NAC boss achieved a lot, says Tapo

THE National AIDS Council Secretariat has changed tremendously over the past three years into a well-structured government organisation, an official says.
Secretariat acting director Philip Tapo made the comment at a thank you dinner for retiring director Wep Kanawi in Port Moresby last Friday.
Tapo said under Kanawi’s leadership, there had been great achievements in coordinating ideas to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Papua New Guinea.
Tapo said Kanawi had taken the secretariat to where it was today, with the key achievements being:
Development of the new national HIV stra­tegy  2011-15;
Restructuring the secretariat;
Development of a corporate plan;
Rejuvenating and strengthening its financial management;
 increased budgetary allocation;
Linking the secretariat to the overall planning  and budgeting system;
  Linking it to provincial administrations through the provincial engagement framework;
 Diversifying and strengthening partnerships with donor and development partners;
 Reclassification of stakeholders into five umbrella coordinating mechanisms;
 Overhaul of the grant system;
 mproving human rights and the law for people with HIV/AIDS; and
 Being the nation’s representation at the HIV global conference.
Thanking Kanawi on behalf of the staff, Tapo said he had changed the organisation “within the space of three years”.
He said the secretariat now was a vibrant organisation, with fresh directions from the national health strategy and corporate plan that had been set up.
“Staff are now learning-oriented, performance-based, productive and equipped to fulfil their role as mandated,” he said.
Guests at the dinner included National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop, United Nations resident coordinator David McLachlan-Karr, PNG-Australia HIV/AIDS programme director Geoff Clark, Persons Living with HIV/AIDS representative Helen Samilo, Rev Ezekiel Brown and others.