PNG benefits from EU funding

National

By HELEN TARAWA
PNG is among 15 other Pacific countries currently benefiting from the European Union funding of K4,364,910 (1,350,000 Euros) under the Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific (BSRP) project.
The focus for PNG under the BSRP project is on disaster risk reduction and climate change activities.
Department of Community Development and Religion was the latest government agency to benefit from this funding through its persons with disabilities survey data collection training for trainers’ programme.
The training of trainer’s workshop for the collection of data on persons with disabilities currently being held at Babaka village in Central is the first of its kind in the country.
Community Development Secretary Anna Solomon in acknowledging the funding assistance from European Union ACP project said the survey data collection was an important exercise.
“When you look at our people with disabilities, it’s not about feeling sorry for them because the problem is with all these people who are planning the schools, infrastructure and the way they are creating the environment,” Solomon said.
“The PWDs are not the problem, the planners are the problem because they do not understand that these people have equal rights.”
She commended the Disabled Persons Organisations (DPO) saying such groups needed to be empowered.
“When we have vocal DPOs like this who continue to advocate, these are the groups in each of the provinces that must be empowered,” she said.