PNG student wins Aussie award

A talented PNG student, Benson Hahambu, has won an Australian award for his part in planning a development project he created while studying under an Australia awards scholarship.
Hahambu and his Australian study partner, Stephanie Matulin, teamed up to develop the project called Papua New Guinea Education Network for Disaster Risk Reduction. The pair then submitted their work for entry in the 2017 Research for Development Impact Network Conference.
When Hahambu and Matulin became one of five pairs from across Australia short-listed for consideration at the national conference, Australia Awards funded his travel and accommodation so the Murdoch University student could accompany Matulin, a self-funded Australian student, to present the project together in front of the conference delegates.
Travelling from Perth to Sydney for the event proved well worth it for Hahambu when he and Matulin were judged joint winners of the Student Partnership for Impact Award, taking home a  A$10,000 (K25, 300) grant to help implement their idea in rural regions of Papua New Guinea.
The pair impressed the judging panel with their plan that seeks to address poor knowledge levels of disaster risk reduction strategies and systems in rural PNG, by targeting teaching networks for specialised training.
Hahambu, who was excited about the opportunity to see the idea through to implementation said: “We would like to thank Murdoch University and the Australian Government for financing my trip through the Australian Awards Scholarship programme so I could present the plan.”
Hahambu is studying for a Masters of Development Studies at Murdoch University under the Australia Awards programme.