The Melanie Jewson Foundation is dedicated to advancing health and education in Vanuatu.

The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu is under-resourced and faces severe structural impediments to sustainable development. Its health and education systems are in great need. One in two Ni-Vanuatu children will not attend high school and the country’s health expenditure per capita is less than 2% of Australia’s.

The MJF responds to this need by working with the people of Vanuatu to foster opportunities for improved health and education.

Established in 2012 eight years after Melanie’s tragic passing, the MJF continues the work she began as a passionate teenager with a needs-driven, partnership-based approach that is both respectful and ethical. This means that every project funded is driven by the self-identified needs of the staff of the school or hospital in question, as well as the Vanuatuan Government.

The MJF is guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Vanuatu’s National Sustainable Development Plan, and works through Memorandums of Understanding with Vanuatu’s Ministry of Education & Training and Ministry of Health. We currently partner with the Vila Central Hospital and selected schools to provide equipment, resources, education and training supporting Vanuatu’s under-resourced health and education systems.

The Melanie Jewson Foundation strives for a stable, sustainable and prosperous Vanuatu.

We can always do more.