Posted on June, 16 2025

Reflection By Hanna Helsignen, Pacific Director, WWF-Pacific

It wasn’t your typical workshop. No hotel conference rooms. No PowerPoint slides. No city noise humming in the background. Instead, there were salty breezes, the hum of village life, boat rides along mangroves and reefs, and the sound of waves brushing against the shore.Along Fiji’s Vanua Levua - at the edge of Cakaulevu, the world’s third-longest continuous barrier reef - Pacific Week 2025 immersed us in the very seascape we fight to protect. For thousands of Fijians, the Great Sea Reef is life itself: it feeds, shields and unites communities through stories, songs and stewardship. For one unforgettable week, it united us, too.          
 
Grounded in Place, Purpose and People
Being here — not in a conference hall, but on Vanua Levu, along the reef, with the communities we serve — grounded us in what really matters. Connection to place. Connection to people. Connection to purpose. This was not a meeting. It was a gathering the Pacific way - sitting on woven mats, sharing stories and jokes (talanoa) late into the night, painting murals with community members and drinking kava under the starlit skies.  For some colleagues, it was the first time on a plane; for others, a first ocean crossing to Vanua Levu. We tasted new dishes, enjoyed boat rides at sunset, laughed through boat troubles and trudged back to our villages through mangrove mud - welcomed everywhere by the Fijian hospitality      

And through it all, something profound was happening. We were becoming more than colleagues. We were becoming one WWF-Pacific family.

It’s something you can still feel after we returned to our offices. As one team member put it, “It’s just been a different feel for the Fiji Pandas since we got back — a sense of belonging, a sense of stronger commitment, a sense of more intense care and loloma all around.”

The laughter continues — the inside jokes, the village rivalries, the occasional “Isa” echoing down the hallway. The offices still hum with energy. Something shifted during Pacific Week — and we’re holding onto it.    
 
Our 2030 Strategic Plan
    
But Pacific week wasn’t only about bonding. It was also about vision. We came to unpack our 2030 Strategic Plan — to understand it deeply, challenge it honestly, and commit to it fully. It’s not just a set of goals. It’s a call to action, rooted in who we are and where we’re headed as WWF-Pacific, together with our communities and partners.
 
Together, we explored three key questions during Pacific Week:
●      How do we build true understanding and ownership of our 2030 strategy?
●      How do we move from strategy to action, with and alongside our network partners and communities?
●      And what is the culture and identity we want to grow within WWF-Pacific?
 
The answers weren’t always comfortable, but they were honest     . We want to be a WWF-Pacific that is proudly rooted in the Pacific. That listens deeply. That works hand in hand with communities. That respects tradition and is brave enough to innovate.
 
Shared Stories, Shared Strengths    
Pacific Week was also a chance to share our stories with each other — the solutions that are working, the passion we bring, the partnerships we’ve built, and the challenges we face. From the hours spent in talanoa, to the stories of 35 years of WWF-Pacific’s conservation work — it was a moment of reflection, of sharing, of solesolevaki — working together, as one.
 
We saw that the future of conservation in the Pacific isn’t something that happens to us — it’s something we shape. Through courage. Through collaboration. Through care.
When we left, we didn’t just leave with clearer plans. We left stronger. More united. More ourselves.
 
“This week wasn’t just about strategy,” someone reflected. “It was about who we are becoming as WWF-Pacific — and how we rise to meet the future together.”
 
Way Forward
So now, as we return to our teams, partners, and communities to start delivering on our 2030 Strategic Plan.  The Great Sea Reef reminded us that everything is connected. Every action matters and when we move together, we move with power or mana. There is also hope. Hope is a choice, a seed we plant daily in every partnership, every community and step we take toward a People and Nature Positive Pacific.
 
Vinaka vakalevu, Macuata, for opening your homes and hearts to us.We will carry the spirit of Pacific Week forward — inspired, empowered, challenged and connected.