Comments

Thanks for this interesting blog post. I hope that the travels in beautiful Madang Province have been going well and that the feedback received from community members will aid in refining the app. You wrote that the “PNG Cocoa App can be downloaded by anyone with a smartphone, making it especially valuable in remote and rural areas of PNG”. Aside from travelling to places to tell people about the app, how will you spread the word about it to the ‘remote and rural areas’ you mention? Have you considered text messages and/or a phone call with a recorded voice message? These two strategies were tested in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, with mixed success. See the research findings in the paper available at the following link: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/items/00632565-a999-44e4-9b88-eb590f3b085b Amanda

Thanks for drawing our attention to a new kind of digital divide that may be opening between Pacific countries and other countries. You acknowledge some of the potential harms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as bias. I feel it’s worth noting that Pacific scholars are already expressing concern about possible negative impacts of AI. See, for instance, Jope Tarai’s piece on Pacific languages, cultures and forms of knowledge: https://www.benarnews.org/english/commentaries/pac-ai-languages-02042025221840.html You suggest that Pacific nations require ‘National AI strategies’. Is it necessary to have standalone AI strategies? Or could AI be incorporated into digital development strategies or digital transformation strategies that countries are currently working on or already have in place? For an earlier assessment of the policy status of Pacific countries, in that case in relation to e-government, see Bart Hogeveen’s report: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/ict-development-pacific-islands/ Finally, I thought you might enjoy a piece I wrote for Devpolicy with a Korean academic in which we compared mobile network deployment in Korea and Papua New Guinea: https://devpolicy.org/the-digital-divide-between-and-within-countries-20190813/ Amanda

Dear Fiji Think Tank, Thank you for your thoughtful engagement with our piece. Our apologies if we were not clear in our explanation of the proposed media business funding mechanism. Our vision is that the media business funding would be handled within each country. For example, perhaps one of the two Samoan organisations mentioned could administer funding within that country. In Fiji, it might be the Fiji Media Council that could handle the process. Thanks again for your thoughts, Amanda and Shailendra

Agree 100% Stephen

Thanks Josephine, useful background

CIMC and DFAT before BCEP have had numerous CSO State regional consultations on accountability and transparency. The question on whether anything has sprouted is better left to CIMC [individual's name deleted] to delve into and answer. On Minister Palas's recommendation for a Government CSO committee it would well sit under the CSO State Partnership policy now housed within DFCDR. Looking forward to more series and welcome to PNG Mr Green. Josephine

Hello Duncan, very important topic. I like your short description under context. May I offer another sentence. In such a hugely diverse environment driven by hyperlocal issues where traditional grievances and tension may extend generations, elected representatives and public servants are generally unknown, even irrelevant to the many and rarely trusted to make decisions that are fair or equitable to those they seek to serve. I take the view that seeking to tinker with anything that replaces or is perceived to replace local agency in Papua New Guinea is doomed. As you have stated it has been five decades since this process was bequeathed by Australia and it would be fair to say that since then service delivery and faith in the system has eroded to the point of vanishing in some quarters. Apparently, there is a new idea in town called locally led development. I had to pick myself up from the floor after typing that. It would appear it has taken one group five decades to realise that locally led development has been going on for millennia in the absence or presence of a Westminster system and continues to do so. How that might be incorporated into international efforts to support and help facilitate human capital and social development within a context that is both meaningful and acceptable to maybe 15 going on 20 million people is the question that should be exercising the minds of the planners. But in my view asking the people who never had and still don’t have a voice under the present system what they envisage, how they want it to work where they live is paramount.

In fact the early days missionary's inclusive anthropological studies were not really deep. I am from Telefomin Min Cultural Centre, Telefomin, West Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, and have 27 generations in the family tree as a Father of a Min Tribe.

Very insightful to get more support from Giant's early anthropological write ups, I have already drawn up my tribe decent tree up to 27 generations.

Good analysis

I am trying my very best to get a NID and birth certificate done in order to process passport to obtain passport, is there an online application that I can fill in? If so, can I have the link please?

This is an indicator of digital transformation, in PNG's agriculture sector, great initiatives.