Education heads learn to write proposals

CATHOLIC education secretaries from the church dioceses in PNG attended a project proposal writing workshop last month in Port Moresby which was seen as a vital skill in the conduct of their duties.

The workshop, conducted by Mapex Training and Consultancy Services, inducted 23 participants to aspects of project planning and proposal writing to source assistance from both within PNG and especially from external sources of donor funding.

It was organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference commission of education and held at the Emaus retreat centre of Don Bosco Technical Institute, Port Moresby. 

The workshop was funded by AusAID and Caritas Australia under the church partnership project.

National Catholic education secretary Joseph Direkoro was one of the participants.  

Among the mostly male participants were Kundiawa’s education secretary Christina Apa and Kimbe’s Christian education coordinator Emma Kulu.

Catholic Bishops Conference project coordinator Robert Losema said over the years, the church had seen the need for competent project documentation among the education secretaries who occupied important positions in their dioceses.

“Many deal with funding like grants in aid and subsidies and they lack capacity to source funding for projects and materials,” Losema said.   

The course was therefore useful for them to source funding for such purposes, he added.

In most of the provinces, the Catholic education agency runs nearly half the education institutions, especially in the elementary, primary and secondary sectors.

While the education managers have had years of experience in managing education services under them, most have had no training in capturing their development needs or aspirations to government or approaching donor agencies for funding.