Samoan model designer joins Edmund Hillary Fellows

Samoan Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna'i is the first Pacific Island person to become an Edmund Hillary Fellow.

Tafuna’i joins a league of global entrepreneurs, changemakers and investors who have been brought together to build meaningful solutions to global problems.

The prestigious fellowship provides access to a global support network that encourages systemic, integrated solutions.

Described by Edmund Hillary Fellowship as a navigator, Faumuina has taken the principles of wayfinding (star navigation) and ocean voyaging and re-interpreted them into a project design model.

Faumuina says she is focussed on using the model in development projects in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, but also sees how it can be used in small right through to large, international businesses and social projects.

“I could see there was a gap between the design of the project and where the project would take place. The gap was usually cultural understanding. From there I started developing the model.

“I also benefitted from my background as a journalist in being able to take complex information, organise it, simplify it and interpret it for a general audience.

“There are nine questions in the model. The first two questions I ask are: What is my island of success? And, who is on my canoe? The people in your canoe must be considered not just their skills and experience but as whole people – and you need to think are these people I can take on a journey with me, and that the captain must be a person worthy of following.”

Faumuina is from the Samoan villages of Fasito’o-tai, Mulifanua, Salelologa and Asaga.

She says her parents have been a large part of her journey. “On the day of my chief ceremony, my father Mauu Lopeti told me: ‘I do not worry about other people’s efforts, I do what he can with my hands and my time.’ My late mother Nivaga Mau’u told our family: ‘Soften your heart’.”

“They raised me to be hard working, focussed on goals and to think about others from their situation.

“I also spent many years with Women in Business Development in Samoa and learned so much about project design and what actually happens when you deliver the projects.”

Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, Faumuina helps design and deliver projects in the Pacific Islands.

She says she has high hopes that aid agencies and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will use wayfinding as a design tool for development programmes.

“I also hope families in the Pacific Islands will be empowered through using wayfinding to create a vision for a positive future within their communities. For me, this knowledge comes from our Pacific ancestors so it’s only right that Pacific peoples benefit from the model – not just as receivers but as users.

“I am mindful of how I am a guardian of this knowledge and so those who use it should know and acknowledge its roots. I feel as though I am a daughter of the Pacific Ocean and because of that I have a duty to care for environment and people here.”

Mentored by navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, leader of Te Toki Voyaging Trust, Faumuina has been using her model with multi-country programmes focused on organic agriculture and digital platforms; on UN programmes on climate change and economic empowerment; as well as billion-dollar Maori organisations with social and commercial arms; and small family businesses in New Zealand.

Currently one of Faumuina’s roles is as the Communications Director for the Pacific Island, Food Revolution with celebrity chef Robert Oliver at the helm. The project is designed to revolutionise the food choices of Pacific communities through the power of reality TV, media, and social media. It is a jointly funded by the Australian Government and New Zealand Government. She will be using wayfinding as part of her role.

Faumuina says her model has been greeted with enthusiasm within the EHF community.

“I have already been asked by some fellows to take them through the model as well as offers to join different projects.

“The offering I bring to the community is a wayfinding lens on their own projects that will hopefully enhance their results.”

She also thinks the Fellows would benefit by sailing upon a traditional canoe and feel a oneness with the Pacific ancestors and environment.

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