Marou Village, Fiji

Marou Village is an iTaukei community on the southeast coast of Naviti Island in the Yasawa Group archipelago in the Western Ba Region of Fiji.

Two of the village’s greatest pressing needs are reliable electricity and year-round access to freshwater.

Better access to electricity in Marou will help run water pumps, provide better lighting, refrigeration, energy storage, digital banking, telecommunications, device charging, and power the tools and equipment that will allow small local businesses to thrive.

Marou regularly floods during the multi-day rain events that are common during the rainy season. Water channels have been eroding the land in and around homes. And yet for half of the year during the dry season, freshwater can become dangerously scarce. Meanwhile, rising seas threaten to contaminate underground wells with saltwater. For these reasons, innovations for rainwater harvesting, filtration, and storage were a central component of the LAGI 2025 Fiji Design Guidelines.

Other community needs include spaces for shade, agriculture/aquaculture, recreation, education, and shelter from severe storm events. The competition offered an opportunity to explore how energy and water infrastructures can be designed in such a way as to share precious land with these social and economic community spaces while adding to the natural beauty of the landscape.

The residents of Marou are looking forward to being included as much as possible in the implementation process, from detailed design through installation and operations.