Building resilience together: the role of the Fijian private sector in the Pacific resilience facility

Despite being a small island nation, Fiji is punching above its weight class when it comes to being proactive about mitigating the effects of climate change and investing in resilience. 

Today, we share an interview with Pricilla Ram from the Fiji Business Resilience Council, a CBI Member Network. She shares her insights about the Pacific Resilience Facility, a game-changing initiative that is the culmination of years of climate diplomacy and innovative financing among others.

“The Pacific Resilience Facility presents an opportunity to institutionalise meaningful private sector participation in resilience-building across Fiji and the Pacific, ensuring that preparedness, response, recovery, and long-term adaptation are shared responsibilities across government, business, and communities.” – Pricilla Ram, Manager Business Development, Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF)  

Can you tell us a bit about the Pacific risk profile, and how the idea for a Pacific Resilience Fund (PRF) came about?

Across the Pacific, climate change and disasters are no longer future risks — they are ongoing realities affecting economies, livelihoods, infrastructure, and communities every year.

Cyclones, flooding, droughts, supply chain disruptions, rising sea levels, and economic shocks continue to place increasing pressure on Pacific Island countries, including Fiji. For many Pacific nations, the challenge is no longer whether disasters will occur, but how countries, businesses, and communities can become more resilient before the next crisis strikes.

It is within this context that the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) has emerged as one of the Pacific’s most significant regional resilience initiatives.

The PRF is designed as a Pacific-owned and Pacific-led financing mechanism focused on improving climate finance accessibility for Pacific Island countries and communities. The facility will support climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, resilience-building, and recovery initiatives through practical and accessible financing mechanisms tailored specifically to Pacific realities.

Importantly, the facility will be headquartered in Tonga under the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) architecture, reflecting a broader regional vision for Pacific-led solutions to Pacific challenges.

But beyond financing, the PRF represents something much larger.

It reflects a growing regional recognition that resilience cannot be built through governments alone.

What is the ideology behind the PRF?

The ideology behind the PRF emerged from years of frustration across the Pacific regarding the accessibility of global climate financing systems.

Pacific leaders consistently raised concerns that existing climate finance mechanisms were too slow, too complex, heavily donor-driven, difficult for small island states to access, and often disconnected from local realities.

Despite being among the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, Pacific countries and communities have often struggled to directly access meaningful resilience financing.  
The PRF was therefore developed around a central idea: Pacific-led solutions for Pacific realities.

The facility aims to:

• simplify access to resilience financing,
• strengthen local implementation,
• support preparedness rather than only post-disaster recovery, and
• ensure resilience investments reach communities, local organisations, and vulnerable sectors directly.

This represents a major shift away from traditional top-down financing models toward a more localized and accessible resilience approach.

Why does the private sector matter?

One of the strongest emerging themes within Pacific resilience discussions is that disasters are not only humanitarian crises — they are economic crises.  
Businesses play a critical role during disasters by:

• maintaining supply chains,
• supporting logistics,
• restoring essential services,
• protecting jobs, and
• helping communities recover economically.

In Pacific economies like Fiji, this is particularly important because micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form the backbone of national economic activity.

According to the Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC), MSMEs account for approximately 80% of registered businesses in Fiji, and MSMEs employ around 60% of the national workforce.

When disasters disrupt MSMEs, the impacts extend beyond individual businesses to household incomes, food security, employment, tourism, and national recovery.  
Fiji has already experienced the scale of these economic impacts.

FBDRC’s submission to Parliament highlighted that:

1. Tropical Cyclone Winston resulted in approximately 14.45 million workdays lost and around FJ$351 million in personal income losses.
2. Combined with major flood events and Tropical Cyclone Sarai, Fiji experienced approximately FJ$6.5 billion in losses over six years — equivalent to roughly 65–70% of GDP.

These figures reinforce why resilience must also be viewed through an economic lens.

What will FBDRC’s role be in the PRF?

Recognizing the significance of the PRF, the Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC), operating under the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF), submitted its written submission to Parliament in support of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.

Through its submission, FBDRC supported Parliament’s consideration and endorsement of the PRF while reinforcing the importance of ensuring that private sector resilience—particularly MSME resilience—is included within regional resilience financing and implementation mechanisms.

FBDRC’s role is expected to be that of a national private sector resilience coordination mechanism that can help bridge regional financing and local implementation.

Importantly, FBDRC is already formally recognized under Fiji’s National Disaster Risk Management Act 2024 as part of Fiji’s disaster risk reduction framework.

This places the Council in a strong position to:

• support MSME preparedness and business continuity planning,
• coordinate private sector resilience initiatives,
• assist with awareness and outreach,
• support resilience project implementation,
• strengthen public-private partnerships, and
• facilitate engagement between government, businesses, development partners, and communities.

FBDRC’s ongoing work with the National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDRMO), Government, and stakeholders already demonstrates its operational role in supporting disaster preparedness and recovery coordination.

Operationally, how will private sector engagement work?

Operationally, private sector engagement under the PRF is expected to work through collaborative partnerships rather than direct private sector control of the facility.  
The PRF is being designed as a regional financing mechanism under the Pacific Islands Forum structure, but implementation will require strong national coordination platforms and delivery partners.

Private sector engagement is therefore likely to include:

• public-private partnerships,
• national resilience coordination platforms,
• technical working groups,
• sector resilience programmes,
• MSME preparedness initiatives,
• and local implementation partnerships.

Private sector organisations like FBDRC can help operationalise resilience initiatives by:

• engaging businesses and MSMEs,
• supporting preparedness planning,
• identifying resilience gaps,
• coordinating awareness and training,
• and helping businesses access resilience support and financing mechanisms.

This reflects a growing regional understanding that governments alone cannot build resilience.

What is Parliament expected to accept?

Parliament’s role is to consider and support Fiji’s ratification and participation in the Pacific Resilience Facility Agreement.

The broader expectation is not only that Fiji endorses the PRF politically, but also that the country actively positions itself within the regional resilience architecture.

Part of the broader pitch is that Fiji should not simply observe the PRF from the outside, but actively participate in shaping and benefiting from the facility.

FBDRC’s submission specifically recommends that Parliament:

1. support ratification of the PRF Agreement,
2. support MSME-friendly financing windows,
3. promote preparedness and risk reduction,
4. and recognise the private sector as a strategic resilience partner.

By supporting the PRF, Fiji strengthens its ability to access resilience financing, support vulnerable sectors, strengthen preparedness systems, and build stronger regional partnerships.

Will there be a disaster private sector engagement component and insurance element?

While the operational mechanisms are still being developed, there is growing indication that the PRF will include strong private sector engagement and disaster risk financing components.

This aligns with broader Pacific resilience discussions around preparedness financing, business continuity, insurance, risk reduction, and financial resilience.  
FBDRC is already supporting this direction through its development of the Private Sector Disaster Resilience Toolkit, which focuses on:

1. Preparedness
2. During a Disaster
3. Recovery
4. Risk Financing

The toolkit includes practical guidance on insurance, disaster finance, financial preparedness, supply chain restoration, and operational continuity. You can access the toolkit here .

The PRF is also expected to encourage discussions around disaster risk financing, MSME financial resilience, climate risk insurance, and parametric insurance mechanisms.

This is particularly important for Pacific MSMEs, which often remain highly vulnerable and underinsured during disasters.

What is the role of governments versus private sector networks and other stakeholders?

Governments will continue to play the primary sovereign and policy role within the PRF framework, including: treaty participation, national coordination, regulation, and alignment with national resilience priorities.

However, resilience implementation will depend heavily on partnerships with private sector networks, development partners, civil society organizations, communities, and regional stakeholders.

Private sector networks like FBDRC provide operational reach, direct engagement with businesses, local coordination mechanisms, and implementation support.

Businesses are often among the first operational responders during disasters through maintaining:

• logistics,
• supply chains,
• telecommunications,
• fuel,
• transport,
• and essential services.

This is why the PRF increasingly recognizes resilience as a shared responsibility across all sectors.

What are the timeline and key milestones for the PRF?

The Pacific Resilience Facility has moved rapidly from concept to establishment over the past few years.

The PRF is currently transitioning from political establishment to operational implementation.

This is a particularly important stage because the region will increasingly require:

• implementation partners,
• coordination structures,
• preparedness mechanisms,
• and MSME engagement systems.

This creates a significant opportunity for Fiji and the FBDRC to position themselves early within the regional resilience ecosystem.

How does this build a more resilient future for the Pacific?

The Pacific Resilience Facility represents more than a financing mechanism.

It reflects a broader Pacific vision centered on:

• resilience accessibility,
• Pacific ownership,
• local implementation,
• and stronger regional partnerships.

For Fiji, the PRF presents an opportunity to strengthen climate finance accessibility while ensuring that businesses, MSMEs, and vulnerable communities are not left behind.

FBDRC’s involvement demonstrates that Fiji is not only supporting the PRF politically, but is also helping build the institutional partnerships needed to operationalize resilience effectively on the ground.

As climate and disaster risks continue to intensify across the Pacific, resilience will increasingly depend on collaboration between governments, businesses, communities, and development partners.

Through its work, FBDRC is helping ensure that the private sector is not viewed simply as a stakeholder in resilience discussions, but as an essential partner in building a safer, stronger, and more resilient Pacific future.