Support to remote and disadvantaged communities in Papua New Guinea

CARE staff unloading emergency non food items (NFIs) at Marawaka during the dysentery epidemic in Wonenara sub-district in October 2009
Grade 3 students from Kahule Village, ARB, with their own messages for World AIDS Day December 2009
Field officer, Joycelyn Sapura, conducts a household survey in Simogu, EHP, March 2010

CARE has worked in Papua New Guinea since 1989, in response to emergencies including the El Nino drought and frost in 1997, the Aitape tsunami in 1998, the Manam Island volcanic eruption in 2004 and floods in Oro Province in 2007.

Most recently CARE, in partnership with the Eastern Highlands provincial division of health, supported the people of Wonenara when the dysentery epidemic crossed from Menyamya, Morobe, into the Eastern Highlands.

Since the establishment of CARE’s Headquarters in Goroka in 2006, CARE has worked to support remote and disadvantaged areas with improved agricultural practices, water supply, education, HIV prevention and care, disaster risk management, capacity building and working to address gender based violence and providing women with increased opportunities to generate income.

CARE’s work focuses on some of the remotest communities in parts of the Obura-Wonenara district of Eastern Highlands province.

CARE also has a programme office in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB).

The Komuniti Tingim AIDS programme has been operating on Buka Island since August 2008.

In 2010 the programmes focus shifted to young people, in particular young women, in acknowledgement of the challenges faced by youth in a post-conflict environment.

The programme will also expand to Tinputz with a possible further expansion to Central and Southern Bougainville in future years.

A knowledge attitude and practice (KAP) study is almost complete.

This is the first study of its kind in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, gathering information specifically about young people.

The results will inform CARE’s programme over the next three years and will be shared with government and other partners.

In the Eastern Highlands, CARE is embarking on a new programme known as the integrated community development programme (ICDP) which focuses on governance.

A baseline study was conducted earlier this year in Marawaka, Andakombe, Simogu and Wonenara.

Secondary information has been gathering since the second half of 2009.

The first phase of the field component of the baseline pilot took place in February 2010 and focused on Aiyura and Bioka areas of Obura Wonenara District.

Methodology and outcomes of the pilot fed into the second phase, the field study in target communities.

During field work the ICDP team conducted household surveys, focus groups and government services surveys.

The household survey has collected information around themes such as: household assets, health, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, and livelihoods.

In addition focus group discussions were held covering areas such as services, experience with and response to disasters, gender, disability, law and order, leadership, and challenges communities are facing.

Of particular value will be information that identifies the situation of women and girls. The debrief of field staff indicates that maternal and infant mortality are likely to be higher than the provincial average, women’s literacy is likely to be lower, the age that girls are taken out of school is likely to be very low and women’s role in decision making is severely compromised as a result.

In terms of CARE’s central focus on women’s empowerment this evidence will be extremely useful for CARE’s advocacy work.

The results are now being analysed and a final report is due by the end of June.

The report will be shared with the communities, government and a full range of partners.

Many of these communities are keen to establish small coffee-growing businesses to increase household income, assist with school fees and medical expenses and other social benefits for families and communities.

CARE will work in partnership with government, National Agriculture Research Institute, Coffee Industry Corporation and other partners to assist these remote communities to improve their livelihoods.