Assessing village food needs following a natural disaster in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is vulnerable to natural disasters, including drought and frost associated with El Niño weather events and excessive rainfall associated with La Niña events. Drought, frost and excessive rainfall can cause major disruptions to village food supplies. Drought also reduces villagers’ access to clean drinking water, which in turn has a negative impact on peoples’ health and the capacity of schools and hospitals to operate. There are often other impacts — damage to crops and property by wildfires, out-migration and an increased death rate. In 1997–98, and again in 2015–16, a major El Niño event caused significant disruption to drinking water and food supply for many Papua New Guinean villagers. Staff of many agencies, including those working through the Church Partnership Program El Niño Drought Response Program, were involved in assessing the impact and providing relief in 2015–16. This publication brings together the experiences of those working on the Church Partnership Program response to the 2015–16 El Niño event and serves as a guide for assessing future food shortages and to help those in need.Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT

Civil society, social capital and the churches: HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea

The churches are crucial actors in the response to Papua New Guineas growing problem with HIV/AIDS, but often they excite ambivalence. While several have led the way in supporting people affected by HIV, Christianity tends to be identified with teachings about sexuality and an opposition to condoms that many people involved with prevention deplore. In this paper I try to move beyond the glib assessment that the churches are bad at prevention, good at care. I frame HIV/AIDS in terms of development, and broadly conceptualise the activities that can affect the course and impacts of the epidemic. Without venturing far into theoretical debates surrounding civil society and social capital, I use these concepts or ideas associated with them - to think about the churches. Although they are major institutions in PNG and other Pacific Island countries, very little secular analysis of their contemporary social capacities and roles is available. Finally, I reflect upon the future roles of the churches in response to HIV/AIDS. These parting thoughts have some bearing on general issues concerning the role of churches in development.AusAID(Paper presented at the Governance and Civil Society Seminar, in Symposium Governance in Pacific States: reassessing roles and remedies, University of the South Pacific, 30 September - 2 October 2003

Civic Insecurity: Law, Order and HIV in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea has a complex ‘law and order’ problem and an entrenched epidemic of HIV. This book explores their interaction. It also probes their joint challenges and opportunities—most fundamentally for civic security, a condition that could offersome immunity to both. This book is a valuable and timely contribution to a limited but growing body of scholarship in the social and structural contexts of HIV epidemiology in Papua New Guinea. The volume offers a unique collection of interdisciplinary insights on the connections between law and order and the HIV epidemic and is presented in a manner accessible to a wide audience, scholars and lay people alike… Significantly, this is the first volume to critically examine the complex and inexorable links between HIV, gender, violence, and security within a theoretical framework thv at illuminates the challenges of the epidemic for PNG’s future cohesion and stability as a young nation…The importance of this courageous book cannot be overstated. While it communicates an urgent and potent message about the need for immediate action … it offers insightful reflections on the processes and possibilities of social transformation that undoubtedly will have enduring scholarly and practical value. Dr Katherine Lepani, Social Foundations of Medicine, The Australian National University

Assessment of agricultural information needs in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States for CTA’s Products & Services: Phase 1: Pacific: Country study: Papua New Guinea

The current study was initiated and funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). In the “Evaluation of the Implementation of the Mid-Term Plan (1997 – 2000)” there were various issues raised as to the fact that CTA needed to develop a more pro-active approach in regard to its choice of partner organizations and beneficiaries. Also highlighted were the issues that traditionally, the Pacific and Caribbean regions have not received sufficient attention in CTA’s programmes and activities. Consequently CTA has commissioned this study selecting eight Pacific Island Countries to undertake an information needs assessment study. In this respect, the study was undertaken to assess the agricultural information needs of Papua New Guinea. After presenting a country profile, the study goes on to cover information and capacity building needs, and identifying specific areas for possible collaboration with CTA.This study was undertaken to assess the agricultural information needs of Papua New Guinea. After presenting a country profile, the study goes on to cover information and capacity building needs, and identifying specific areas of collaboration..

The Moral Economy of Mobile Phones

The moral economy of mobile phones implies a field of shifting relations among consumers, companies and state actors, all of whom have their own ideas about what is good, fair and just. These ideas inform the ways in which, for example, consumers acquire and use mobile phones; companies promote and sell voice, SMS and data subscriptions; and state actors regulate both everyday use of mobile phones and market activity around mobile phones. Ambivalence and disagreement about who owes what to whom is thus an integral feature of the moral economy of mobile phones. This volume identifies and evaluates the stakes at play in the moral economy of mobile phones. The six main chapters consider ethnographic cases from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu. The volume also includes a brief introduction with background information on the recent ‘digital revolution’ in these countries and two closing commentaries that reflect on the significance of the chapters for our understanding of global capitalism and the contemporary Pacific

Media And Government Relations In Papua New Guinea

All is not well with news media in Papua New Guinea. Media and government relations are stressed, a situation adverse to the country's development. Media organisations have to deal with operational difficulties, threats against editorial freedom, and harassment or physical danger experienced by journalists. Yet there are positive factors providing hope for the future, especially that key element, freedom to publish, which goes together with a habit of openess in public life as part of the national culture. That is the main finding of a study made during a working visit to Papua New Guinea

Preparing Melanesians for Missions

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruitspapers/1030/thumbnail.jp

The Emergent Middle Classes in Timor-Leste and Melanesia: Conceptual Issues and Developmental Significance

The emergence of a middle class has been identified as an important factor driving economic and political transitions in Asia and Africa. Class has been 'happening' in the broader Pacific region1 for some time, as Gewertz and Errington (1999:2) observed of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Nevertheless, to date, little systematic policy attention has been given to questions of class. We believe that the concept of an emerging middle class provides a useful entry point for understanding significant developmental and political transformations in Timor-Leste and Melanesia and is important for informing development policies. However, in order to explore the potential consequences that an emergent middle class may have, it is necessary to first consider how such a class can be identified in the region. We have chosen to focus on Timor-Leste, PNG and Solomon Islands because these countries are undergoing comparable social and economic transitions, many of which correlate strongly with the emergence of a middle class. Such changes include rapid economic growth driven by resource booms in Timor-Leste and PNG, associated formalisation of regional economies, deepening urbanisation, increasing social integration with metropolitan powers through growing diaspora communities, changing consumption patterns, and the transformative impacts of social media following recent internet and mobile telephone penetration. This paper has three substantive sections. First, it considers contemporary discussions of class and development in Asia and other developing regions. Second, the paper develops a multidimensional framework for identifying an emergent middle class, drawing on a range of economic, political and social criteria. Finally, the paper uses these criteria to examine recent developments in each of three case study countries and then draws some conclusions on the developmental and political significance of an emergent middle class in the broader Pacific region with a view to establishing a longer term research agenda.AusAI

Rausim! Digital politics in Papua New Guinea

"This paper has sketched the potential impact of ICT on the practice of politics in Papua New Guinea. Categorising changes in ICT access as changes in information flows, it proposes that key effects arise in transparency, collective identity and action, and the participation of new political actors. However, outlining these potential effects serves largely to emphasise the dearth of research on ICT in Papua New Guinea. Examples from elsewhere are useful, but unlikely to be conclusive in as diverse a country as Papua New Guinea ..."- page 8AusAI

Developing an Indigenous research tool to explore the effectiveness of community-based tourism in rural Papua New Guinea

Fiona N'Drower developed an Indigenous research methodology for Papua New Guinea (PNG) and used it to analyse community based tourism developments in rural PNG. Fiona found that village communities are capable of developing their own successful tourism initiatives. The results will be used to support sustainable community based tourism development