Where we do it > Papua New Guinea

Country background

A key development challenge in Papua New Guinea, a country where over 800 languages are spoken, is the isolation of poor rural communities. For this reason much of VSO’s work in education, disability, participation and governance, and HIV & AIDS is focused on reaching rural communities.

Education

The education curriculum in Papua New Guinea is failing to equip many young people with the knowledge and skills they need for life after school. There are three reasons for this: many children do not have access to education because of where they live or because they need to work; the curriculum is irrelevant and does not teach skills that will be useful to adults; and there are problems around education management and the quality of training teachers receive. Teacher trainers and education managers are working within primary and secondary schools and vocational training centres and government institutions developing the quality and relevance of education through improvements in teacher training and education management.

Disability

Disability activity is working to encourage independence for people with disabilities and wider social acceptance of the needs of people with disabilities. Some volunteers are working to provide increased access to physiotherapy and community based rehabilitation services. Others are working to raise awareness of the rights issues of disabled people and increase the impact of the disability sector by strengthening the coordination between the government, non-governmental organisations, disabled persons organisations, parent associations and other bodies and organisations.

Participation and Governance

Papua New Guinea’s political system suffers from a lack of good management and planning and poor human resource skills resulting in demotivated individuals. Within the community people do not understand their rights, how to challenge government or how to participate in the political process. The poorest and most isolated groups are often excluded from society altogether. By working with community organisations and provincial government, participation and governance volunteers are helping to create links between communities, non-governmental organisations and the government and improving the participation of marginalized groups such as rural communities, women and disabled people.

HIV and AIDS

HIV and AIDS infection rates are estimated as growing at 25% per year and, according to AusAID estimates, within 20 years up to 40% of adults could be living with HIV and AIDS. Geographical barriers and high levels of illiteracy make awareness raising, condom distribution, counselling, testing and the provision of care for people living with HIV and AIDS very difficult. Sex is considered too sensitive an issue to be openly discussed and often parents do not inform their children about sexual issues.

Volunteers are training peer educators and counsellors who will work with in rural communities to encourage young people to change their behaviour changes to reduce their risk of infection and to enable people living with HIV and AIDS to have a better quality of life through access to appropriate care and treatment. A major tool in this is the use of community theatre, which is highly effective for communicating, as there is a strong culture of story telling tradition in Papua New Guinea so audiences are responsive to live theatre.