Kouaoua: Autonomous Citizen Participation for Ecological and Social Transition (PACTES)

With respect and humility, the PACTES initiative seeks to improve risk management in Kanak tribes of New Caledonia. Following the uprising of part of the Kanak youth on May 13, 2024, in a fractured and exhausted country, the initiative also offers a response to the social and economic marginalization of the Kanak people.

The practice was first developed by the association Nos vies nos avis (NVNA), which specializes in citizen participation in public policy, before being integrated into the Public Risk Management Policy (PPGR) of the Government of New Caledonia. After two years of experimentation in tribes and at the request of the Programme régional océanien de l'environnement (PROE), it was implemented in late 2024 and early 2025 in Kouaoua, in the Northern Province.

Through dedicated cooperative workshops (initiation, information, and management), a facilitation toolkit, and a digital platform, the practice enables:

• The organization of workshops at the scale of tribes or neighborhoods to address residents’ daily realities within their territories.

• The integration of rigorous risk management processes while making them accessible and promoting shared language and concepts among stakeholders.

• The combination of collective intelligence with strict project management rules to move beyond reflection toward concrete action.

• The empowerment of participants by guiding them toward implementing and evaluating their solutions using co-designed indicators.

• The structuring of workshop outputs according to the logical framework of European projects, enabling secure data collection, processing, and targeted sharing.

The practice is now primarily intended for the Kanak community, in order to recognize and value knowledge built over 3,000 years of ecological and social resilience—knowledge that has often been overlooked. Gradually, this inclusive strategy:

• Connects Western models of citizen participation with the Kanak tradition of dialogue and consensus.

• Encourages closer relationships between Kanak and non-Kanak communities.

As a result of the initiative:

• The Méchin tribe in Kouaoua identified culturally grounded solutions to better manage wildfires on its territory.

• The Programme régional océanien de l'environnement (PROE), convinced by the quality of the cooperative work, decided to financially support the implementation of these solutions.

Learn more: https://www.nosviesnosavis.nc/ateliers 

https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1839.pdf 

https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1840.pdf