Close to 160 vulnerable Fijians have already received support through the Ministry of Women and Children’s income generation assistance pilot program, with ministry officials expecting to assist more than 100 additional people in the near term, Minister Sashi Kiran said on Tuesday. The update marks a key step in the pilot’s rollout since it was launched last year and outlines a structured training and monitoring approach intended to improve participants’ chances of creating sustainable small businesses.
Kiran said the pilot targets groups considered most at risk of economic exclusion — people with disabilities, single mothers and caregivers of children with disabilities — and combines business skills training with the provision of business packages. “These people have gone through business training, they have been monitored for six months in the way they have been operating, their way of life, before they are given the tools and they will continue to be monitored regularly with the officer for another six months,” she said, describing a two-stage monitoring regime that begins before the handover of equipment and continues afterward.
Under the model being trialled, participants first receive classroom and practical training to equip them with basic business management skills. They are then observed over a six-month period to assess how they run small-scale enterprises and manage household livelihoods. Only after that initial monitoring are business toolkits or packages issued, followed by a further six months of regular follow-up by a ministry officer to support uptake, troubleshoot problems and track outcomes.
The pilot also makes deliberate links with other government departments to broaden the support network available to participants. Kiran said these referrals are designed to provide complementary services and technical guidance — for example, in areas such as licences, market access or specialised disability support — so beneficiaries do not rely solely on one ministry for assistance. Since its launch, the program has reportedly helped beneficiaries start or expand micro-enterprises, contributing to community development and local economic resilience according to the minister.
The ministry intends to expand the pilot while conducting an analysis of its effectiveness, Kiran added. That evaluation will be used to assess whether the training-plus-phased-monitoring model should be scaled up, adapted for different geographies or integrated with broader national initiatives. The approach dovetails with other recent government and development sector efforts to improve women’s economic participation in Fiji, including moves to expand access to finance for women entrepreneurs, suggesting a coordinated push to reduce gender and disability-related barriers to business ownership.
Officials did not provide a firm timeline for the next wave of assistance or the full scale of the planned expansion, but the additional 100-plus people expected to be served indicates the ministry is ready to broaden the pilot beyond its current cohort. The coming evaluation will be critical in determining whether the program’s monitoring-heavy model delivers stronger, longer-lasting business outcomes for vulnerable households and whether it can be financially sustained at a larger scale.
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