Women drive community development

PAPUA New Guinean women are increasingly pushing for community development initiatives in PNG LNG project sites as the project continues its commitment to empower women.
The project’s third quarter report for this year on environmental and social issues featured many examples of women helping to drive the PNG economy with support from the LNG project.
The gas project had recognised that women were important to the workforce, communities and the nation.
“In addition to the 900 Papua New Guinean women who are part of the PNG LNG project workforce, they are engaged in establishing a broad range of community development initiatives in areas such as education, health and safety, and community infrastructure,” PNG LNG project executive Decie Autin said.
“The project also continued to support many initiatives to help empower Papua New Guinean women and support women’s groups this quarter.
 “For example, the PNG LNG project was involved in the creation of a women’s forum, as well as a series of training sessions for women’s groups to help them identify projects that would serve a need in their communities, including health and education.”
“The Lea Lea fish market, launched by the women of Lea Lea recently, was one project identified in the women’s forum,” Autin said.
The project also continued its participation in the PNG government-led country gender assessment workshop.
“Meaningful and inclusive public policy is an important part of ensuring that women reach their full potential,” Autin said.
“PNG LNG project has been proud to participate in the country gender assessment workshop with other key stakeholders.”
 including the World Bank, the United Nations, the National Council of Women, AusAID and Oxfam.
“The assessment will ultimately support policy development by the PNG government to ensure inclusive economic development.”