Experience capitalization: Stories of Resilience and Productivity in the Pacific

Through the collaborative CTA/IFAD/PIPSO project, several success stories of ongoing and past agricultural programmes and projects that benefit rural communities have been captured. Many have been analysed and documented through CTA’s experience capitalization project so that lessons learned and good practices can be shared widely and further adopted and used.

Knowledge, learning and innovation go hand in hand. Experience capitalization is an important element in the innovation process.

The stories featured in this booklet are drawn from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They represent the diversity of the challenges as well as the tested solutions that Pacific Islanders have themselves endorsed. They showcase what worked well as well as what did not. Readers are encouraged to replicate and scale-up the good practices in their programmes and projects and avoid the pitfalls. By doing so, we all will help to advance experience capitalization, continuous learning, and innovation to transform Pacific agri-food systems and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The following 12 stories can be downloaded combined in one publication here or separatly below by clicking on the titles:

CAPACITY BUILDING

• Improving farming practices in flood-prone areas in the Solomon Islands – Elmah Panisi Sese,  Live & Learn
• Improving soil fertility through training in the “Garden Island of Fiji” – Serenia Madigibuli, Tutu Rural Training Centre (TRTC)
• “You made us think”: The path-breakers battling land degradation in Samoa’s rural communities – Aloema Leaupepe, Matuaileoo Environment Trust Inc. (METI)

AGRO-BIODIVERSITY

• Agroforestry, the solution to food insecurity for rural communities in Vanuatu – Glarinda Andre, Live & Learn 
• Post-cyclone agroforestry is helping to solve food insecurity in Vanuatu – Jessie Kampai,  Live & Learn
• Sharing superior crop varieties with local farmers in the Solomon Islands – Pitakia Tikai, Kastom Gaden Association (KGA)

RISK MANAGEMENT AND RESILIENCE

• Food banks in Yasawa: Communal farming and resilient behaviour – Lanieta Tokalauvere, Pacific Risk Resilience Project, Live & Learn
• Knowledge hubs for resilience in Vanuatu – Pauliane Basil, Pacific Risk Resilience Project, Live & Learn
• A sustainable solution to soil erosion in Vanuatu – George Bumseng and Peter Kaoh, Farm Support Association (FSA)

MARKETING

• Empowering Fijian farmers with mobile apps – Jiu Daunivalu, Fiji Crop and Livestock Council (FCLC)
• Farm-to-table via collection centres in Fiji – Alisi Tuqa, Kristyn Lobendahn and Sema Bainivalu, Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) 
• Outgrower programme: Floriculture technical exchange in Fiji – Keresi Kurukuruvakatini, South Sea Orchids (SSO)

The “Capitalization of Experiences for Greater Impact in Rural Development” project is implemented by CTA in different parts of the world, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and with financial support from IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development. This project aims to facilitate the adoption of an experience capitalization process in rural development initiatives, where it can help improve the analysis, documentation, sharing, and the adoption and use of lessons and good practices – as an approach for continuous learning, improvement and scaling up.