Tonga community partnership wins global environmental award

A funding group helping Tongan communities respond to climate threats and basic needs has won global recognition after supporting projects ranging from emergency food relief to safer classrooms and better access to water.

Friends of Tonga, a United States-based nonprofit, won the Environmental Stewardship Award at the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards in Washington, D.C.. It was selected from more than 4200 applicants across 145 countries.

The group, founded by former US Peace Corps volunteers, works with Tongan organisations to fund projects chosen by local communities, rather than deciding from overseas what support is needed.

Drew Havea, chairman of the Civil Society Forum of Tonga (CSFT), says that trust helped communities act quickly after the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption and tsunami, when seawater threatened crops and food supplies.

“Farmers were coming and saying, ‘within a month, all our food will not be consumable because the seawater has started to inundate the soil’,” he told PMN News.

“So we made contact with Friends of Tonga, we hired the young people of the same village to go and harvest the food. We bought the food from the farmers in those communities and distributed it to other families who needed food.

Water tank installation completed in Vava'u. Photo/Emosi Cagi

“To try and get the proposal somewhere, it would take three months, six months, but with the Friends of Tonga's ability to trust us, we moved so quickly within two weeks.”

Havea says the same approach has helped communities improve water access, with residents identifying households most in need of rainwater tanks, including older people and people with disabilities.

“One family, they have to take a taxi to one of their relatives' water tank and fetch water,” he said. “There's elderly people who have to walk two blocks to get their water.”

The Tu'anuku Kindergarten, with students learning at their new desks. Photo/Maya Manaster

Friends of Tonga has supported 77 rainwater cisterns, providing about 770,000 litres of storage. Its water, sanitation and hygiene projects have reached more than 37,000 people.

Residents helped decide who would receive the tanks and took part in preparing foundations and installing guttering.

The partnership has also supported two kindergartens designed to withstand cyclones and earthquakes, including a new facility in Tu'anuku, Vava'u, which opened earlier this year.

Havea says 18 preschool children at one school had previously shared a classroom with older students. They now have their own fully equipped building.

“The kids were so excited about getting their own desk and chair,” he said.

Michael Hassett, Friends of Tonga co-founder and co-president, says the projects demonstrate the value of letting communities lead their own development.

“We believe that the people closest to the challenges are also closest to the solutions,” he tells PMN News.

Hassett served as an American Peace Corps volunteer in Fāhefa from 2012 to 2014 where he met his now-wife.

Following Cyclone Gita in 2018, he joined former volunteers to establish Friends of Tonga and connect communities with funding.

The network has since grown to include international supporters and the Tongan diaspora, providing more than US$750,000 (NZ$1.3million) for projects.

“We are able to use the spotlight really to shine the light on our communities and on our partners in Tonga. We view ourselves as a bridge.”

The award includes US$10,000 (NZ$17,800), which Hassett hopes could help fund more water infrastructure or another climate-resilient kindergarten. The final decision rests with the organisation’s board.

Friends of Tonga receives a global environmental award for their work in Tonga. Photo/Supplied

Havea says the partnership also points to a need for international donors to change how they work with Pacific communities.

“We need to not only shift our resources, but shift our respect that when we do a project with communities, we base it on their dignity.”

From emergency food relief to safer classrooms and reliable water supplies, the partnership shows what can happen when Pacific communities lead the decisions and have the funding and trust to turn their priorities into action.