Funaki Joins SDRC as Its First Remote Visiting Researcher

The Social Development Research Center displays its range of expertise once more as it establishes a groundbreaking new program in response to the “new normal.” This term, it welcomes Dr. Kaitu’u ‘I Pangai Funaki, founder of the Dignified Pacific Initiative (DPI) and director of the Royal Oceania Institute (ROI), as its first ever Remote Visiting Researcher. The new partnership ensures that the Center’s vision of attaining of humane, inclusive, and sustainable communities through the production of knowledge and social policy will be pursued throughout—and beyond—the pandemic. It is SDRC’s wish to serve as a bridge that connects Asia and the Pacific.

Apart from the work he does at DPI and ROI, he is also co-founder of the Emerging & Developing Economies Network (EDEN) Seminars. All three organizations focus on rethinking development paradigms through the application of traditional knowledge and customs from the Asia Pacific and Pacific Island Countries to identify global solutions to the challenges now facing humanity. Dr. Funaki is also managing director of the Social Design Initiative (SDI), an organization that supports start-up businesses in technology, media and entertainment, and conducts research with the Center for Democracy Promotion in Japan.

Dr. Funaki earned his MBA and PhD from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Japan. His doctoral research resulted in the relational theory of Gross National Generosity (GNG), a new approach to development and international relations based on the traditional social framework found in the cultures of the Pacific Islands. GNG immediately attracted attention from entities around the world, and Dr. Funaki has presented at international conferences and symposiums, including ones sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat Headquarter (UK), the Australian Institute of Internal Affairs (Australia), and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (Japan). He was a visiting scholar at the University College London (UK), and continues to guest lecture for globally recognized universities, including Cornell University (USA) and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan). In addition, he has been featured in interviews by global media organizations, such as the BBC, and has also published peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Funaki is originally from the Kingdom of Tonga, but currently lives with his family in Tokyo.

At SDRC, Dr. Funaki will be joined by Center Director Dr. Melvin Jabar in developing a research that aims to determine the level of knowledge of individuals in communities regarding the three select Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) of chikungunya in Dr. Funaki’s native Kingdom of Tonga; schistosomiasis in the Philippines; and filariasis in the Pacific Island nation of Samoa. The three-country consortium will specifically examine the impacts of community engagement in WASH initiatives (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) on the eradication of the above mentioned diseases.

No stranger to SDRC, Dr. Funaki graciously accepted the invitation to speak in the second webinar of its 41^st Anniversary Series on August 7, 2020, with a presentation entitled “Art of Reciprocity (Fefoaki’aki) in Oceania: Gross National Generosity (GNG) as a Sustainable Model for a Post Covid-19 Society.”