TTFB Awareded Grant For rotuma Creative Arts Project

iTAUKEI TRUST FUND BOARD (TTFB) AWARDED GRANT FOR ROTUMA CREATIVE ARTS PROJECT

The ACP-EU recently announced the recipients of grants last week at their office in Suva. Amongst these recipients was the iTaukei Trust Fund Board (TTFB), whom like the others was greatly appreciative towards this assistance.

The grant is intended to assist the Rotuma Women’s handicrafts through the Rotuma Creative Arts Project. TTFB was awarded under the “Enhancing Capacity for the sustainability of the Cultural and Creative Industries in the Pacific Project” grant scheme. The project has a 3 year timeline.

“The Rotuma Creative Arts Project will involve supporting the development and enhancement of Rotuma’s creative arts, through entrepreneurial leadership training and business upskilling. The aim is to enhance production and value-adding capacity for Rotuma handicrafts, gaining a more competitive edge in the market and providing commercial benefits to sustain the livelihoods of the Rotuman community. The outcomes would include a better appreciation and understanding of the Rotuman art, culture and heritage. This basically enables these women to become self-starters or entrepreneurs in their own field”, says Project Coordinator Rotuma Mr Alfred F. Wiliame Jnr.

The target groups for this project includes the Rotuman Women’s Association in Rotuma (RWA), the Rotuman communities in Rotuma, the Rotuma Youth group, and the Council of Rotuma. In addition to being assisted, the groups will also be monitored through initiated variables which could be from the number of crafts revived, number of new crafts developed to the number of households impacted and its value of improving well-being.

The indicators are also for verification purposes including training reports, interviews with the artisans and their households, sales report from transactions, qualitative studies on early /post impact assessment, and the triangulation of data for verification purposes.

With the above, it can be said that the grant will not only be fully utilized towards its intended purpose, but the lessons also learnt from these will be steppingstones in designing future projects to achieving better outcomes for the Rotuman community.

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