Rotary Club of Savusavu: A unique partnership in economic empowerment

In 2022, the Rotary Club of Savusavu, Fiji, built a lookout café above Urata Village.

This ticks a whole column of boxes: up-skilling the local community, giving them a stake in tourism, environmental rehabilitation, establishing a highly attractive tourist stop on the Labasa-Savusavu Road.

The café commands an iconic lookout site over Savusavu Bay that had, over the years, become a ghastly dumping ground for rubbish and a pit stop for travellers needing to… um, relieve themselves.

Two years ago, the club applied for and received a grant from the US Embassy in Suva to build the cafe; they shared club members’ vision across all parameters. The grant was for US$40,000.

The club partnered with the Mataqali Urata, the clan whose land the site is on. It has the endorsement of the Savusavu Town Council, the Provincial Council and the Savusavu Tourism Association.

The building was designed and built with a team of UK-based volunteer architects and engineers, CAUKIN Studio, who spent two months living in Urata Village and working up to 10-hour days to complete the project.

The café will be run by members of Urata Village, using food products from the village wherever possible.

And now, with great pride, the club will open the café on February 15, 2023. It is the first ever project of its kind in Fiji, establishing a commercial enterprise by a Fijian village on its own leased land, with support from Rotary, the US Embassy and the local Savusavu community.

Drop in for a coffee when you’re next in Fiji!