Civic education partnerships: Civil society organisations, donors and the state in Fiji

This article reflects on some of the challenges and opportunities presented when working in partnership in the highly politicised and contested Fijian Civil Society environment over the past five years. The authors are practitioners who specialise in working with communities which experience conflict. The paper discusses and analyses the genesis and growth of a series of partnerships between and within civil society organisations in Fiji, a peacebuilding organisation in Australia, and a number of bilateral and multilateral donors. Recognising the importance of building multi stakeholder partnerships in order to advance processes of peacebuilding and development, we investigate how Civil Society Organisations are negotiating the ever-changing political landscape.