Comments

Yes, these are worrying trends. But what is missing is an analysis of tax elasticity or tax buoyancy relative to GDP, i.e. how responsive have tax collections been to economic growth. It may well be that the public borrowings have contributed to economic growth, but that the growth in tax collections has not matched the growth in national income, and are not able to keep pace with debt servicing costs. Or worse, it could be both, i.e. that the public borrowings have not contributed sufficiently to national income growth, AND that growth in tax collections have not kept pace with growth in national income.

Thank you all for this timely piece. I was oblivious to the fact that such a standard existed for PNG. I'm keen to learn about the standard and look towards exploring it's application towards climate change adaptation programs within PNG.

Many thanks Rod Reeve for your comments and sharing your work. It is something we can learn from greatly as we study these changes in Tuvalu and elsewhere in the Pacific Islands.

Thank you Mr Joe Kapa for well articulated blog.

On point Angra. Too much wastage. PIP has become a political tool since 2012. The issue is over spending which the govt never put a lid on. Budget process became political process and the IFMS has proven it.

I totally agree with you on this Lucinda!

I lived in Oecussi for two years as an anthropologist and ILO advisor and have just published a book on the place, so I have a pretty good sense of how things go there. Are you seriously claiming that as a result of ICRO, the rate of hand-washing before meal preparation went from nothing to more than half? Or that three times as many people now wash their hands 'after defection' as they did before. In the course of three years? Seriously? Your table doesn't 'show results', it shows that people (including your superiors I imagine) are unreasonably prone to believing what they see in tables, even if it is clearly out of touch with reality. You also imply that the 'community-based savings and loans groups' that operate in Oecussi's villages have something to do with ICRO, neglecting to mention (or more likely simply not being aware, I presume you don't live in Oecussi and are too busy to learn Uab Meto) that they've been round since the Indonesian era. Your neglecting to mention this essential context is really quite deceptive. I realise that your job involving doing public relations, but your claiming partial credit for COVID-19 not spreading in the Enclave is really quite misleading.

Road maintenance is essential but unfortunately, maintenance is often neglected or improperly performed resulting in rapid deterioration of the road and eventual failure from both climatic and vehicle use impacts. Thank you for bringing such topic into light!! This Evolvetraining.ac.nz is very useful and its related to what you have actually mentioned here

The CDW National Standard has provided the platform and opportunity for community development practitioners (informal) in the communities to become the catalyst for and facilitator of change within their local settings. Not only that, it has enabled them to grow and become better at what they do and beyond - taken onto a formal job in the public sector, extractive industries and civil society. I like it because it's PNG tailored - culturally sensitive, encourages community participation especially women, allows communities to own their development in an accountable and sustainable way, encourages community contributions and use of existing governance structure to deliver basic services in a smarter way. At the end of the day, it's the satisfaction you attain from being part of the reason for putting a smile on; a child's face having a new classroom in the local school; a woman who feels empowered and confident now that she can read, write & do basic calculations; a man who has just learnt new agriculture techniques, skills and knowledge and feels empowered to provide and invest in his family/community.

We take for granted that every person who works in a community has the ability to communicate and facilitate processes that helps a community to find a roadmap for their own development story. Sadly that's not always the case. CD skills can be taught, learnt and applied where appropriate. It's not about you, it always has to be about the community. To be able to help communities find their way forward, the CDW Standard equips the Community Worker to be able to facilitate and not dictate to communities about meaningful change. It requires a change in mindset on the part of the Community Development Worker.

I would be happy to provide my ideas for improvement from the disability perspective if that can help in any way.

The CDW Standard is a very useful tool that can be simplified and used to train Ward development committees to equip them with basic knowledge on how to engage the community in implementing community based projects.