The Home-Grown Plate: Fiji Communities Showcase Local Food, Health and Community Action
In Lokia Village, Fiji, Global CFaH partner the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises & Development, FRIEND, brought together participating communities from Waivou, Lokia and Vunisei Rewa for The Home-Grown Plate, a community showcase celebrating local food, home gardens, health, agroecology and community-led action. Held as part of the lead-up to FRIEND’s 25th anniversary this year, the event created space for communities involved in the Global CFaH project to share their progress, reflect on the impact of local food production, and demonstrate how home-grown produce is contributing to healthier households and stronger local food systems.
The event was honoured by the presence of Mrs Ateca Kama, Chief Dietitian at Fiji’s Ministry of Health & Medical Services, who joined as Chief Guest. In her address, Mrs Kama highlighted critical findings from Fiji’s recent STEPS Survey, released by the Ministry of Health in February of this year, and spoke about the growing public health risks linked to changing diets and increased consumption of processed foods. Fiji’s 2025 STEPS Survey provides updated national data on NCD risk factors including hypertension, diabetes, unhealthy diets, tobacco use and physical inactivity.
Mrs Kama noted that ultra-processed canned and packaged foods are often high in salt, sugar and fat, while warning that rising consumption of these processed foods is contributing to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, stroke and high blood pressure. Her message placed The Home-Grown Plate within a much wider national health conversation:
How can Fiji reduce the burden of NCDs while supporting communities to return to fresh, local and nutritious food?
For FRIEND and the Global CFaH Fiji team, the answer begins in the community.
Through Global CFaH interventions such as FRIEND’s 9x9 Garden Model, households are being supported to grow their own nutritious food at home. Mrs Kama thanked FRIEND for carrying out community-based interventions that directly support the Ministry of Health’s efforts to reduce health risks by encouraging a return to fresh, local produce. She also described community-based food production as a “scientifically validated weapon against NCDs,” recognising the role that home gardens, local knowledge and community leadership can play in improving health outcomes.
The Home-Grown Plate brought this message to life. Women and community members from Lokia, Waivou and Vunisei Rewa showcased healthy plates prepared with nutritious, home-grown ingredients. Participants shared recipes, food preparation techniques and growing practices, while also tasting the meals prepared by participating communities. The event however, was more than a food showcase as it demonstrated the power of community knowledge and collective action.
As FRIEND reflected, participating communities are showing that they are the “scientists of their own soil and the doctors of their own kitchens.”
That message sits at the heart of Global CFaH’s work. Across Fiji, Palawan in the Philippines, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Global CFaH partners have worked with communities, researchers, civil society organisations and local stakeholders to understand food systems, co-design interventions and document what supports healthier, more sustainable local food production. In Fiji, The Home-Grown Plate showed what this work looks like in practice. It connected research to everyday life. It placed community members at the centre of the conversation. And it showed how locally led food systems work can respond to the intersecting challenges of nutrition, non-communicable diseases, food security and climate resilience.
As Global CFaH moves through its final phase, events like The Home-Grown Plate point to the project’s wider legacy. The work goes beyond producing research findings and into strengthening practical tools, community confidence, local food knowledge and partnerships that can continue beyond the formal project period. In Lokia Village, that legacy was visible in the food shared, the knowledge exchanged and the communities leading the way. The Home-Grown Plate offered a clear reminder: solutions to food, health and climate challenges are already growing in communities. The task ahead is to continue supporting, learning from and investing in them.
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