The Australian government says it has provided aid to the Panguna community in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville to help it achieve consensus and local ownership of the peace process.
Panguna is where the ten-year long civil war started amid dissatisfaction with the operations of the huge Bougainville Copper Ltd mine.
There have been years of debate about re-opening the controversial mine but the Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, says there is still need for healing within the local community.
He says this has prompted the Panguna Peace Building Strategy to which Australia has committed nearly 600,000 US dollars.
Mr Kemish says they hope it will help achieve some of the goals expressed at this week's launch in Panguna.
"That they want greater prosperity for their area. That they want to engage with the outside world about the area and that may not sound a significant but is truly significant when you consider the level of division and harm that has been caused along the way over the last 10 plus years."
Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish
