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2023
Review of KYF graduate case
studies from 2018 review of the
Tutu Rural Training Centre Courses

Andrew Boyle
Tutu Rural Training Centre
11/22/2023
Contents
Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2
Limitations .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Methodology........................................................................................................................................... 3
Findings................................................................................................................................................... 4
Definitions explained and findings discussed........................................................................................ 5
Was The Graduate Negatively Impacted by Peer Pressure When He Returned to His Home? Village? 5
Does The Graduate Have Two Plantations for Business and Family? ................................................. 6
Is The Graduate Using Nitrogen Fixing Crops (NFCs)? ....................................................................... 7
Has The Graduate Reported Improved Planning Skills? ..................................................................... 8
Did The Graduate Adopt Their Plan? ................................................................................................ 8
Is the graduate a community leader? ............................................................................................... 9
Has the graduate achieved their goals?.......................................................................................... 10
Does the graduate have improved financial literacy? ..................................................................... 11
Does the graduate have savings at the time of the interview? ........................................................ 12
Has the graduate bought a vehicle? ............................................................................................... 13
Has the graduate built a house?..................................................................................................... 14
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 14
Barriers/Enablers of success .............................................................................................................. 15
Change over time........................................................................................................................... 16
Methods of achieving success ............................................................................................................ 17
Achievements/Outcomes................................................................................................................... 18
Recommendations and next steps ......................................................................................................... 19
Introduction

This study seeks to identify themes and trends contained in the graduate case studies that might be
useful in developing the Tutu Rural Training Centre Strategic Plan for 2024-28. The focus is on
understanding the barriers and opportunities experienced by graduates with the aim of developing
strategies as to how these barriers can be addressed.

Background

In 2018 Fr Isaia Wairogo and Alosio Neori conducted 42 interviews with graduates from Tutu Rural
Training Centre, which were summarized by Livai Tora and Rohit Lal and presented in the 2018 review
document. They are found on pages 102-125. The interviewees offered valuable insights into the
challenges experienced implementing their plans once they returned to their villages. The interviewees
also reflected on the many successes they achieved. It is a rich data set, and the case studies

KYF graduates find themselves in an enviable situation as

compared to their non-Tutu peers.

themselves make for fantastic reading.i

Despite this, drawing conclusions from these case studies required detailed analysis so that the rich data
contained here could be made clear and, as will be seen, some interesting and at times unexpected
findings appeared as a result of this analysis. The analysis and tentative findings form the bulk of this
report

The review serves two purposes, to analyse each case study using a common set of questions, and in so
doing suggest trends that might not be immediately apparent. These trends are in most cases
inconclusive but may point to further enquiry as Tutu continues to refine the training offered and
importantly consider how it can best support the graduates once they return to their communal homes.

Limitations

Unfortunately, the author did not have access to the transcripts of the interviews, nor to the questions
which were asked of graduates, which limits the veracity of what is contained here. Some questions such
as did the graduate use nitrogen fixing plants in their plantations only answered by a few, making it
difficult to determine if that small number is representative of the whole or not, important in knowing if
that part of the training is resulting in changed behaviours of the graduates or not. Nonetheless, the case
studies themselves are a valuable information source and both the diversity of experiences recorded
and the pathway to their present situation at the time of the review, and the graduates’ thoughts on
their current situation, what they have learnt since they graduated and advice for current KYF and MFC
participants make this a valuable resource.

Only one case study was conducted of a graduate from the single women’s course, which is insufficient
for any useful analysis and the author here recommends that this be remedied as soon as practicable.
Most case studies were conducted on KYF graduates and while there were a sufficient number of MFC
graduates for successful analysis it was though that any conclusions that could be found about this
cohort would be more tentative in nature than the KYF graduates and of limited value. Thus, the decision
was taken to focus on the KYF graduates in this report.

The case studies presented here while interesting, form only a small percentage of the graduating cohort
from KYF. We do not know if they are representative of the graduating class as a whole or not. For
example, we only have three out of xx graduates from 2018 who were interviewed for this review and
any conclusions about this group are going to be speculative at best. Nonetheless, the trends that are
discernible are useful, in as much they point to further investigations that might be conducted at a later
date.

Methodology

Content analysis of the case studies was conducted. Content analysis has been defined as “a systematic
technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of
coding”. Each case study was read several times and observations were recorded in an Excel table. Then,
case studies were checked to see if the observations found in other case studies applied to them.
Demographic data was also included but as indicated above this is not as comprehensive as might be
liked and of itself is another limitation of the study.

The next step was to filter the findings according to several domains to see what if any trends appeared.
These then suggested further questions that were themselves addressed by further filtering the data.

Each graduate was assigned a number to deidentify the individual though a close reading of the table
contained at annex a will no doubt makes apparent to staff who the individual is. This is not a weakness
of the study: they are already named in the 2018 report. Instead, it is hoped by looking at the data
without the filter of knowing who said what that a fresh view can be taken of what was reported and
was said by the graduate themselves.
Findings

After an initial reading of the case studies, the following questions emerged:

• Was The Graduate Negatively Impacted by Peer Pressure When He Returned to His Home?
Village?

• Does The Graduate Have Two Plantations for Business and Family?

• Is The Graduate Using Nitrogen Fixing Crops?

• Has The Graduate Reported Improved Planning Skills?

• Did The Graduate Adopt Their Plan?

• Is the graduate a community leader?

• Has the graduate achieved their goals?

• Does the graduate have improved financial literacy?

• Does the graduate have savings at the time of the interview?

• Has the graduate bought a vehicle?

• Has the graduate built a house?

The answers to these have been tabulated and are summarised below:

Yes No Unknown
Partially

Was the graduate negatively impacted by

54% 29% 0% 17%
peer pressure

Has two plantations for business and

79% 8% 0% 13%
family

Using nitrogen fixing crops? 25% 0% 0% 75%

Reported improved planning skills 83% 17% 0% 0%

Is the graduate a community leader? 29% 0% 0% 71%

Has the graduate achieved their goals? 50% 25% 25% 0%

Does the graduate have improved financial

75% 0% 0% 25%
literacy

Does the graduate have savings at the time

71% 0% 0% 25%
of the interview?

Has the graduate bought a vehicle 17% 83% 0% 0%

Has the graduate built a house? 54% 0% 13% 33%

Table 1. key questions and percentages.

Definitions explained and findings discussed.

Was The Graduate Negatively Impacted by Peer Pressure When He Returned to His Home?
Village?

This was determined by if the KYF graduate actually reported peer pressure. If it was not clear, he was
given an unknown category, but enough said they were able to get on with their plans upon returning to
their village that I was able to conclude for them at least they were able to manage peer pressure and
work towards achieving their plan.

While over half reported they had been impacted by peer pressure, there were a surprisingly high
number of graduates who it is presumed managed to overcome this issue and progress with their
plans. This seems to be the case with graduates who completed their course since 2015. Other factors
that at the very least are coincidental to this phenomenon are discussed below.

Does The Graduate Have Two Plantations for Business and Family?

Only a few KYF graduates specified they were using the two-plantation system, but most indicated they
were planting for both profit and for sustainable food and only a small number indicated they were
only planting for consumption. With four out of five indicating or implying they are using this method;
we can assume that this part of the training is being taken up by most KYF graduates.
Is The Graduate Using Nitrogen Fixing Crops (NFCs)?

Only a small number indicated they were using NFCs. As I was unsure if this question had been asked, I
had to presume those who did not mention it may still have been using NFCs, so I put them in the
unknown category. As we had over 50% of respondents in the unknown category, this data is unreliable
and further enquiry should be conducted. That said it appears that most graduates since 2011 reported
they were using NGCs which is an encouraging sign.
Has The Graduate Reported Improved Planning Skills?

For this I decided the KYF graduate had improved planning skills if they mentioned their plan at all. Over
80% indicated they are doing some kind of planning of their day, which alone would place them at a
significant advantage as compared to their non-Tutu counterparts.

Did The Graduate Adopt Their Plan?

I took an inclusive approach to this: any KYF graduate who had adopted, partially adopted, or had a
parent or other family member adopt their plan I concluded that the answer was yes. A pleasing 96%
indicated they were using their five-year plan to some extent to guide their work.
Is the graduate a community leader?
Only 29% of KYF graduates reported they were holding a community leadership role such as Turaga ni
Koro, member of a school committee and the like. Nonetheless, this represents a significantly higher
percentage than would be expected for this cohort, a tribute to the work done at Tutu. As it does not
include those who perform informal leadership tasks (advocating the Tutu method to others, running a
village work scheme, playing a leadership role in the church and so on) it is likely those Tutu graduates
performing leadership tasks is in fact considerably higher than indicated in the table above, suggesting
this question deserves further investigation.

Has the graduate achieved their goals?

Once again, I took an inclusive approach: any KYF graduate who had achieved or partially achieved or
had achieved goals that were not in their original five-year plan, I concluded that the answer was yes.
With 75% of graduates reporting they have achieved or partially achieved their goals this is a significant
finding.
Does the graduate have improved financial literacy?

Any KYF graduate who mentioned saving money for a purpose and/or was clearly using a bank account I
concluded they had improved financial literacy. Of course, this does not imply a high level of financial
literacy, just that they are thinking about money and its use. With this definition of financial literacy, 75%
of graduates are demonstrating some kind of financial literacy.

Does the graduate have savings at the time of the interview?

As with other questions I took a broad interpretation of this question. If the KYF graduate was saving for
a particular purpose, I presumed they had savings. As this was a question that does not seem to have
been specifically asked, it is hard to know the extent of their savings or was it in fact they intended to
start saving. For the purposes of this review a broad interpretation is sufficient. Nearly three quarters of
graduates have some kind of savings which I suggest is far higher than for their non-Tutu peers.
Has the graduate bought a vehicle?
This was a simple question. If there was no mention of a vehicle, there was no reason to assume they
had one, so the answer is no. Only 17% had achieved this significant milestone

Has the graduate built a house?

The case studies were less explicit in this than I expected. There were certainly some KYF graduates who
probably had built a house, but it was neither referred to nor was it implied. Therefore, the number of
participants who recorded an unknown is higher than expected. Nonetheless it is still an impressive
figure for young men of this age cohort. Over two thirds of KYF graduates reported having built or are in
the process of building their own home, a remarkable achievement.

Discussion

The findings section indicates that KYF graduates despite some challenges, find themselves in an
enviable situation as compared to their non-Tutu peers. Despite some slow starts, many if not most
manage to implement their 5-year plans to some extent. Many reported improved planning, financial
management, had savings and a pleasing cohort had built or were building their home

Nonetheless, there does appear to be several different cohorts amongst KYF graduates, each with
different characteristics. While it is well known at Tutu that some take longer to put into practice what
they have learnt than do others, the factors that influence this may not be fully understood. This next
section seeks to uncover what factors might be in play. It must be kept in mind that any findings or
hypotheses suggested here are quite tentative; they imply questions for further systematic enquiry and
in themselves are not reliable conclusions.

To conduct a thematic analysis of the findings, the questions were grouped as follows:

• Barriers/Enablers to success
 • Methods of achieving success

• Achievements/Outcomes

I will address these in turn

Barriers/Enablers of success
Unsurprisingly, the chief barrier to graduates achieving success were the pressures of life in their village.
It is a well-known fact that the Vanua imposes substantial demands on members; furthermore, the
temptation to join in nightly yagona sessions with friends is strong, particularly in light of the pressures
from family members who often are able to impose considerable coercion on young men due to the
nature of the kinship relationship; it takes a great deal of willpower and inner strength to ignore this and
it is unsurprising many struggle with this. The case studies are littered with quotes from KYF graduates
on this. As one graduate expressed succinctly: “sa levu ga na noqu veimurimuri. Kila gal na bula
vakacaravou”.

A PLEASING 96% OF KYF GRADUATES

INDICATED THEY WERE USING THEIR FIVE-YEAR
PLAN TO SOME EXTENT.

13 young farmers, or just over half reported peer pressure played a significant role in them delaying
taking up their five-year plan.1

What was interesting was not all KYF graduates reported peer pressure as being a problem. As can be
seen above, 29% of interviewees said this was not a problem and a further 17% did not mention this at
all. It is possible that nearly half felt they were sufficiently equipped to address this concern.2

This leads to us to consider if any patterns can be seen amongst those who were able to overcome peer
pressure and those who were not3.

The author noted the following cohorts reported success in being able to achieve their goals and
(presumably) mitigate the impacts of peer pressure4:

1. Those who were part of a group of KYF graduates from the one community,

2. Those who had family members who had attended Tutu,

3. Those who reported a high level of family investment in supporting the KYF graduate’s goals,
and
 4. Those who had prior training in agriculture.

One case from Dogatuki District is interesting and provides an example of that even having fellow KYF
graduates in your community may not be a determining factor of success. It was interesting to compare
the group of four from Dogatuki who completed in 2011 who together were able to achieve a great deal,
and the individual from the same village who completed his time at Tutu in the same who had his
yaqona stolen and left for an extended period in Suva, during which time his parents followed through
with his plan. I think several things can be concluded from this. Firstly, the group of four young men who
it would appear worked together upon graduation were far less susceptible to peer pressure; they
themselves influenced others in their community, not the other way around. Secondly even though the
individual left for Suva for six years, what he learnt did not go to waste; his parents took it upon
themselves to follow the plan, treating it like a textbook for life and achieved excellent results. This
suggests that what the young men learn here is not just applicable to them but to others.

Change over time

A further tentative observation is that delays in implementing the five-year plan have decreased over
time. Of the graduates from 2007 5 out of 6 KYF graduates reported the impact of peer pressure, while
in 2018 only 1 out of 3 KYF graduates mentioned this.

While this does look dramatic, it needs to be remembered the numbers are quite small and represent
only a fraction of the total.

Year completed 2007 2009 2011 2015 2018

Did the KYF graduate report being

negatively impacted by peer pressure 5/6 1 4/7 2/4 0/3
when he returned to his home village?
 Percentage 83% 100% 47% 50% 0%

Doesn't have commercial sized plantation. Instead, Copra remains the core cash crop,
has sought paid employment for extra funds, cyclone has impacted his work.
Didn’t graduate but was given an example of a plan prior to departure from Tutu which he then
followed. He now motivates others to follow the tutu approach
Delay in starting plan due to caring for parents. Now has substantial kava plantation, created
nursery. Propagating kava.

one is Turaga ni Kor, introducing tutu concepts to village. sharing tutu knowledge with others,
signifcant family involvement at Tutu. Grandfather, father and brother attended tutu in the
past. Has 6000 kava plants value at $500,000. built road to garden and has several vehicles.
Turaga ni Koro is advocating tutu model to others.
Graduate gave money to create rugby field in village. Use of vehicle means that young men only
need to travel for ten minutes to plantation rather than travel an hour or camp in bush. Spends
a lot of time educating village youth,
Buying kava and planting the kasa.
Uses income to pay for labour and buys farming inputs.
Built house while at tutu. Now planting native trees on his farm.
Is engaging with agriculture department.
Had prior agriculture training which was theoretical.
Tutu helped him develop the practical skills.
Planting Yasi trees as well as yaqona.
Good family support. Purchasing kava from others to sell.,
has planted other crops for improved food security.
Purchased land in Labasa which he is leasing,
Turaga ni Koro is working with group to help adopt the tutu model amongst others. Group say
tutu sets them apart from the average villager

Methods of achieving success

The following enabling factors were identified as being necessary for the KYF graduate to achieve
success in achieving their five-year plan1:

• Does the KYF graduate have two plantations for business and family?
• Has the graduate reported improved planning skills?
• Does the graduate have improved financial literacy
• Did the graduate adopt their plan?

1
An additional factor was the use of nitrogen fixing plants but there was inadequate evidence of this so it wasn’t
considered in the discussion.
 has two plantations
improved Plan improved financial
for business and
planning skills adopted literacy
family

79% 83% 96% 75%

8% 17% 4% 0%
13% 0% 0% 25%
100% 100% 100% 100%

As can be seen, most graduates employed the main enablers of planning, separating business from
family support and had improved financial literacy. While as mentioned the definitions for each were
fairly loose due to the absence of primary data to check, it does indicate most graduates were able to
take on these enabling factors, regardless if the KYF graduate had been impacted by peer pressure or
not.

Achievements/Outcomes
The outcomes or achievements were identified as indicators the KYF graduate has achieved success in
achieving their five-year plan and in terms of their personal growth more broadly:

• Is the graduate a community leader?

• Has the graduate achieved their goals?
• Does the graduate have savings at the time of the interview?
• Has the graduate bought a vehicle?
• Has the graduate built a house?

has the does the

is the has the
graduate graduate have
graduate a graduate has the graduate
achieved savings at the
community bought a built a house
their time of the
leader? vehicle
goals? interview?
YES 29% 50% 71% 17% 54%
NO 0% 25% 0% 83% 0%
Partially 25% 0% 0% 13%
UNKNOWN 71% 0% 29% 0% 33%
TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Again, this is a pleasing result. Each of the measures with the exception of having purchased a vehicle
have been achieved by many graduates. Interestingly there seems to be little correlation between the
time it takes for a KYF graduate to begin their plan and what they end up achieving, insomuch as the
case studies indicate. This implies that even though it may take some time for KYF graduates to begin
implementing their plan (with it has to be said mixed or partial results), they do manage to achieve at
least some of their goals and many manage to build a house or are in the process of doing so.
Recommendations and next steps
Throughout this report, the author has been at pains to emphasise that these findings are tentative.
They are more suggestive of trends worthy of future investigation rather than solid conclusions upon
which major changes should be made to the training done at Tutu. In fact, the data presented here
suggested that a substantial number of KYF graduates are enjoying a fulfilling life full of opportunity and
potential and while there is no direct evidence here, anecdotally we know that KYF graduates contribute
substantially to their communities and are often high achievers. Tutu is doing great work in supporting
young farmers to become autonomous members of their community.

The author makes the following recommendations:

1. In accordance with the opinions of staff and graduates as expressed in the review, greater
support be given to KYF graduates once they leave Tutu and return for good to their
communities. The evidence presented here suggests that the level of support needed by a KYF
graduate will depend on a number of known factors and just as KYF participants are supported
on the basis of their own need whilst at Tutu, a similar approach could be taken once they leave.
2. As a fundamental part of the work is to enable participants to go from vulnerability to
empowerment, thought should be given to identifying strong graduates to act as mentors to
other graduates at the village or Tikina level. The evidence here suggests that those who
struggle most tend to be those with the least amount of support within the home, from their
community or from other KYF graduates who live nearby and that vulnerability could be
mitigated by support from their peers who have been identified as being at less risk achieving
their plans. Indeed, a general approach of alumni support could be very successful in assisting
KYF graduates ‘keep on track’. From what current KYF participants have indicated, they are proud
to be here and that sense of being part of a special cohort could well be harnessed to keep them
all focused on being the best version of themselves now and into the future.
3. This report has made no mention of the formation work which is fundamental to the success of
KYF. Of itself it is innovative and ground breaking. Lived experience is only now been seen as an
important part of community development in the global north yet it is something which has
been fundamental to the way Tutu supports and develops its participants from the courses’
inception over 50 years ago. Tutu is truly revolutionary and this should be acknowledged.

That said, the causal link between that work and the subsequent outcomes achieved by
participants in terms of increased reflexivity, emotional maturity leading to better lives remains
hidden and any subsequent work to track the performance of graduates in the future must
include this as a significant factor. Anecdotally the staff at Tutu know this to be the case; it
would be a fine achievement to include this in follow up work with the participants.

4. The tentative findings about barriers/enablers of success, methods of achieving success, and
achievements/outcomes as indicators of success has proved to be a useful way of analysing the
performance of KYF graduates after they leave Tutu. The data was extrapolated from case
studies in a fairly haphazard manner and as such are not very reliable. That said important
findings have emerged, pointing to the importance of this approach and what it can tell us about
the experiences of KYF graduates. It is a good baseline from which comparisons can be made.
The author recommends that subsequent visitations to the current KYF graduates be done in a
more systematic manner with both the factors indicated here and the personal growth
mentioned above be included. This sort of data will help Tutu staff better communicate
outcomes to funders, to the wider community and for staff to understand the impacts of their
work so as to continue to improve upon the excellence achieved over the last 50 years.