October 2017
Model Towns Charitable Trust
Registered Charitable Trust in FIJI No. 908
The Model Towns Charitable Trust (MTCT) is a non-government organisation registered in 2011 committed to building affordable but cyclone – safe homes in serviced subdivisions for disadvantaged families, and providing support pathways to enable them to move to home ownership in the mainstream community .
The first model town has been built and the community development programme has produced outstanding results . The model towns prescription is now a very important solution for the accommodation and assimilation of families displaced by rural / urban drift, and climate change impacts .
The project was founded by Peter Drysdale in 1985 during the series of devastating hurricanes that decade. Prior to registration of the MTCT the project had been operating as the Fiji Rotahomes project as part of the Rotary Club of Lautoka.
Where it all began – Fiji Rotahomes Project
In March 1985, cyclones Eric and Nigel battered the western parts of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. Thousands were left homeless in the Lautoka and Ba areas.
Peter had just joined the Rotary Club of Lautoka and he initiated the project with the objective “to eliminate sub-human living conditions in west Viti Levu by providing basic cyclone-safe homes, clean water and living essentials.”
At the start of his career in the pine forest industry in 1970 Peter had many contacts and conflicts with squatters, but now the search began for families in need, covering an area of 4000 sq km. in the Western Division.
Over the past 32 years 729 homes have been built in the country areas. For the past 15 years and in parallel the Trust has been building and perfecting the first fully serviced model town at Koroipita ,which now has 232 homes and this will increase to 266 homes .
The total number of houses built in 32 years is now 961 .
The total number of people housed in country areas and at the model town, is now 4330 .
In 2016 all homes were tested by Hurricane Winston the strongest hurricane recorded in the southern hemisphere . There was zero damage to project homes .
Koroipita Model Town
In 2002, the focus of the project shifted to the growing number of families living as squatters or in impoverished slum conditions in the peri- urban areas surrounding Lautoka city .
This led to the development of an engineered and serviced subdivision, 3.5 km from Lautoka. It was named Koroipita, which means “Peter’s Village”. Land was provided on a 99 year lease term by the landowners of Vitogo Village. This was the start of the Koroipita development.
Koroipita model town is a fully engineered and serviced subdivision with wide road access, water supply, electricity, sewerage treatment, storm water drains and a garbage collection system .
Koroipita Stage one (K1) of the development was accomplished by 2008 and was mostly funded by Rotary clubs in this region .This comprises 84 homes and 6 communal buildings including a kindy, office, shop and computer school and library.
An elected Council administers the day to day affairs of the community with the assistance of a full time Town Clerk.
The seven year Stages 2,3 development commenced in 2011 with support from the New Zealand Aid Programme, Rotary International, European Union , the Fiji Government and a host of donors and volunteers. This increased the estate to 232 homes and by the end of 2017 there will be 241 homes .
A final stage is planned that will increase the estate to 266 homes .That is considered to be the maximum and ideal size for a model town in terms of management and community development .
The objectives of the Model Towns Charitable Trust have now evolved ;
- To demonstrate how professionally engineered land subdivisions can be developed, quickly and at an affordable cost to settle needy families;
- To provide long term legal security for the Trusts properties by securing leases as the basis for creating sustainable communities as a model for large scale settlement;
- To build and maintain affordable, cyclone resistant homes and community facilities;
- To test and apply effective, durable and affordable solutions for all their basic needs – such as water supply, sewerage treatment, waste management, energy and soil conservation measures.
- To help families achieve self - sufficiency by support for education for adults and children and support for income generating projects and job search with the ultimate aim of helping families to progress to home ownership in mainstream communities.
- To provide long term trusteeship and development programmes for the Community Councils to enable them to raise revenues, maintain basic services and become self-sufficient and help train and encourage residents to observe rules for a peaceful and progressive model community.
Koroipita is the first of what could potentially be a series of “model” communities in Fiji to address the problems of squatter settlements in peri-urban areas, manage urban drift and accommodate and assimilate climate change refugees. The legal and management and community development systems are being refined and documented for easy replication.
Project Achievements 32 years
HOMES …@ October 1st 2017
Country Areas729
Koroipita model town 232….. Koroipita - to build another 34 in 2018 /19
Total homes 961
Eventual Koroipita266
People Housed4330…all , country areas and Koroipita
COMMUNAL BUILDINGS
Koroipita 7…eg community hall , office , shop
KOROIPITA OTHER
Electricity connections 88
Solar lights –houses 149
Smokeless stoves 120
Beds 80
Solar street lights 10
COUNTRY AREAS ..OTHER
Electricity Connections Mains 29, Solar 41
Water Tanks462
Septic Tanks 59
Kitchens125
Bore Wells 2
Food40,330 kgs
Containers44 (clothes, books, essentials)
Clothes, Books792 tonnes
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers-1898 For 1 to 2 week tours of duty , excludes short termers
Teams -211
Mostly from Rotary clubs and Habitat for Humanity and local tourism sector vols . Rotarians mostly from Tasmania, VIC, NSW, SA, NZ, UK, USA
Community Development
Building homes is only the first stage- the comprehensive Community Development Programme enables Koroipita residents to improve their lives, and in some cases move on to jobs and homes in the area .
The Community Development Plan is managed by Asst GM (Strategic ) Susan Naidu and CD Mgr. Phyllis Danford and her team. This aims to create a progressive and independent community. Resources from Government depts., various NGOs and service based organisations are sought to provide educational opportunities for the residents.
This programme also helps strengthen the self - governance structure through the Koroipita Community Council which comprises 18 elected Block Leaders and others such as youth representatives appointed by the Trustees.
The residents sign an Occupation License which obliges them to abide by the rules. The Block Leaders and Community Clerk provide induction, training and encouragement for compliance. The main rule is the obligation to demonstrate measurable progress on all aspects of the Family Advancement Plan
The main objective of the Family Advancement plan is to provide pathways and support for families to achieve self-sufficiency and home ownership in mainstream society. When a family moves out and upward this creates a vacancy for the next family to experience this unique programme.
The initial induction sessions are followed by a series of training modules on healthy living, income generation opportunities, food production, life skills , electricity and water savings , fire protection , non-violence and so on.
Residents are helped to assemble personal documentation such as (missing) birth certificates, TIN identification letters etc . A photographer provides passport sized photos for long lines of residents who would otherwise struggle to obtain these.
Koroipita has a registered Kindergarten – with two centres and 58 children currently enrolled. The children are often capable of reading and writing English when they graduate from our kindergartens.
This year a total of 17 students were enrolled for tertiary studies . This is an outstanding result for this demographic .
There is a 600 seat community hall, general shop, an office, multi - purpose sports court, a football field and two playgrounds with modern equipment .
In a parallel programme Rotarians from Tasmania have been upgrading local primary schools, libraries and providing computers and desks and other items for these schools. This is to help them deliver quality education for our children.
We monitor school attendance and regard poor attendance as a form of child abuse which is not tolerated. This is a key element of the Family Advancement Plan.
Assimilation/ Climate Change Refugees
At present there are 1550 families (nearly 7000 people ) applying for a home in Koroipita , and there are no vacant houses ! Our team is under huge pressure every day explaining to desperate families why we cannot immediately accommodate them. We describe the problem of rural / urban drift, not as a drift, but as an avalanche !!
There is already more than 100 people of Polynesian origin living at Koroipita .Their assimilation has been a joy , a truly uplifting experience . We have frequent family squabbles to deal with but we have never had an inter-racial incident that comprises friction between races .
In our view Fiji will have to accommodate about 20,000 climate change refuges at some time in the next 50 years . That will require the building of around 4500 houses - unless the plan is to accommodate them in tent cities . Fiji already has a low cost housing availability crisis and this new prospect is scary .
In a burst of production in 2014, when we were assisted by Habitat for Humanity and Rotary volunteers, we built 22 houses in 15 working days !! That is the sort of scale and pace needed to address current problems and future immigration – believe this !
Our prescription for the future settlement of immigrants is to mix them in the proportion 50 / 50% with local families for rapid assimilation .
Greenfield Housing Subdivision
A feasibility study will soon be undertaken to examine the viability of a scheme where the Trust would develop a serviced subdivision and build about 50 stage – built concrete homes which are then offered to selected families who have progressed to the extent they could afford a reasonable repayment plan for actual home ownership.
If this eventuates and is successful the Trust will have pioneered a complete solution for settlement and assimilation of families into mainstream society.
Development Partners
The New Zealand Aid Programme has supported the development project since 2004. A comprehensive review of progress and standards was conducted in 2010 and NZAP decided to continue supporting the project into Stages 2 and 3 .
Rotary International provided funds for some of the infrastructure, a truck and equipment under a Health Hunger and Humanity (3H) Grant.
The European Union has also provided funding support for eight houses .
The Fiji Government, Housing Dept. has provided long term support since 2003 in helping us to acquire land leases, and with funding support to bridge the periods between funding stages .
The project will need long term core programme support bridging a modest gap between town revenues and costs such as for maintenance and some staff , unless the project obtains funding support for the next five years to build a replica model town (about 180 homes ) , and a greenfield housing subdivision with (about 50) homes for sale to the more progressive residents .
Other Support Sub-projects
There is ongoing support from Rotary Clubs in Australia and New Zealand, USA, UK and other countries, individual donors and local business houses. This usually funds “sub-projects” like playground equipment, retaining walls and smaller infrastructure improvements, the kindy and building a shop etc. The Friends of Koroipita from the tourism sector assisted with legal advice costs and some land costs. There is a very close link with the tourism sector through Rosie Tours, Expedia , Collette Foundation (USA and so on.
Volunteers
The volunteers have provided massive contributions since 2003. A total of 1898 volunteers in 211 teams have served two week terms at Koroipita.
There are also the skilled Site Support Volunteers (SSVs) who come for tours of 6 to 10 weeks and are effectively the site managers at those times. The volunteers mostly come during the cooler months from May to November. Some have served every year for the last 12 years. It is important to check with the project team to determine if there is a need for volunteers at any time .
Future developments will be less reliant on volunteers but skilled people will be welcome at our call. We now have a pool of very skilled workers who are our own trained residents. They can build an entire town, from surveying to civil works, buildings and facilities . It is important to keep this team united and committed to building more model towns to help solve the national housing crisis .
Contact Persons:
Peter Drysdale
Technical Advisor
Email:
Susan Naidu
Asst . GM – Strategic
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