MELBOURNE: The Fixim Sola project established an effective training program – and won a VC’s Award for Collaboration.

The Fixim Sola project to teach people with a disability in Vanuatu to repair solar panels has been a productive a collaboration between UNSW, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Vanuatu Department of Energy, and the Vanuatu Disability Promotion Advocacy Association (VDPA), with funding provided by DFAT.

In April, UNSW Disability Innovation Institute (DIIU) Director Professor Jackie Leach Scully travelled to Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, to take part in a workshop marking the completion of the Fixim Sola project. Across the project she collaborated with UNSW colleagues in Engineering and Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA), Scientia Associate Professor Paul Munro (School of Humanities & Languages), Dr Shanil Samarakoon (Engineering) and Dr Joyce Wu (School of Social Sciences).

Professor Leach Scully said DIIU’s role was to support interaction with local disabled people’s organisations and particularly focused on women and people with disability.

“These two groups are marginalised in Vanuatu society and often lack opportunities for education or training in a marketable skill,” she said. “Their involvement in Fixim Sola offers a way to raise their status, and at the same time provide a benefit to the community.”

The project is part of a larger initiative to tackle solar e-waste in off-grid communities and support the creation of local repair and recycling systems. It has set up vocational training to build local expertise in Vanuatu on repairing solar-powered devices. Participants were trained in repair and maintenance skills, establishing community repair hubs, leading local repair days, raising awareness of cyclone preparedness and sharing their new skills with others.

The partnership is hopeful that the success of this first phase on one island of Vanuatu will attract further funding, to extend the work across the Pacific nations.