Working with What We've Got: The Asset-Based Approach

This In Brief discusses problems with encouraging entrepreneurialism as a way to solve poverty and reports on what rural women believe will improve their livelihood — specifically co-operatives, asset-based approaches and sustainable partnerships. It is based on interviews conducted with women from Menyamya District in Morobe Province, October 2015.AusAI

An Overview of Women Candidate Performance in Papua New Guinea Elections

Despite the increasing number of women contesting in national elections in Papua New Guinea, and the excitement of having three women elected in the 2012 elections, women’s overall performance in proportion to their male counterparts remains somewhat stagnant. In this In Brief, I examine election data in reference to how Papua New Guinean women candidates fare at the polls and highlight some challenges for women contesting in the coming 2017 elections.AusAI

Reaching into the Bilum: Motherhood as a Source of Women's Power in Papua New Guinea

In this paper we focus on an important aspect of preliminary findings from two research projects conducted in Papua New Guinea. The preliminary findings note the significance of women's status as mothers and the ways in which women draw on this role to construct new paths for themselves in the political and economic spheres.AusAI

'Givim lo Aza' (Give it to the mother): Oro women in the 2017 Papua New Guinea National Elections

This thesis is a political ethnography examining how women candidates campaigned in the 2017 national elections in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). While the number of women candidates in PNG elections has increased significantly in the last 20 years, the political culture and electoral environment is progressively more inhospitable space for women to contest and participate in politics effectively. With no legislated temporary special measure implemented in PNG to date, women vying for national representation are encouraged simply to keep contesting until they get elected. This research illustrates that campaigning today is fundamentally about establishing leadership credibility, a process that is both expansive and expensive. Definitions of leadership credibility vary, but ultimately, to have credibility is to demonstrate and provide evidence to voters that one can deliver or provide services if elected. Organic demonstrations of credibility are achieved over a significant length of time by meeting sociocultural obligations through acknowledgement (luksave) and subsequent appropriate action (hanmak). Luksave and hanmak are derivatives and extensions of reciprocal relations that engender debt creation, a concept intrinsic to Papua New Guinean and, more broadly, Melanesian relations. While the concept of debt creation has sustained money politics, the proliferation and normalisation of money politics has also redefined the relational aspect of building credibility, even reducing it to a mere transaction and destabilising previous voting patterns. Moreover, this underlying structure presents a significant barrier for women candidates. In examining campaign procedures from the perspective of female candidates, the gendered nuances and gender bias of PNG politics become apparent. In building credibility, in recruiting komiti, (campaign committee) in organising travel logistics, and even in campaign rhetoric, gender-specific accommodations must be made. In evaluating candidates, voters use implicitly or explicitly gendered measures. This thesis provides further contextual evidence and empirical analysis of the claims that the PNG electoral space is not a level playing field, women candidates are not equal participants and 'campaigning like a man' will not necessarily benefit women competing in a hostile political environment

Papua New Guinea’s 2022 General Elections during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The upcoming Papua New Guinea (PNG) national general elections, scheduled to run from April through July 2022, are worrying, due to concerns not only about the health of Papua New Guineans but also the health of PNG’s democracy. In PNG, elections — held every five years — are one of the only occasions when citizens actively engage with the state on a nationwide scale. It is a period of high activity and mobility. In the midst of the pandemic, there are certain electiontime behaviours that make them likely superspreader events. Drawing from the experiences of two recent byelections in Goroka and Port Moresby North West, this In Brief examines some of the risks and implications associated with conducting elections during the time of COVID-19 as well as some of the negative aspects of PNG elections that might reoccur in 2022.Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad

Lusim Hanmak: Why Women Candidates in Papua New Guinea Need to Start Early

As of October 2020, the next national elections in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are due in less than two years. Among Papua New Guineans, it is common practice for intending candidates to do their groundwork, known locally as ‘doing awareness’ or lusim hanmak, months before the official election period. Hanmak, in the context of electoral campaigning, refers to community development projects or meeting traditional obligations in one’s society. Voters use it as part of their process of determining if a candidate is serious or has credibility.AusAI

How can aid be decolonized and localized in the Pacific? Yielding and wielding power

Motivation The colonial legacies of aid and development in the Pacific continue to be at the centre of policy debate. The ideal is to decolonize and localize the practice of aid and development. However, decolonization and localization have become highly contested in their definition and proposed practical approaches. We call decolonization and localization “decolocalization.” Purpose This article aims to explore perspectives and proposals for decolocalization in the Pacific Islands. Methods and approach We talked to five key informants, all local to their islands, all with considerable development experience; we held a focus group; and we combined these insights and learnings with our own experience as Pacific Islanders engaged with development. Our analysis is reflexive. Findings Development practice in the Pacific Islands typically overvalues external Euro-centric knowledge and undervalues local knowledge. Most aid and development discourse has stressed financial figures, charts, and statistical assertions overwhelmingly from a donor perspective; Pacific non-statistical, human, and embodied contextual realities are overlooked or discounted. Hierarchies are created that privilege outsiders and discriminate against islanders. A practical operationalization of decolocalization can begin with the recognition and practice of outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power. Policy implications We recommend decolocalization as a framework for studying and analysing colonial vestiges in Pacific aid and development. Decolocalization can be practised by outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power in aid and development. Decolocalization is not an ultimate solution to a highly complex issue, but it offers a conceptual position; one that allows Pacific Islander scholars, thought leaders, and aid and development practitioners to further unpack the nuances and issues around aid and development from a Pacific Islander perspective