ABSTRACT: This article discusses how dependency's antonym, ‘self‐reliance’ expresses and shapes aspirations for development, and ideas about citizenship in Vanuatu. This ‘keyword’ was popularized in the process of decolonization and nation‐building in Vanuatu, and influenced by Dependency Theory, Pan‐Africanism, Black Internationalism, and trans‐Pacific visions of decolonization and development. But vernacular ideas of ‘self‐reliance’ also articulate different aspirations for development at ‘grassroots’ community level, as will be shown in two case studies. The first is a community with a high degree of engagement in New Zealand's seasonal worker programme. The second is around the cultivation of kava — a plant with relaxant and soporific properties — for burgeoning domestic and export markets.