Women’s leader receives award for her work

Middle Fly River Women’s Association president Charlotte Mathews has been presented with the inaugural PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum award for outstanding women’s contribution in the resources industry this year.
Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) said in a statement the award was the first in the country.
The award recognises her leadership in development programmes for women and children in the Middle Fly region in Western.
The award was previously announced at the Mining and Petroleum Conference in Sydney. Unfortunately, Matthews was unable to attend and it was accepted on her behalf by OTML’s managing director and chief executive Peter Graham.
In presenting the award last Thursday in Tabubil to Matthews, Graham praised her work in leading the association and beneficially applying the 10 per cent of community mine continuation agreement (CMCA) funds reserved for advancing opportunities for women and children.
“It is remarkable that with a little help from OTML and Ok Tedi Development Foundation (OTDF), Matthews as leader of the Middle Fly Association, has achieved so much in areas such as medical referrals through a Middle Fly Trust, sponsorship of children’s education, launching a credit scheme, promoting small business development, and arranging training in adult and financial literacy,” Graham said.
Matthews said they were working in partnership with OTML and OTDF and would continue to look for new ways to improve the livelihood of their people and communities of the mine impacted areas, especially women and children.
In August this year, Mathews gave a presentation on the work of the association at the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum community affairs and business development workshop in Port Moresby.
Her presentation, a first for a CMCA woman leader, was made possible through OTDF.
Based on the overwhelming positive feedback to her presentation by industry leaders attending the workshop, Matthew’s was recognised for her outstanding achievement.