Governments direct poverty assistances programs have not been as successful as they could have been. For long, a number of government programs have been tarnished as racially biased and ineffective. While in many ways the programs have been generous towards indigenous Fijians, the real help has failed to reach the poorest of the poor Fijians. The family assistance scheme has not been given clear direction on the assessment process for identifying the poor. A lot of resources have been wasted funding projects that did not even start off since the schemes were not traceable. The waste of resources has been significant when aggregated over the years and will continue if drastic steps are not taken now. If poor people are to be assisted in the future, better income generating projects need to be implemented with stringent monitoring and follow-up plans. Past reviews of the programs have not been given serious consideration and there is a need for planners to revisit the recommendation from the past
