund, with support from the Vanuatu and Australian Governments and Save the Children.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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Man remanded over alleged sexual assault of four-year-old girl August 13, 2026
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Dr Damutalau said most HPV infections clear naturally, but some remain and can increase the risk of cervical cancer. He said about 90 per cent of cervical cancers are linked to HPV, which is why vaccination and early screening are important. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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More boys than girls drop out of school August 12, 2026
More boys than girls are dropping out of secondary schools in Vanuatu, with TORBA Province recording the highest dropout rate. Boys are repeating grades more than girls at both primary and secondary levels across all provinces, and TORBA Province again has the highest repetition rate. These findings were conveyed by the Director of Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), John Gideon, in his presentation to set the tone for discussions at the National Education Forum in Port Vila. He said more boys are leaving school for reasons beyond the classroom, such as the cost of education, distance to school and boarding challenges. In 2016, Vanuatu came up with a policy requiring children to start formal primary school at age 6. Director Gideon revealed that the net enrolment rate has been declining since 2023, with girls recording a higher rate while boys’ participation remains lower. Girls also recorded higher gross enrolment rates than boys at every level. Director Gideon also mentioned that the education system is not retaining students, especially at the secondary level. He said about 41 out of every 100 children who start Year 1 remain in school by Year 6, and only about 5 out of every 100 continue through to Year 13. Director Gideon highlighted that the number of early childhood centres has decreased since 2022, primary schools have remained stable, while secondary schools have grown the most, with 67 new schools established since 2015. “There are over 5,400 teachers, but they are not where the students are,” he said. SHEFA, TAFEA and SANMA have the most senior secondary schools, while TORBA faces a severe shortage of junior secondary teachers. Director Gideon encouraged participants at the forum to examine what the data reveals about boys’ engagement in the education system, how to increase enrolment in early childhood and the relationship between enrolment and student progress. Currently, 104,510 students are enrolled across more than 1,000 registered schools in Vanuatu. However, Director General Cherol Ala pointed out that not all children are in school, highlighting the need to improve access, enrolment and participation. While literacy and numeracy outcomes continue to decline, she said monitoring of the nationwide Curriculum Improvement Program (CIP), launched last year, is showing improved outcomes in student learning. Other challenges she mentioned include student and teacher attendance, high dropout rates, limited access to formal training and qualifications, school infrastructure, access to schools and rolling out internet connectivity. She reminded everyone about the ministry’s mission to provide young people with lifelong skills, values and confidence to become self-reliant and contribute to development. Throughout the four-day National Education Forum, government leaders, educators and partners have discussed what has not worked and what needs to be done to improve education outcomes. The forum ends today. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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Vanuatu’s education crisis a ‘national disaster’ – Pikinini Playtime CEO August 12, 2026
Pikinini Playtime founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Batten has described Vanuatu’s education situation as a “national disaster”, warning that poor literacy outcomes among children could affect the country’s future development. Speaking during an interview on Kava Mo Kajap, Mr. Batten said reports that around 70 per cent of children are unable to read and write at the expected level should be treated as a serious national concern. “I think it is a national disaster, like a hurricane or an earthquake,” Mr. Batten said. He said Vanuatu’s greatest resource is not its land or natural resources, but its people, and education is the foundation needed to develop that human resource. “Human resources are the number one resource for Vanuatu,” he said. Mr. Batten said countries that have successfully moved from being less developed to more advanced economies have done so by investing heavily in education and building a skilled population. However, he said Vanuatu’s current education results remain a major concern despite the country spending a significant amount of its national budget on education. “Vanuatu gives a lot of money per capita into education, but the results are still among the lowest in the Pacific,” he said. The Pikinini Playtime founder said the challenge is not only about funding but about how the education system delivers results. He questioned why many students continue to leave school without basic reading and writing skills despite years spent in classrooms. Mr. Batten said the impact of poor education outcomes can also be seen in the country’s workforce, where businesses often recruit skilled workers from overseas to fill positions. “We bring people from the Philippines and other countries to do accounting, bookkeeping, management, building and supervisory work, but many ni-Vanuatu are not able to take those opportunities because they do not have the basic education,” he said. He said the literacy issue must be addressed early because children who fail to develop strong reading skills in their early years often struggle throughout their education journey. Mr. Batten also raised concerns about the value placed on education within the system. He said teacher absenteeism, weak accountability and a lack of support for educators contribute to children losing confidence in learning. “When children see that school is not important, they begin to believe they don’t need school,” he said. Mr. Batten acknowledged that many teachers are working under difficult conditions but said the system needs stronger support, training and leadership to improve outcomes. He believes improving education requires everyone involved — government, schools, teachers, principals and parents — to work together. “Children are smart. They have the ability. But they need the right support and the right opportunities,” he said. Mr. Batten said addressing literacy must become a national priority because the future of Vanuatu depends on the quality of education provided to today’s children. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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Women lead Vanuatu’s food and climate resilience

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Women lead Vanuatu’s food and climate resilience

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