19 Mar 2008

Papua New Guinea Community Development Minister launches new Community policy

12:14 pm on 19 March 2008

The Papua New Guinea Community Development Minister, Dame Carol Kidu, says Government has lost contact with the community and that is why she has launched the Integrated Community Development Policy.

She says they want to create communities that are vibrant and sustainable by building their skills from the inside out.

The policy will see villages become a focal point in the spread of information aimed at life long learning.

There will also be an emphasis on community governance, economics and environment in what Dame Carol says is a marriage of western and traditional ideas.

"Th e district focal point for the community learning centres becomes like the old government information centres, where government information will go out. We are encouraging agricultural department, all sorts of people, to leave their networks, their information. In focussed districts where we have focussed officers on the ground, this can fly. Other areas, where people can't grasp the concept or are too lazy to grasp it will struggle, because it relies on passion as well as money."