Launching the Next Phase of Naivuatolu Community Cooperative
FEBRUARY 5th, 2024 | BY KANCHAN WALI-RICHARDSON, DIRECTOR OF IMPACT, MATANATAKI IMPACT 1
On December 2nd, 2023, a small café on Savusavu town’s main street was alive with a powerful vision for the future. What was once a small, dark space known as Ili’s Café, was re-opened that day as the bright, colorful and purpose driven Three Yokes Café, owned and run by Naivuatolu Community Cooperative. Naivuatolu’s vision is to lift the community out of poverty through economic development. But not through the old model of business which degrades resources and only benefits a few wealthy (and often foreign) owners. No, Naivuatolu seeks to be a drop of inspiration rippling out to wider Itaukei communities, proving Itaukei ability to operate profitable companies which not only preserve the Vanua, but actively work to restore the wellbeing of all people, the land and the sea. This means that the business is owned by the people themselves, and every product and service that the cooperative engages in will bring back health, fertility, and abundance to the farms, forests and reefs that are owned by Naivuatolu’s Mataqali’s.
On the wall of the café this vision is enshrined in a framed print of Naivuatolu’s new logo, showing a drop of inspiration being gifted from the Cross, with three ripples outward showing how the work of service of Naivuatolu ripples out from the family at the center, to the wider community, and finally all of Fiji – spreading care for the people, the land, and the sea.
Three Yokes Café is the beginning of this vision, and will be the heart of the cooperative, feeding the strength of the community with the tastiest lamb neck curry, beef bone soup, tea and pastries in Savusavu town. Three Yoke’s Café’s soups and stews are beloved in Savusavu, their rich flavors and tender meat created by slow cooking them over the nearby Savusavu hot springs.
For the opening on December 2nd, the Matanataki team and Francis Areki of WWF joined the elders of the Mataqali’s that form Naivuatolu Community Cooperative to enjoy the café’s delicious food, celebrating the café opening alongside the launch of the new business plan which will guide the evolution of Naivuatolu. It was an emotional experience for both Jodi and Kanchan of Matanataki’s team, as we had worked intimately with Naivuatolu on both the business plan and café renovation. Bowing our heads as the Café was ceremonially opened with the gifting of the tabua, we were flooded with hope and affirmation of the good that can be brought into the world by people.
Matanataki has had the pleasure and privilege of working with Naivuatolu Community Cooperative on their business planning and business operations (including the café renovation) since early 2023, with our work being co-financed by Matanataki and WWF through the Bezos Earth Fund partnership. Naivuatolu has been in operation since 2014, in which time they have been pioneers in integrating community-controlled conservation efforts with cooperative business activities. We at Matanataki first connected with NCC when we learned of their work as the first iTaukei Fijian cooperative to successfully be granted a foreshore license for the purpose of protecting their Qoliqoli (their traditional fishing grounds). In essence, this granted them nationally recognized legal rights to conserve and protect 346 hectares of the coral reefs and 8 hectares of mangroves that their ancestors have fished and stewarded for generations. Even before the end of our very first conversation together, it was abundantly clear to both Naivuatolu leaders and the Matanataki team that our visions were aligned and a beautiful collaboration was to come.
Over the course of 2023 Matanataki supported Naivuatolu to develop the cooperative’s business plan, bringing forward the full scope and potential of the vision into detailed plans for multiple, interrelated departments: food and beverage retail, food production, eco-tourism services, conservation, and transport and accommodation. Matanataki provided our team’s expertise in sustainable food and beverage retail and tourism, regenerative farming, agro-forestry and aquaculture, as well as gathering additional knowledge held by local experts in traditional Fijian agricultural methods, kava agroforestry and coral restoration methods. We worked with Naivuatolu leaders and future department heads to create financial models which prove the financial viability of these activities, as well as sustainable land use plans that will guide how the cooperative can best use their land and marine resources, staying within the limits of growth to ensure these resources are not degraded, but instead grow in abundance and health over time.
The Matanataki team also supported Naivuatolu with the re-design of the café, and the many months of business planning and café design work culminated in a week of sweat, dust and paint, with the Matanataki team and younger members of Naivuatolu renovating the café together.
Since Three Yokes Café re-opened in December, Naivuatolu and Matanataki are working together to seek financing to launch the full business, with Naivuatolu applying to the Department of Cooperatives for grant financing and Matanataki working on raising its first impact investment fund.
We will share updates here as Naivuatolu begins its pilot regenerative farming activities and coral restoration work.
We gratefully acknowledge the Board of Naivuatolu Community Cooperative, Solomone Tuibua for his leadership stewarding the vision, all elders of the Mataqali, our partners at WWF and the Bezos Earth Fund, the café renovation team, and everyone else who has been part of this effort.
