Community programme renews K159,000 deal

By ERIC PIET
MONTHLY coverage of the Komuniti Toksave programme for Department of Youth Religion and Community Development provided by Digicel PNG’s TV Wan will continue this year following renewal of the contract.
Department Secretary Anna Solomon and Digicel PNG Ltd’s chief operating officer Colin Stone inked the season three five-month contract at a total cost of K159,378 on Monday in Port Moresby.
This will see TV Wan doing footage from March to July of documentaries shot by Trend Media Pacific on programmes of gender-based violence (GBV), sorcery-related violence, illiteracy, drugs and alcohol abuse and other social issues.
“Komuniti Toksave is an important programme for us,” Solomon said.
“We will use this to reach many families out there by advocating on family and other social issues through our documentaries.
“All the social ills are created by people in the family unit, hence, we must address them there.
“If we don’t reach them, then we cannot change a community.
“We have many problems in the communities, which increase every year.
“It is now time to plan and create solutions for them.
“As such, one effective way to get information out to the people is through showing out our documentaries to them.
“After viewing them, they can begin to embrace change in their lives and convert for the better.”
The Komuniti Toksave programme will also feature the department’s hallmark strategy of going rural with district community development centres (DCDC), which will operate all its programmes at the district level.
The DCDC, according to Solomon, comes in three parts: infrastructure building, capacity building (training for staff and frontline managers), and integrated information management system.
Stone acknowledged the department for renewal of contract for the programme with his company, saying it reached over 1.2 million viewers around PNG.
He was hopeful of the partnership continuing after July so that more people could be reached in the country.