Women business interest catered for under ORD

WOMEN at the exposition for business in Lae were told that they could have access to government grants to assist them in business.
Programme manager for Highlands in the Office of Rural Development, Anna Bae, said on Saturday that there was money that women could access to carry out business projects.
Mrs Bae was one of the guest speakers at the exposition.
She said the ORD was working in line with the government’s vision to improve the livelihood of everyone for a better tomorrow.
Mrs Bae said the purpose of ORD was to manage and facilitate the government’s rural intervention programmes to effectively deliver services to rural areas.
She said under the district services improvement programme (DSIP), K14 million was allocated to each district and from that, K1 million was allocated to improving the economy of rural dwellers.
Mrs Bae said women could have access to the funds if they followed correct procedures and communication through the right channels.
Most importantly, she urged the women to form a group when seeking financial assistance and identify problems or opportunities in their areas that could bring about better service delivery and livelihood.
She said ORD was keen to assist the women with their projects and she encouraged them to go home and seek further information from their district offices.
“It was heart-breaking to see that women in rural areas were struggling to do business when there was funding available for them,” she said.