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Wednesday, 07 August, 2016 – Lae, Morobe Province|| 102 youth, men and women residing at 1 mile, Lae City, have graduated with a Life and Business Skills Certificate providing them with opportunities to access employment, further skills training and grow their income generating activities.
The Life & Business Skills Program is facilitated by Ginigoada Bisnes Development Foundation and funded by Digicel PNG Foundation. The program is a holistic approach to addressing gender based-violence in PNG communities and comprises of a two week course focusing on topics of basic health, hygiene, nutrition, family planning, HIV/AIDS and issues affecting the day to day living of family units. The second week is a basic business course with emphasis on managing an income generating activity so the profits made from these small businesses can be used to sustain the livelihoods of the communities.
Rachel Ray, a graduate, spoke on behalf of the community and expressed her heartfelt appreciation for the program.
“I am sure these courses will bring positive changes to our communities. Ginigoada and Digicel Foundation have been instruments of this life change,” Mrs Ray said.
The Life & Business Skills Program provides a second chance to people who have fallen out of the system or simply thought there was no other way. With the certificates participants have earned, they are now able to pursue the dreams they once thought they’d never achieve, all the while creating a safe community for all residents.
Ginigoada, in partnership with Malahang Technical Secondary School are now providing further skills training for the following courses: Tourism & Hospitality, Auto Mechanical, Auto Electrical, Welding and Metal Fabrication.
“Digicel PNG Foundation is proud to work with its partner, Ginigoada Foundation to support communities to build a better future through providing opportunities such as the Life & Business Skills program. The opportunity is brought to their doorstep it is now up to our participants to seize that opportunity and make it happen for themselves and their communities,” said Beatrice Mahuru, CEO of Digicel PNG Foundation.
To date Digicel PNG Foundation has funded 485 classrooms and 15 libraries, 23 Mobile Health Clinics, 6 rural Health Aid Posts, 3 Women’s Resource Centres, co-funded 5 Family Support Centres in partnership with UNICEF and NDoH. We have graduated 261 grassroots community based teachers in early childhood development and learning and over 15,000 men and women are now equipped with basic business skills. Over 900 people with special needs, together with their families and communities have been impacted positively by the Community Based Rehabilitation Program; and the Men of Honour Awards – a campaign against violence in PNG, is the latest to the Foundation’s development portfolio. So far, we have 10 winners, 30 finalists and 162 nominations. Digicel PNG Foundation appreciates that change is not going to happen overnight, but it will happen.
Established in October 2008, Digicel PNG Foundation has directly invested K65 million in PNG’s rural, remote and socially marginalized communities across all 22 provinces directly impacting over 500,000 people.
