Pacific Rugby Opportunities Project
The Pacific Rugby Opportunities Project is a 3-year, pilot project that aims to enhance economic development outcomes in Fiji from rugby-generated remittances. The project is designed to provide professional and semi-professional Fijian rugby union players and their families with access to contracting advice, financial literacy training, personal planning and business development support. The project provides professional and semi-professional Fijian rugby union players and their families with access to contracting advice, financial literacy training, personal planning and business development support.
What we did
The evaluation was undertaken according to Pacific Research Principles. The process was developed in partnership with key stakeholders ensuring that strong, positive relationships underpinned all interactions with participants. It was important for us, as researchers, to build connections with those who have contributed to PROP. Prioritising relationships ensured that we captured, created, nurtured, grew and protected the knowledge shared with us during this evaluation; not for our own benefit or gain, but for the benefit of Fiji Rugby, Pacific Rugby Players’, the players themselves and their families. It was important that we engaged with participants in ways that were respectful individually and collectively. A total of thirteen participants took part in one on one and focus group interviews. In addition the evaluation included a review of documentation and reporting information.
Outcome
The evidence indicates that the programme has met the short term outcomes. The financial literacy programme has made a positive difference to the financial capability and planning of the players who have participated. The players indicated that they had moved from ‘pre-contemplation’ to either ‘preparation’ or ‘action’ according to Trans-theoretical Motivation stages (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). It is evident the players who contributed to this evaluation have modified their financial behaviours because of what they have learnt.
"John, Catherine and the team were the perfect fit for our research needs. The experience and proven record of Ihi meant we were very confident engaging with them in our industry, the professional approach and methodology used throughout the evaluation proved our confidence to be right. When speaking with all of our stakeholders who were involved in the evaluation, they gave very positive feedback about their experience with the Ihi team. The final result was great. The comprehensive report on our projects performance to date has provided us with a good understanding of what’s working well and the areas we will be able to focus on improving."
-CEO, Pacific Rugby Players Association
Find out how we can help you
We’ll work with you to find out what’s working, where investment could be put to best use or how to improve anything not going to plan. We can help you define success and set tangible, measurable goals. And we talk in real language so you can understand and engage with the findings. We engage with the community to conduct community research and consultations for private companies, trusts, government agencies, NGOs and more. But we have a special interest in research that has a purpose - to better society and teach lessons. We aim to help those we work with build capacity to enact positive change.
