High maternal and infant mortality rates is one of the issues NZAID's support to the health sector in Papua New Guinea seeks to address.

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Papua New Guinea

2007/2008 allocation: $21.5 million

Snapshot

Papua New Guinea (PNG) lies just north of Australia between Indonesia and the Solomon Islands . It has the largest land area and largest population of any Pacific Island nation.

PNG is ranked 145 th out of 177 countries in the United Nation's human development index, and has the poorest social indicators in the Pacific region. An estimated 37.5 percent of the population live below the national poverty line.

The fundamental development challenges facing PNG are improving governance; generating broad-based growth; improving service delivery; and tackling the growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Gender inequality is entrenched in many aspects of PNG society and is a root contributing factor to many development challenges in PNG.

PNG is NZAID's second largest country programme ( Solomon Islands is the largest), and NZ's commitment to PNG is set to reach $30 million per annum by 2010.

NZAID priorities

NZAID's broad priority areas are:

Primary health
Basic education
Rural livelihoods
Governance and law and justice
Civil Society
Gender equality and women's empowerment

NZAID's PNG Country Strategy is being revised for the next 10 year period (2008-18). The programme objectives for the new Strategy will mainly focus on rural livelihoods development and improved social services delivery in health and education. Support for civil society will be critical and particular attention will be paid to the underlying issues of HIV/AIDS and gender . Bougainville will remain a strategic focus due to its special needs in post-conflict reconstruction and as the province becomes autonomous within PNG.

NZAID programme highlights

Health

NZAID supports a number of community-based health care projects across the country – Community-Based Health Care , the East Sepik Women and Children's Health Project , and the Bougainville Healthy Communities Project . These projects all involve the training of villagers to serve as primary health care providers, and over the years a huge number of volunteers, mostly women, have helped their communities to improve their health and general standards of living.

Rural Livelihoods

NZAID has played a key role in the establishment of Bris Kanda , a new and innovative organisation operating in the Huon District. Its goal is to support rural businesses, organisations and business service providers to generate greater income opportunities. " Bris Kanda " is Tok Pisin for "cane bridge" which illustrates the organisation's role in linking people and resources with new opportunities.

Considering that over 80% of PNG's population live in rural areas, Bris Kanda has a crucial function in helping rural people to achieve sustainable economic development.

Governance, Law and Justice

After a long period of civil war, Bougainville is now establishing itself as an autonomous state of PNG. Since 2000, NZ has provided capacity building support to the Bougainville Community Policing Project (BCPP) . The project is fully funded by NZAID and implemented by a team of five NZ Police staff. It provides support and training to strengthen the Community Auxiliary Police (CAP). CAP continue to be widely supported in Bougainville dealing with law and order and social problems through consultation with chiefs and traditional leaders. The Project is expanding to provide some support to the regular Police Service to build on and consolidate the positive developments achieved by the CAP.

For a broader overview of NZAID's PNG programme, please see the Fact Sheet .

Page Last Reviewed: 11 February, 2008