COUNTRY PRESENTATION BY

Brenda Auhava, Vice PresidentWendy Doa, Secretary

Peggy Kala, Member

BPW PORT MORESBY PNGCountry Report 2012

Overview BPW Port Moresby was established in 1982 by Dame Carol

Kidu and several other national and expatriate women. It is an affiliate of the International Federation of BPW and focuses on providing a strong network for women and supports educational opportunities for women and girls in PNG.

It currently has a financial membership of 100 and an email network of almost 500 individuals and interested associations.

Country Report 2012

Membership

Our membership represents a number of different organizations and donor agencies as well as major PNG companies who are keen to promote best practice in the workplace.

The Club promotes a strong network of like minded women who are influential in their own organizations and communities. We use the skills and commitment of the BPW membership to carry out and promote our programs.

Recently, we have extended our membership to other provinces and this was through our Scholarship Program and the Women’s Advisory Centre.

Country Report 2012Meetings

We meet once every month and invite guest speakers to speak on topics such as women’s health, gender based violence, MDG’s in PNG, Communication skills, HIV/AIDS.

In August the club hosted the first mini careers expo where major employers in PNG were invited to participate and offer advice to young women about to complete their education.

The August meeting is set aside for our Scholarships recipients to speak on their progress and to share their experiences of the many hurdles they face in their pursuit for education.

The AGM is usually held in April where new members of the Executive Committee are elected.

The Executive Committee meets once or twice a month and manages the Club. It consists entirely of volunteers and they use their own resources to run the club.

Country Report 2012Programs - Scholarship

Our main focus has always been on providing a strong network for women and in support of educational opportunities for women and girls in PNG.

Since our establishment, we have been assisting women and girls by way of providing partial scholarships under our Scholarships Program. These scholarships are assistance to women and girls whose families are facing shortfalls in meeting the full payment of school fees.

The funds for the scholarship are raised through fund-raising by the club and from donations from individuals, businesses and corporate organizations. All the

This year we have given out 97 scholarships to women and girls attending 24 institutions spread across 7 provinces at a total value of K83, 508 (Approx. U$39,877). In 2011, we sponsored 251 women and girls in 43 institutions at a total value of K166, 944 (Approx. U$ 79,719). The decrease in the number of scholarships given out this year was due to the current Government’s Free Education policy.

Country Report 2012Programs – Women’s Advisory Centre

BPW PNG established the Women’s Advisory Centre in June 2011 in conjunction with Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The centre provides free advisory workshops on different aspects of setting up a small business and offers free one to one advice where required. The Centre uses the skills and expertise of the BPW membership who provide their services as workshop presenters. The workshops cover topics such as Registering a Business, Personal Budgeting, CV writing etc.

After a year in operation the Centre is seeing about 100 women attending the workshops weekly and many have come back for a one to one advice. Many of the women have applauded the service provided and requested for other specific topics not covered. The Centre continues to work around these requests and comes back with a feedback through the workshops.

The Centre has already seen a success story since its inception in one of its first workshop attendee (a young woman) setting up and running her Petroleum products business in the Manus Province.

Currently, the service is used by women in Port Moresby (the capital of PNG) however, we have some women come in from other province while they may be visiting families in Port Moresby. We hope to expand to other provinces and are currently working towards that.

Women at our monthly meeting.

Our recipients meeting in August.

Susil receiving a donation from ANZ Banking On Women.

Donation from Exxon Mobil for our Scholarship Program.

Country Report 2012Recipient’s Story

We would like to share with you a DVD on our scholarship recipients and hear one of our recipients who is here as a participant to share her story of receiving a BPW Scholarship and her experience as a young women facing the hurdles of achieving an education.