The Pacific Innovation Forum for Climate and Environment (PIFCE) 1st - 3rd July, 2026

Save the Children SI office

Brief overview

The SOLKAS Project (Solomon Islands Knowledge–Action–Sustainability for Resilient Villages) is a nationally led climate adaptation initiative supporting rural communities, especially children and youth, to better withstand climate change impacts. Funded largely by the Green Climate Fund, SOLKAS strengthens community governance, climate‑resilient infrastructure, livelihoods, and school systems across six provinces, promoting gender equality and youth leadership. Save the Children, a global child‑focused organisation, implements SOLKAS in partnership with the Solomon Islands Government. Save the Children works to protect children’s rights and improve education, protection, and resilience, ensuring climate action delivers lasting benefits for children, families, and communities.

Your organisation’s goals

Save the Children delivers child‑centred climate change and environmental services that strengthen community resilience and safeguard children’s rights in climate‑vulnerable contexts. Our core services include community‑based climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience programming that integrates climate considerations into education, child protection, health, and livelihoods. We work with governments, communities, and local institutions to support climate‑resilient planning, nature‑based solutions, and climate‑smart livelihoods, particularly in rural and coastal areas.

Through large‑scale initiatives such as the SOLKAS Project, we strengthen local governance systems, improve climate‑resilient school and community infrastructure, and support youth, women, and marginalised groups to lead locally driven adaptation actions. We also invest in climate knowledge, risk assessment, and early action approaches to reduce disaster impacts on children and families.

Across all climate and environmental work, Save the Children prioritises gender equality, social inclusion, and child participation, ensuring climate responses are sustainable, locally owned, and deliver long‑term benefits for children, communities, and future generations.

Describe your innovation

Save the Children has implemented an innovative digital, locally led climate risk and adaptation planning approach through the SOLKAS Project to help rural communities respond effectively to climate change. This innovation combines participatory community planning with simple digital tools that support climate risk assessments, prioritisation of adaptation actions, and alignment with ward, provincial, and national systems.

Communities are supported to analyse local climate hazards such as sea‑level rise, flooding, drought, and extreme weather and their impacts on livelihoods, water, food security, schools, and children’s wellbeing. Using facilitated, user‑friendly digital toolsets, communities translate this knowledge into practical adaptation plans that inform investments in climate‑resilient infrastructure, nature‑based solutions, and climate‑smart livelihoods.

Importantly, these tools strengthen links between villages, wards, provinces, and national institutions, helping ensure local priorities are recognised and sustainably financed.

This innovation directly addresses climate change by improving early, informed, and coordinated adaptation decision‑making in highly climate‑exposed contexts. It reduces reliance on external expertise alone and builds lasting local capacity to assess changing climate risks over time.

The approach is particularly relevant for Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), where populations are dispersed across remote islands, governance capacity is stretched, and communities face acute climate threats despite contributing least to global emissions. By combining local knowledge, inclusive participation (especially of women and youth), and low‑cost digital systems suitable for low‑connectivity environments, this innovation supports equitable, scalable, and sustainable adaptation. It empowers Pacific communities to lead their own climate responses while strengthening national resilience systems for the future.

How is this solution is innovative?

Our solution is innovative because it combines locally led decision‑making, child‑centred design, and simple digital tools to strengthen climate adaptation in remote, low‑resource settings. Rather than relying on externally driven climate assessments, communities themselves lead climate risk analysis and adaptation planning using facilitated, user‑friendly digital toolsets that work in low‑connectivity environments. This shifts power to local actors while improving the quality, consistency, and usability of climate data. The approach is integrated across sectors linking climate risks to schools, livelihoods, water systems, and child wellbeing so adaptation actions address real, everyday priorities rather than standalone environmental projects. It also strengthens vertical connections between villages, wards, provinces, and national systems, enabling local priorities to inform large‑scale planning and investment. Innovation also lies in its inclusivity: women, youth, and marginalised groups are actively supported to participate and lead, ensuring adaptation solutions are equitable and sustainable. By blending traditional knowledge with digital planning and governance alignment, the solution delivers scalable, cost‑effective climate resilience uniquely suited to Pacific Island Countries and Territories facing acute climate threats and dispersed geographies.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs?

The innovation can be replicated and scaled across other Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) through a combination of strong institutional partnerships, flexible financing, and targeted capacity building.

Institutional partnerships are central. Replication works best when the innovation is embedded within existing government systems particularly ministries responsible for environment, climate change, planning, education, and disaster management while being delivered in partnership with civil society and community organisations. Regionais bodies and accredited entities can support coordination and knowledge sharing across countries.

Financing models should blend international climate finance (such as Green Climate Fund resources), bilateral donor support, and in‑kind government contributions. The innovation’s modular, low‑cost digital tools and community‑led approach make it well suited for phased scale‑up, allowing countries to start small and expand as capacity and funding grow.

Capacity requirements focus on strengthening local facilitation, governance, and data use rather than advanced technical expertise. Training community facilitators, local government officers, and youth leaders ensures sustainability and reduces dependence on external consultants. Digital tools are designed for low‑connectivity environments common in PICTs, making adaptation feasible even in remote islands.

By combining local leadership, regional learning, and scalable financing, the innovation can support equitable, sustainable climate adaptation across diverse Pacific contexts.

How is the solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

Yes. The solution is cost‑effective and affordable for end users in Pacific Island Countries and Territories because it is designed to minimise financial, technical, and administrative burdens on communities and local institutions.

From the community perspective, the approach relies on facilitated planning, local knowledge, and low‑cost digital tools rather than expensive infrastructure or specialist equipment.

Communities do not need to purchase software, hardware, or connectivity beyond what already exists; instead, they access shared tools through trained facilitators. This keeps direct costs to communities very low while delivering practical benefits such as improved climate‑resilient infrastructure, livelihoods, and services.

For local governments, affordability comes from integration into existing planning and governance processes. The solution strengthens ward and provincial planning using standardised tools, reducing duplication, consultant costs, and ad‑hoc assessments. Over time, this lowers the cost of responding to climate impacts by prioritising preventive, risk‑informed investments rather than repeated disaster response.

For MSMEs and youth groups, the solution supports climate‑smart livelihoods and small‑scale adaptation activities that require modest start‑up inputs and build on existing skills and resources.

Overall, the solution’s emphasis on local facilitation, shared tools, and alignment with existing systems makes it financially accessible, scalable, and sustainable across PICTs.

Locations (country, island, or community) where this solution has been piloted and/or implemented

The solution has been implemented and piloted in the Solomon Islands through the SOLKAS (Solomon Islands Knowledge–Action–Sustainability for Resilient Villages) Project. Implementation spans six provinces: Central Islands, Guadalcanal, Isabel, Makira-Ulawa, Malaita, and Temotu. Within these provinces, the approach is being applied in approximately 170 rural communities and 100 schools, covering both coastal and inland contexts. Communities include low‑lying atolls, small outer islands, and remote mainland villages that are highly exposed to sea‑level rise, flooding, drought, coastal erosion, and extreme weather events. At the community level, the solution supports village and ward structures to undertake participatory climate risk assessments and develop locally led adaptation plans. These plans inform climate‑resilient investments such as water security measures, safer school infrastructure, nature‑based solutions, and climate‑smart livelihoods. Implementation is closely linked to ward, provincial, and national planning systems, ensuring local priorities are recognised and sustained beyond individual communities. The Solomon Islands setting provides a strong pilot context due to its geographic dispersion, high climate vulnerability, limited connectivity, and reliance on natural resources—conditions common across many Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Lessons from these diverse islands and rural communities are informing how the solution can be adapted and scaled to other PICTs facing similar environmental and governance challenges.

Learn more:

https://www.savethechildren.net/country/solomon-islands

https://www.sibconline.com.sb/solkas-project-launched-in-solomon-islands

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute

About

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) is a science-led, community-driven initiative advancing marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable blue economy development in Vanuatu. Through its Havannah Harbour pilot, AVOI integrates Reef Ball deployment, artificial reef design, drone-enabled monitoring and workforce training via the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers. The model combines innovation and local stewardship to restore ecosystems, strengthen biodiversity and support climate adaptation. By linking technology, community engagement and practical delivery, AVOI is developing a scalable national framework that helps translate ocean policy into measurable outcomes, creating jobs, building local capability and supporting long-term environmental resilience across island communities.

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) delivers integrated, science-led services focused on marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable environmental management. Its core services include the design and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems and managed vessel reefs to restore degraded marine habitats, enhance biodiversity and support fisheries recovery. AVOI also provides drone-enabled monitoring and survey services, using autonomous and manned systems to track climate impacts, support conservation planning and improve data-driven decision-making across marine and coastal environments.

A central component is the development of the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers program, which builds local workforce capability in restoration, monitoring, conservation and environmental stewardship. AVOI also supports Marine Protected Area (MPA) design, ecological baseline assessments and long-term monitoring frameworks aligned with national ocean policy objectives.

Through community engagement, eco-tourism integration and applied innovation, AVOI connects environmental protection with economic opportunity. Its Havannah Harbour pilot serves as a scalable model to deliver practical climate adaptation, strengthen ecosystem resilience and enable coordinated, whole-of-government environmental outcomes across Vanuatu.

The Innovation

One of AVOI’s key innovations is the integration of the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program with locally delivered marine restoration systems, including Reef Ball fabrication and deployment. This model combines workforce development, community engagement and practical restoration into a single, scalable framework designed for island environments.

Through structured Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camps, over a 3 day period AVOI identifies and trains local Ni-Vanuatu participants in marine conservation, Scientific diving, restoration techniques, monitoring and stewardship. One aspect of the Rangers responsibilities is to support the fabrication and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems using locally sourced materials and regional supply chains, significantly reducing costs and increasing local ownership. The approach enables degraded reef systems to be restored while simultaneously building in-country capability and employment pathways, guided by our National AVOI Play Book at its core.

This innovation directly addresses climate change by strengthening reef resilience, supporting fisheries recovery and enhancing coastal protection against storm surge and extreme weather events. It also improves ecosystem health, which is critical for food security and long-term adaptation in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

What makes this model particularly relevant for PICTs is its practicality and scalability. It does not rely on high-cost external inputs but instead builds local capacity, integrates customary stewardship and aligns with government policy frameworks. The system can be replicated across islands using a consistent training, deployment and governance approach.

Supported by drone-enabled monitoring and AI self learning data collection, AVOI’s model provides a cost-effective, community-led solution that connects restoration, climate resilience and sustainable economic opportunity in a way that is both locally grounded and nationally scalable.

How is this solution innovative?

AVOI’s solution is innovative because it integrates community workforce development, marine restoration and applied technology into a single, scalable delivery model tailored for island environments. Rather than treating conservation, employment and climate adaptation as separate challenges, AVOI combines them through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program and locally delivered Reef Ball restoration systems. This creates a practical pathway where communities are directly trained and employed to restore and monitor their own marine ecosystems. The model also incorporates drone-enabled monitoring and emerging AI-supported survey systems to improve data collection, ecological tracking and rapid response capability, including in remote and disaster-affected areas. This blend of low-cost, locally sourced restoration methods with advanced monitoring technology allows for both accessibility and scientific rigour. What makes the approach particularly innovative is its focus on scalability and replication. By developing a standardised training, deployment and governance framework, AVOI provides a repeatable model based on a National AVOI Play book that can be adapted across Pacific Island Countries, helping translate policy into measurable, community-led climate and environmental outcomes.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs

AVOI’s model is designed for replication across Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) through a structured, partnership-driven and capacity-focused approach. Following an initial two-year proof-of-concept in Vanuatu, AVOI will develop a refined National PICT Playbook outlining standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safe work method statements (SWMS), delivered in both English and Bislama, with visual and pictorial elements to ensure accessibility across diverse communities.

Scaling will be enabled through institutional partnerships with government agencies, regional bodies, scientific partners such as UTS, and local stakeholders, supported by blended financing models including public-private partnerships, eco-tourism revenue streams and conservation funding.

A key component is the development of a simplified, citizen science-based survey framework focused on key indicator species. This approach lowers technical barriers, enabling participation from communities with varying levels of formal education while strengthening data collection and stewardship.

By combining local workforce training, accessible science, and standardised systems, AVOI creates a practical, low-cost model that can be adapted regionally, empowering communities while supporting climate resilience, biodiversity restoration and sustainable economic development across PICTs.

Is your solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

AVOI’s solution is designed to be highly cost-effective and affordable for communities, local governments and small operators across PICTs. A core principle of the model is the use of locally available materials, including aggregates from regional quarries and, where appropriate, surplus or repurposed government materials. This significantly reduces construction and deployment costs for Reef Ball systems and associated infrastructure.

From an end-user perspective, the model lowers financial barriers by building local capability through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camp Initiative and subsequent program, reducing reliance on external expertise and enabling communities to deliver and maintain restoration activities themselves. The integration of eco-tourism also creates revenue-generating opportunities that can help offset ongoing costs.

Affordability is further strengthened through the development of a streamlined cross-departmental approval pathway within the AVOI Playbook. By providing clear guidance on site selection, environmental considerations and standardised processes, local governments can reduce delays, duplication and administrative costs, enabling more efficient project delivery at scale.

Together, these elements create a low-cost, accessible and sustainable model that is practical for widespread adoption across PICTs.

Where is this being piloted?

AVOI’s solution is being piloted in Vanuatu, with Havannah Harbour (North-West Efate) identified as the primary proof-of-concept site, supported by a permanent operational and training hub at Lot 149, Lapita Estate. While over 1,000,000 Reef Balls have been deployed globally across more than 80 countries, this will be the first integrated deployment of this system in Vanuatu. The pilot combines initial baseline surveys across 12 regions using Reef Life Survey (RLS Methodology) prior to any deployments. Once 6 of the sites are selected for deployment we will deploy 50m x 10m of Reef Ball habitat restoration—designed as a 500+ year solution—, allowing us to. Continue to conduct 6 monthly replicated surveys in exactly the same 50m transects to demonstrate recruitment changes providing proof of concept. Together with the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program, which trains and employs local Ni-Vanuatu to deliver restoration, monitoring and stewardship, supported by drone-enabled surveying, community engagement and eco-tourism integration. The approach is intentionally holistic, linking marine restoration, climate resilience, workforce development, local supply chains and government coordination into a single, place-based model. The Havannah Harbour pilot will be used to refine systems, demonstrate measurable outcomes and establish a scalable framework for national and regional replication across PICTs, through the development of our AVOI National Playbook, helping guide replication across all our satellite sites. Initial training will be conducted through AVOI Headquarters in Havannah Harbour, with Ranger selection conducted through a multi-day conservation camp where participant will all leave with new knowledge and appreciation for the terrestrial and marine environment, and Ocean Rangers selected for employment within the AVOI team at the conclusion of the camps.