The European Union today signed a K265 million agreement with the Department of National Planning and Monitoring in Port Moresby.
The financing will go towards a human resource development program, and the rural economic development program. The rollout of the program is set to lift the standard of living in rural Papua New Guinea.
Over 85 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population lives in rural areas, and in this regard, the EU has chosen to direct funding to where it matters the most.
This signing ceremony was attended by EU’s visiting Commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs, and Minister for National Planning, Charles Abel, amidst other donor partners and stakeholders.
The second phase of the Human resource development agreement will focus on education. Focusing on technical and vocational education will help the country’s labour markets, absorb a growing young population.
The three main fronts include access, quality and management. Teachers are a big target group, with emphasis on encouraging them to be deployed back to their home provinces for the first three years.
Also onto its second phase, the Rural Economic Development Programs worth K108 million. The EU will team up with the Asian Development bank on infrastructure related activities.
Other partners include United Nations Development Program and United Nations Capital Fund. They will provide access to financial services for agricultural value chain financing, with K20 million, going to support micro finance institutions.
The implementation bit of the projects will however take a while yet, after due process. Monitoring of the projects was also explained.
The EU’s move to support rural development comes after the PNG Government launched its new sustainable strategy towards greener development and a more diverse economy
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