Volunteer service launching policy on professional volunteerism

THE Papua New Guinea National Volunteer Service (NVS) will launch its national policy on professional volunteerism today, according to a state minister. Defence Minister Solan Mirisim said: “This is the first national policy since its inception in 1990 and as such is indeed a milestone achievement for the NVS.” Mirisim said the policy, known as the “National policy on professional volunteerism 2020-2025”, was strategically aligned to the services sub-sector development plan 2019-2022 which, in turn, was aligned to the medium-term development plan III 2018-2022.”
He said Prime Minister James Marape was expected to officially launch the policy in alignment with reflection to PNG’s overall policy direction, such as Vision 2050, to improve its human development index and contribute towards achieving the medium-term development plan and respective sectorial targets and indicators. “As a responsible government, we are determined to make a difference in people’s livelihood, thus, this new policy direction will help us in this endeavour,” he said. “The policy was formulated to give recognition to strengthen the roles of community-based volunteer programmes and to further encourage the development of professional volunteerism across all sectors of Papua New Guinea society. “It outlines the priorities and strategies that will guide the NVS and its stakeholders in its implementation, complemented with a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure progress and document the lessons learnt. “It supports priority sectors in primary education, adult literacy and basic life skills training, rural health services, roads and infrastructure, rural economy, gender equity and social inclusion and protection, especially at the sub-national levels consistent with the minimum priority areas per service delivery framework under the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments.”