Locals get financial training under partnership

LOCALS living in areas along the New Britain Highway, who are benefitting from 12 new bridges funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the West New Britain government, are also receiving business skills training.
The Peoples’ Unite to Serve Humanity (Push Inc)/ADB Livelihood project director Nos Werao said the training would enable locals to start thinking of the bridges as an asset when it came to starting a business.
Push Inc is an NGO which was partnering with departments Works, Agriculture, Commerce, Trade and Industry, through SMEC (Small and Medium Enterprises Corporation), to encourage people to sustain a living by going into agrobusiness through SMEs (small to medium enterprises) .
Push was engaged by the ADB, in liaison with the Department of Works, to provide training on food crops and livestock farming to affected communities of the bridge sites along the highway.
The trainings started last year, covering all the affected communities.
“While conducting these trainings and practical projects, we have discovered that the peoples’ interest to go into organic farming and livestock raising was far greater than we anticipated,” Werao said.
He said Push has also conducted two livelihood trainings and financial literacy training, especially the micro enterprise.
“We started from Korori Bridge in Lavege village, Ubai Bridge in Ubain village, Sale and Sege villages at Obutabu bridge, people from Kerosene/Clean Water for Aleeu Bridge including the Ivule Bridge.”