Rehabilitative Vocational Program for Young Adults with Developmental Impairment

The Mango Tree Centre delivers daily-living skills training for people living with developmental impairment in Tonga.

Around 15 young adults with developmental impairment come to the centre twice a week and receive training on daily-living skills.

With the support of the Australian Volunteers Program Impact Fund, this project will teach 15 youth and adults with developmental impairment about safe use of kitchen appliances, hygienic food preparation, food waste disposal and how to bake cakes and generate income by selling the cakes in the market

Tackling Gender Equality Through National Rugby League Tonga’s Voice Against Violence Program  

National Rugby League (NRL) Tonga uses rugby league to engage young people in gender equality through the Voice Against Violence (VAV) program.  

Three in four women in Tonga have experienced physical or sexual violence. The VAV program is delivered through secondary schools to empower young men and women to stand up, speak out and take action against domestic violence. The VAV program is regularly delivered to more than 100 students in a session, making facilitation challenging for staff. Program delivery has also been impacted by COVID-19 and a recent volcanic eruption.  

With the support of the Australian Volunteers Program Impact Fund, this project will:

• purchase equipment such as whiteboards, microphones, speakers and cameras to improve VAV program delivery 
• purchase a laptop, iPhone and headphones to transform the VAV radio show into a podcast
• purchase video conferencing equipment to work remotely with VAV program stakeholders and volunteers
• deliver training to NRL Tonga staff in the use of Zoom, camera and podcasting equipment to make sure the new equipment is used appropriately 
• deliver a monitoring and evaluation workshop to improve the VAV program. 

Building the speech therapy capacity for people with disabilities 

The Mango Tree Centre for People with Disabilities provides therapies to around 50 children with disabilities each week. Most of these children have cerebral palsy, complicated speech and eating disorders.  

It is vital to provide caregivers with equipment and training on how to feed their child safely at home, as inadequate feeding methods can cause death for children with disabilities. Engaging a remote speech therapy mentor from Australia can help Mango Tree Centre to improve the quality of life and survival rate of children with disabilities, as there is no avenue for studying speech therapy in Tonga.  

With the support of the Australian Volunteers Program Impact Fund, this project will: 

• engage a speech therapy mentor from Australia to train Mango Tree staff in Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD), which is the most effective alternative communication tool for people with cerebral palsy 
• create PODD books for 25 children to assist with their development 
• supply equipment to children with disabilities or their caregivers, like visual topic boards, yes/no visual boards and feeding aids

Once the Mango Tree Centre has acquired the PODD program and undertaken the training, staff will be able to develop and provide the resources independent of outside support.  

Employment database and analysis

The Tonga Public Service Commission (PSC) implements public sector reform initiatives in areas such as human resources, policy, performance management, training and remuneration.

Data used by PSC is kept in various spreadsheets, with no processes to control versions or usage. PSC will significantly improve its data integrity and analysis through the integration of a new database. The Microsoft software applications SQL Server and Power BI have been selected as they are widely used and supported. There are many resources available for product training and support including online, and the cost is competitive with similar products.
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With the support of the Australian Volunteers Program Impact Fund, this project will:

• design and populate the database
• establish processes for updating the database from data sources
• deliver data analysis and software training

These activities will save staff time in locating data; improve accuracy and consistency in reporting; and enable staff to assess employment, performance, asset trends and areas for improvement. Improved data and analysis will assist the Tongan Government to improve efficiency in organising, managing and monitoring its personnel and finances.

Vava'u communities’ disaster management plan review

The Ministry will consult with the community, and review and update community disaster management plans, to ensure the Vava’u population are able to minimise the risk of disasters, including COVID-19.