The first nineteen government and non-government officials were awarded certificates for completing six weeks of online Dedicated Mentoring Program (DMP) and five weeks of Green Growth Fellowship Program (GGFP) in Port Moresby.
The DMP program held from April to June 2023 was aimed to train government officials across different sectors on the development of project concept and funding proposals to access international climate finance through the Green Climate Fund Mechanism to fund Papua New Guinea’s climate actions.
While the GGFP program held from May to June 2023 aimed at providing support to Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) and relevant national and provincial government staff in providing green growth policy advisory support, including low-carbon growth and sustainable development advice.
During the graduation ceremony held recently, the Acting Managing Director of CCDA William Lakain described both programs as critical for broadening their knowledge and skills in developing climate finance projects, and green growth policy interventions towards a low carbon growth in Papua New Guinea.
“These two programs are very important and should be supported into the future as it will greatly improve the knowledge and skills of government officials on key areas such as developing project concept notes and providing policy advisory support on low carbon growth and sustainable development”, said Lakain.
A participant Priscilla Pep expressed that these two programs are very important because currently, workplaces are becoming more competitive as new ideas or skills are introduced.
“These programs have helped us upscale our knowledge in building and managing projects at different scales be it private or public sectors”, said Pep.
The participants were the first to receive their certificates under a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Climate Change and Development Authority with support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the three Universities; the University of PNG (UPNG), University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE) to run the programs.
The Counselor Economics at the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby Nic Jonsson, representing the DFAT Australia during the graduation said Australia was very proud to fund the DMP and GGFP to build the capacity of the Government of PNG and NGOs to access international climate finance and render quality climate change policy advice. He also thanked GGGI for its role as the delivery partner in collaboration with UPNG.
Mr Lakain also acknowledged the support of GGGI, the Australian High Commission for funding support under the PNGAus Climate Change Partnership and the University of Papua New Guinea for running these programs.
