Ola Fou Youth Development is a project of the Youth Cultures and Community Trust, which is registered in New Zealand as a charitable NGO organisation. Ola Fou means ‘new life’.

We provide tertiary level training in youth and community work in seven Pacific nations: Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, The Solomon Islands, PNG, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands.

This training is supported by the NZ Agency for International Aid and Development (NZAID), which assists students from each country to attend a series of block courses over fifteen months to complete qualifications at Certificate and Diploma level.

We are also involved in providing administrative support for a number of small scale community projects which have been started by Ola Fou graduates.

Currently over 60 youth leaders across the Pacific are involved in researching needs in their community and developing practical projects to respond to these needs. Projects range from employment generation, education, sports and recreation to leadership development among young people. The projects are based on a participatory approach to youth development, encouraging young people to identify and then create solutions to the problems that they experience in their own community.

Ola Fou has also developed a partnership with TEAR Fund (in NZ and Australia), who are involved in the ongoing support of the community projects developed by Ola Fou graduates. These include working with villages in the Solomons and Fiji to source clean water, the development of recreational and sports facilities for young people in squatter communities around Honiara and Suva, support of isolated schools, and the development of alternative employment opportunities for young people involved in the sex industry in Tonga.