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From Strategy to Action: Fiji Advances Inclusive Digital Transformation with UNESCO Support
Hon. Manoa Seru Kamikamica, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises, delivered opening remarks and stressed the value of collaborative planning and local ownership. He welcomed the IUI assessment as a valuable tool for advancing digital transformation in Fiji and supporting the implementation of the NDS.
Organized by UNESCO in partnership with the Pacific Digital Economy Programme and the Fiji National Commission for UNESCO, the three-day event brought together more than 30 stakeholders from government and the private sector. The workshop aimed to strengthen implementation planning around shared digital development priorities identified through both the NDS and the ROAM-X assessment.
Participants co-developed four concrete strategic projects that directly respond to shared recommendations. These projects emerged through interactive group planning sessions and reflect national goals as well as global Internet governance standards.
From Vision to Action: Four Strategic Projects
Throughout the workshop, participants engaged in hands-on planning supported by expert-led sessions on digital policy cycles, implementation methodologies, and data governance. Each group produced:
- A theory of change grounded in Fiji’s context
- Clear roles, responsibilities and coordination structures
- Defined strategies, milestones and activities
- Draft frameworks for monitoring, evaluation and stakeholder engagement
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Tawfik Jelassi’ in his address underscored the importance of moving from the ROAM-X assessment to policy and practice:
Our task now is to translate insights into action. Strategies and assessments must evolve into living action plans: prioritizing recommendations, empowering stakeholders, and embedding mechanisms for accountability and progress tracking.
A Regional Model for Inclusive Digital Policy
Fiji’s experience is part of a broader regional effort supported by UNESCO, which has facilitated ROAM-X-based assessments in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu as well. These assessments are carried out under the Joint UN SDG Fund project “Advancing the SDGs by improving livelihoods, social protection, human rights, and resilience of vulnerable communities via economic diversification and digital transformation.”
Each country’s process is tailored to national needs while fostering regional knowledge-sharing and coordination. Together, these initiatives contribute to building human-rights-based, inclusive, and future-ready digital ecosystems across the Pacific.
