Think Pacific is a volunteer enterprise that caters to university students and young adults in the U.K., encouraging them to participate in educational and community outreach projects in the Fijian Isles. It intends to expand its reach by launching similar programs in Bali, Indonesia. This expansion aims to further the opportunities for Balinese youth through funding and resource creation to be redistributed to increase opportunities locally. Such opportunities will aim to reduce poverty across developing communities in the Bali province and the wider nation in the long term.

History of Think Pacific

Headquartered in Leeds, U.K., Think Pacific can trace its origins to the experiences of its co-founders Harry Hunter and Simon Darker. Following their respective tenures as volunteers in the Fiji Isles and integrating with the local culture, they established Think Pacific in 2009 to provide young adults from the U.K. the chance to engage in cultural exchanges in Fiji. The purpose of this project is to enhance the futures of Fijian youths and villagers with limited opportunities by implementing the core values of Think Pacific. These values include partnerships, learning and local design. Such values translate into volunteer projects encompassing community building, youth empowerment/education, mental health awareness and sports development.

Think Pacific maintains a partnership with several U.K.-based universities, including Cardiff, Glasgow, Nottingham and others, offering incentives to students through each institution’s respective careers center. These include scholarships and bursaries to make such a mission a reality. 

Over the 15 years since its establishment, the charity’s progress has included providing more than 500 community projects for rural communities, investing more than $15 million into the Fijian economy and utilizing $8.2 million to facilitate the training skills and development of Fijian youths. Think Pacific has recently received an award for best study abroad and global exchange program by professionals in international education at the 2023 PIEoneer Awards. Such progress extends towards pupil engagement in class, where 98% of Fijian teachers agree that Think Pacific’s programs have led to increased pupil engagement within classes and improved literacy rates among children (through testing pupils pre and post-project). These education programs have also led to the development of 83+ work-based training placements organized for unemployed Fijian youths. 

Think Bali

In October 2023, Think Pacific confirmed its plans to extend its values and core beliefs to Indonesia, engaging in outreach projects beginning with Bali in 2024.

Like its operations in Fiji, Think Pacific intends to assist the development of Bali’s youth and wider community through the efforts of volunteers from the U.K. and through funding and resource generation to redistribute to the local populace who possess limited financial resources. 

Furthermore, Think Pacific’s outreach scheme in Bali will prioritize promoting ‘‘positive mental health’’ for communities lacking the same avenues of support available within the Western world. Such activities will consist of sessions focusing on therapeutic exercises and community ventures for school children and elderly residents, respectively. 

Through enabling cultural immersion by housing volunteers within Balinese villages like volunteers participating in the Fijian programs, Think Pacific intends for this program to impart knowledge of local customs to volunteers while simultaneously encouraging the growth of developing communities within Bali. 

Bali Overview

Statistics reveal that the poverty rate within Indonesia overall stands at 9.7% as of September 2021, with the country’s GDP revealing a growth of 5.1% in 2022. One can attribute an increase in community exports and an accommodative fiscal policy to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to this level of growth.

The most recent study from the World Bank reveals that Indonesia’s literacy rate is 96%. Think Pacific is now looking to expand upon this progress in the Bali province by addressing literacy and poverty. Through this outreach scheme, Think Pacific seeks to develop personal transferable skills for volunteers to showcase to employers and expand the opportunities accessible to Balinese youth from developing communities.

Think Global

Think Pacific and Think Asia will become part of a more prominent family of locally registered organizations, Think Global, according to a spokesperson from Think Pacific.

The organization’s expansion into Indonesia reflects its intention to establish a global exchange between volunteers and developing communities within regions across the globe. As with Fiji and Indonesia, the goal will remain to achieve student engagement and educational support and maintain support for communities from humble origins with fewer avenues of support available to them.

– Thomas Perry
Photo: Flickr