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by Dr MICHAEL
UNAGE
Mobilising people for development
FEW communities in Papua New Guinea have
mobilised and have engaged in activities to help themselves. They have
resolved common problems and planned their own development in the
absence of Government support and services.
One of such group is the Domil community in the Western Highland that
mobilises people to address development issues regarding their
well-being.
The community now has its own community policing, professional health
care, food processing, banking arrangements, housing scheme and
agricultural projects to improve their standard of living.
What the community at Domil is doing is a demonstration of a viable
bottom up planning to achieve quality of life (gutpela sindaun).
The documentary on the activity of the group released on CD needs to be
viewed by policy-makers of the country to see what can be achieved if
our communities are mobilised towards creating a stronger social capital
for development purposes.
As long as PNG communities waits for foreign assistance or Members’ of
Parliament electoral development fund hand-outs and fail to take upon
themselves the responsibility for development, they will become idle and
unproductive, thus breeding a bunch of despondent citizens in the long
run.
The appropriate manner of developing PNG is through mobilising
communities on an extensive scale.
The mobilisation for social capital involves putting in place mechanisms
for effective dialogue and communication as well as promoting and
encouraging people to enter development.
The purpose is to mobilise people’s energy and resources for the
collective good.
Thus, in sharing of experiences and ideals in common, people can become
a real force in influencing public policy.
People should be mobilised around some common values and how to
translate those values into practical actions.
People must be directly involved in the decision-making process and the
implementation of development plans and programmes.
They should be empowered to contribute towards eliminating poverty,
alleviating ignorance and illiteracy, fighting diseases such as
HIV/AIDS, planning for equal opportunity and fair distribution of
resources and in helping to deal more effectively with obstacles
affecting their growth.
It is only in mobilising people that any development becomes
sustainable, because in mobilising our social capital, people own
development processes and programmes.
Thus, people must claim ownership of the affairs of this nation.
People have the land, the culture, the natural resources and an
independent nation.
These are the resources at their disposal in order to determine their
own destiny – one in which citizens must live meaningful lives and find
purposes in life.
Moresby South MP Dame Carol Kidu once said that money was not the answer
to our problems in the future. She said that people were the answers to
our problems.
The wealth of PNG is not in gold or oil but in the people. People own
90% of the land, unlike other countries.
Thus, any political party thinking that they can develop this nation by
foreign aid and investment, concentrating on the financial capital
rather than on the social capital, will not improve anything.
Again, free hand-out and the cargo cult mentality have imbued themselves
in the thinking of our people. As a consequence, people regard
themselves as passive recipients of development.
Policy developers should not treat people as computers in any
development plans. A computer takes in any programs and processes them.
Human beings are different. They are not only recipients of development
processes but are the very agents in any development processes. They
should be involved and be part on the programming and not only asked to
process the programme.
Mobilising our human capital means making people agents of development
and not mere recipients of development.
In many other countries, technology is fast replacing people’s labour
and creativity, thus, leaving behind a mass of idle and despondent
citizens.
If PNG is lured into this economically globalising trend, we will leave
behind a mass of despondent citizens. We cannot be like Europeans or
Chinese overnight. Those countries have a long history of civilisation,
and by simply trying to emulate them will not work for us.
On the other hand, PNG does not have the financial capital to determine
its own destiny, despite the fact that we have resources worth over
hundred of billions of kina. Indeed, a shift of paradigm in policy is
imperative – a move from the interest in financial capital to building a
viable social capital.
PNG is a unique country, rich with varying resources, a land of gold
floating on an ocean of oil. Nonetheless, if we do not mobilise our
human capital to determine our own future, we will become perpetually
slaves to foreign resource developers, who do have an upper hand in
financial capital.
Mobilising social capital in PNG is a very easy task. Ironically, there
seems to be a mass movement of people during election period. Candidates
and political parties mobilise people for support and for the polling.
However, after the elections, nothing much is done by way of involving
people in policy development or of people having a say in the
development of their electorate.
People are pushed to the periphery in regards to Government development
policies. Thus, many MPs have become arrogant thinking that they know
how to develop people.
They do not seem to consult people, or go by the way of consensus and
participation, which is a Melanesian way of doing things.
The other reason may be is that MPs feel that the mobilisation of
financial capital is sufficient for developing the communities.
However, there should be a concrete plan for conscientising and
mobilising people for development, even if they do not have any
financial resources from the Government.
Political parties should come out very clear on the aspect of mobilising
our social capital.
They are political parties that could deal with the idea of mobilising
people, such as the People’s Action Party, People’s Progress Party,
People’s Democratic Movement, People’s Party, Pipol’s First Party and
People’s Labour Party, just to name a few.
These political parties are seen to have people as the fundamental basis
for their policy framework.
These parties should plan to build a viable human capital in order to
enhance a vibrant social capital for development.
However, most political parties in their thinking and acting do
otherwise. For them, the financial capital is their foremost concern
regarding any policy and planning. They think that only money can make
miracles for development and the key to any success.
Finally, in mobilising our communities, leaders need to be involved and
to initiate partnership with the Government, churches, non-governmental
organisations and others in order to build strong alliance to change
attitudes and to effect change.
The Government needs to send its employees back to where they came from
and not sit idly in offices anticipating the next pay day. Technical
officers need to go back into the field and help people in whatever they
lack in skills area.
District managers should sit down with village leaders and community
groups to discuss and initiate development plans. The local level
governments need to plan for the area and to have access to project
funds.
People are never involved in any planning, and there is lack of
transparency in dealing with public money.
MPs never involve people in planning their electorate. Perhaps in this
general election, people would like to see if a political party do have
a constructive plan for mobilising our social capital.
 
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