PNGOC holds gender equity workshop to raise awareness

THE Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) held its first gender equity and inclusivity workshop for the year in Port Moresby over the weekend.
The gender equity and inclusivity programme was part of the organisation’s social and corporate obligation to raise awareness and dialogue on current cross-cutting socio-economic issues, affecting our communities.
PNGOC board member and gender equity committee chairman Iammo Launa emphasized the timely need for such workshops which discussed the tough issues that needed to be talked about.
Launa said there was a need to openly discuss such issues, particularly violence against women and girls.
“Not a week goes by without the media writing about it which needs to be addressed at all levels of the community,” she said.
“PNGOC, through the various levels of engagements in sports and sporting organisations, addresses this as a critical and crucial matter.
“This workshop is our effort to bring this out into the open where each participant will be responsible for creating an action plan they will take back to their organisation to share and implement.
“It is a collaborative effort. Gender-based violence is evil and must be everyone’s responsibility.”
A total of 44 participants from the 40 national federations and partner stakeholders from the Government and development sector attended the workshop.