Profiles of

rog
P ress Papua New Guinea
Profiles of
Progress
Papua New Guinea
Contents

Foreword

1 Introduction
Profiles of Progress

4 Roads
Fixing a Lifeline

14 Primary Health
Tackling HIV/AIDS

30 Lighthouses/shipping
Brightening the Night

42 Fisheries
Restoring the Reef

Papua New Guinea Profiles was conceived by Allan Lee. Ian Gill wrote the stories and took the
photographs, with the invaluable assistance and guidance of Steven Pup, Neil Brenden, Betty Kaime,
Robert Kaul, John Aini, and Hugh Walton. Design by Tony Victoria and Keech Hidalgo.

NOTE: In this publication, “$” refers to US dollars.

Currency equivalents are as of December 2008.
      
isolated village in Papua New
Guinea’s Western Highlands,
have stopped a basketball game
to discuss the prospects of a
 !"  
surfacing of several roads in the
province

Foreword

People and Opportunities

The everyday lives of Papua New Guineans are A strong and expanding private sector is
enormously diverse, ranging from highland essential for growth and poverty reduction in
subsistence and cash-crop farmers and workers PNG. This publication shows how ADB
 
  

  encourages businesses, together with
traders. communities, to improve road and water i



  
In support of the Government of Papua New
Guinea’s (PNG) national development priorities,
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing
diverse and people-focused assistance.
The hallmark of effective development is how
it improves the lives of ordinary people. The
stories in this volume show how improving roads
in the Highlands region is increasing the incomes
of local farmers and traders as well as improving
their health and productivity. Similar outcomes
are being achieved in the hinterland and the
coastal areas through assistance for primary
health care and HIV prevention, navigational
aids and shipping, and protecting marine
resources.
 
to help prevent and control HIV in rural areas.
ADB supports government-owned projects that
use and strengthen government systems and
procedures. We also strive for aid effectiveness
by harmonizing our programs with those of
other development partners, notably the
Australian Agency for International Development,
the World Bank, and United Nations agencies.
These stories give voice to ordinary Papua New
Guineans from all walks of life.
S. Hafeez Rahman
Director General
 
 Introduction

  of
Progress
T
he colorful stories in this publication are exceptionally heavy rain. It is common to see roads
the result of visits to Asian Development % %&
 
& 
  
Bank (ADB)-supported projects in Papua New provinces which are home to 40% of PNG’s 6.2 million
Guinea (PNG) during 2007 and 2008. They are population and are the main source of export earnings
snapshots showing the human face of development from gold, oil and gas, coffee, tea and vegetables.
projects in four key sectors—roads, primary health
care/HIV/AIDS, navigational aids and coastal shipping, Building durable roads in such conditions requires
  #
Such projects can face unusual challenges in PNG,
an archipelagic country with an extensive coastline
and thickly forested mountains. The hurdles are both
physical and social in a fragmented, tribal-based
society that has had to come to terms rapidly with a
modern, globalized world.
In the transport sector, for example, geological
and climatic factors add to the normal problems
of road-building. In the Highlands region, where
ADB has upgraded both feeder and main roads, the
soil is fragile and vulnerable to seismic activity and
drainage and soil consolidation technology that are not
readily available. Maintaining the roads is hampered
by a lack of capacity in the public and private sector.
Security concerns and land ownership disputes can also
be obstacles.
Nonetheless, surfacing dirt roads has helped bring
markets, social services and more effective law and
order to remote communities as well as linking them
to the Highlands Highway, the lifeline between the
resource-rich mountains and the main port of Lae.
Moreover, ADB approved in late 2008 a $750 million
Highlands Region Road Improvement Investment
* 
  
 
 

It is hoped that these stories will lead to a better

understanding of the myriad challenges faced on the ground.

 +  1

in the Western Highlands:  3 & 
Remembers when head men Samarai Island: Says rehabilitated  9;<=!;>     &
coerced villagers into building    
  Talking openly about the disease
roads trade as well as shipping helps to counter the stigma
 country—that will upgrade another 1,400 km of the that include a taboo against open discussions on sex
Highlands’ 2,500 km core roads. Just as importantly, and an entrenched prejudice against those with HIV/
this comprehensive Program supports a long-term AIDS, compounded by widespread polygamy, the
maintenance plan that includes strengthening key low status of women, limited education and poor
    
  & employment opportunities for women, and rising
mechanisms. Roadside communities will also be sexual violence, often associated with drinking and
involved in the upkeep of rural roads. drug-taking.

As a corollary to developing physical infrastructure, ADB
is also helping to protect human capital with an
innovative primary health care project that focuses
on controlling the spread of HIV through rural-based
economic enclaves.
Aside from the Highlands, ADB is assisting PNG’s
coastal provinces, where over half the population
lives. Many of these provinces, long neglected, have
seen rising levels of poverty. Most of the lighthouses
in PNG’s uncharted waters, for example, had become
inoperable due to vandalism or neglect, posing risk to
@+
  
9;<   
 # international and local shipping.
As well as being a human tragedy, the disease has
the potential to disrupt the minerals, petroleum and One project to rehabilitate navigational aids has had
agriculture sectors that rely on large pools of labor, multiple effects. The restored lighthouses make it
which in turn are prone to the risk behavior that leads easier and safer for oil tankers and container ships
to HIV/AIDS infection. to negotiate the tricky waters—that often conceal
reefs and shoals—between Australasia and Asia. They
In a ground-breaking approach, ADB has harnessed half also save time and fuel costs by allowing ships to
a dozen big businesses—most of them in the Highlands
 



 3>

X 
—to join with the government and church groups in a 3  
 @+

 

Q
 

 


   further out to the Jomard Strait.
the disease.
By illuminating the night, the lighthouses also have
A look at the work of a feisty American missionary in had an impact, direct and indirect, on the local
Banz shows how such work has to overcome challenges economy. They have encouraged a big increase in
Impact Stories

 > X "  

young woman at Banz: Encouraging
HIV/AIDS prevention means
breaking taboos
By trading short-term pain for longer-term gain,
       % #

 #;       well as the growing of copra, cocoa, coffee, palm oil
to more trading and inter-island shipping. and betel nuts.

Y         &

     In another project to revitalize isolated coastal
local communities which have been tasked to safeguard   !" 3 1  
and maintain them. As a result, incomes have risen Management and Development Project in a bid to
and vandalism has fallen. To ensure sustainability, the reverse a serious depletion of marine resources—
project also established and developed the National sedentary creatures such as sea cucumbers and sea
Maritime Safety Authority as the agency responsible for %  *  Z
handling maritime sector issues.       #

Another project is helping maritime provinces by Using a community-based management approach, NGOs
trying to revive shipping services to the small coastal have helped several coastal villages in New Ireland and
communities that lie between major ports. Ships Morobe to draw up and implement largely self-policing
long ago stopped calling at these ports because it    
#"&
    
wasn’t commercially worthwhile. As a result, many fragile marine ecosystem and by trading short-term pain
communities have become isolated, deprived of for longer-term gain, such villages have started to see
trading opportunities and social services.      % #

The project is inviting ship owners to bid for It is hoped that these stories, told through the voices
contracts to operate seven routes on a trial basis. At & % %  
the same time, it intends to build some 40 jetties in better understanding of the myriad challenges faced
underserved regions such as Manus, New Britain and on the ground—and the sometimes ingenious and
@ %; #  %   resolute efforts to overcome them. „

  
3

 @+[  \! 

  
   
1 
  
as a result of a community-based
management approach
 1_
Lifeline

  


to isolated communities and boost exports
Impact Stories

 ! 
&   
Meti in the Western Highlands:
Markets and health services
are within easier access
4

M
ount Hagen, Western Highlands: (PNG). He has been instrumental in turning
In the village of Meti, home to the what was a quagmire whenever it rained



%

 into a sealed road that puts the provincial
to give a hero’s welcome to one capital of Mount Hagen within half an

 %#! ^%  hour’s ride.
is draped around Steven Pup’s neck and
village elders take turns to pay tribute to the
“Bigman” for his role in surfacing the road
that runs by the village.
Mr. Pup, from the neighboring Wali tribe,
has risen to become a project director in
the Department of Works, coordinating
Recalling the times before when there was
even a muddy track, one elder, Ruk Dat,
says, “This area was a large swamp, cut off
from the rest of the world, and many people
died of malaria and typhoid.” Barefoot and
clad in a dark hat and suit over a red polo
shirt, Mr. Dat adds, “The road is bringing a
!"Z @ %+  longer life for my grandchildren.”
 Roads
1_` 
5

In a region where education is virtually the only way

out of poverty, the road is bringing teachers and pupils
closer to schools.

The feeder roads connect remote areas to the
Highlands Highway, a 700 km thread leading the
resource-rich mountains to the main port of Lae.
Impact Stories
The improved road is transforming life on
many levels. In a region where education
is virtually the only way out of poverty, it
is bringing teachers and pupils closer to
6 schools. Where health services are still basic,
it is transporting pregnant women and sick
children more quickly to hospitals.
1Y
    
with daughter Doris: He can earn
more money selling beans directly
to the factories in Mount Hagen
gold.” His wife can also take cash crops like
bananas and pineapples to the market.
Just as importantly, Lam is reassured that
Mount Hagen hospital is now accessible.
She still recalls the terror she felt when
their 3-year-old daughter, Doris, developed
malaria-like symptoms but they could not
{

  
  take her to hospital because the road was in
expanding opportunities and lifting incomes. bad condition.
Thomas Pana and his wife Lam, for example,
used to stand by the old road selling home- Meti lies on a 35-kilometer (km) road
grown coffee beans, fruits, and vegetables.

% Y
9 
>


A slim man with a shy smile, Mr. Pana sold a settlement near the foot of a mountain
coffee either as red cherries at 1 kina range bordering the Wahgi Valley. Much of
($0.40) per kilogram (kg) or as dried beans the stretch is included in the 575 km of
at 5 kina ($2) per kg. When it rained, buyers mainly feeder roads that have been upgraded
disappeared. 
 
 3
|
Southern, Eastern, and Western Highlands
Nowadays, Mr. Pana carries a large bag of under a $115 million project from ADB.
dried beans in a bus to Mount Hagen and sells
them directly to a factory at 7.5 kina per kg.     
 9
Little wonder that locals call coffee “green region, where 40% of the 6.2 million
“In one area, a river changed course. We had to
realign the creek and devise a system of drains to
draw out the water.”
—Salvatore Garilli
ADB Project Team Leader

population lives and which is also the !   

country’s main source of national income and 


 
&
export earnings.
PNG’s major gold reserves are in Enga and
almost all oil and gas production is in the
Southern Highlands. The region is also known
for its agricultural exports, including coffee,
tea, and vegetables. It also needs vital imports
such as fuel, heavy machinery, and food.
The feeder roads connect more remote parts
of the provinces to the national roads and
the Highlands Highway, a 700 km lifeline that
links the resource-rich mountains to the main
port of Lae.
The problem is that the Highlands Highway
and its feeder roads are as precarious as they
are important. Heavy rains often wash away
the fragile mountain soil, carrying chunks of
the road and occasionally bridges. “The soil
out construction and maintenance in
steep terrain that often requires specialist
technology.
“There are many landslides in this area and
sometimes these change the alignment of
rivers,” says Salvatore Garilli, the team leader
of the ADB project who has been working in
the highlands since 2003. “In one area, for
instance, a river changed course and ran
upstream of a highway and acted like a sponge.
We had to realign the creek and devise a
system of drains to draw out the water.”
Building durable roads in the highlands
requires sophisticated drainage and soil
consolidation technology that is not available
locally, says Mr. Garilli. “The foreign
1_` 
companies that have the technology don’t
want to work here because the contracts


   3
  are usually small and the cost of mobilizing
the mountains receive very heavy rain—up to equipment is high. They are also deterred
 
&  &
 
   by law and order issues and land ownership
than in Europe,” says Antonello Pucci, a claims. If there is a dispute, a contractor is
consultant working on the ADB roads project. scared that his equipment may be damaged.”
7
Such challenges are compounded by a chronic
lack of road maintenance. Roads commonly
 }"~>
 


show signs of deterioration within 2 years of
villagers at Meti: Deaths from
construction through lack of routine upkeep. malaria and typhoid have
fallen considerably
In turn, much of this is caused by a lack
of capacity in both the public and private
sector. There is an acute need to strengthen
public agencies, such as the Department of
Works, the National Roads Authority, and the
@
X>
&3#

The National Roads Authority, established

in 2003 but which is only starting to get off
the ground with the appointment of a chief
executive in 2007, is tasked with maintaining
the road network and, as importantly, with

  #
 Whatever the reality, security is a perceived ADB. “Sustainable maintenance includes not
concern in parts of the highlands. In Mount only institutional arrangements but, more
Hagen, which still has the air of a frontier 

&  
town, it is safe to walk around during
the day, but the authorities warn against
wandering around after dark, given high
rates of unemployment, a large number
delivery mechanisms.”
Thus the program also includes helping
the National Roads Authority prepare
  &

 ^   fresh proposals to lift funding, including
of drugs and “jungle juice,” a home-made implementing a scheme to collect road
alcoholic brew. On the roads outside the damage charges on heavy vehicles (currently,
capital, bandits—or “rascals,” as they are few actions are taken to control, let alone
called—can hold up road users. tax, vehicle overloading, which is one of the
main causes of road damage). At present,
A more perplexing issue is that of land
 !

&  
ownership. Some 97% of the land in PNG is by a fuel levy based on very low rates.
communally held by kinship groups. Having This is supplemented by some government
rights to the land is fundamental to the 

 €


culture and it is not normal to sell it or use the Highlands Highway network, let alone the


 

 
 
 countrywide road system.
a road might bring. On top of this, some
communities in the impoverished mountains
see the expansion of the road network as
an opportunity to demand compensation.
Sometimes, these demands are reinforced by
work interruptions and violence. Mr. Pucci
cites an example in one province where
people backed their compensation claims by
digging trenches across the road.
Properly organized, maintenance can be
a win-win situation, as was demonstrated
by a project of the Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID) on a
356-km section of the Highlands Highway in
Morobe and Eastern Highlands. Under 3-year
agreements with national contractors,
the roads were maintained with a resulting
20% savings in travel time, 18% reduction in
3 



millions of kina and sometimes give rise to
scams. It is not unknown for the Government
Impact Stories

& &       >     "  

group is the legitimate claimant. asphalt road has brought more
business, but also more competition
To help address many of these issues, ADB
approved a comprehensive $750 million
Highlands Region Road Improvement
8 Investment Program in December 2008.
This will include $400 million from ADB,
$200 million from the Government, and
$150 million from other development
partners.

This is one of the largest ever development

    &  
the transport sector. The program will not
only upgrade a further 1,400 km of the
Highlands’ 2,500 km core roads network, but
will also include a long-term maintenance
program.

“One of the key lessons from our experience

in the road sector is that we need to
ensure sustainable maintenance before
undertaking road improvement projects,”
&9Y     
The program will also assist the National Road Safety
3%      @+{
high road fatality rate.


 

 The program will also assist the National Road
improvement in the capacity of contractors. >
&3% 
 


The project also increased the livelihood challenge of reducing PNG’s high road fatality
of roadside communities who were enlisted rate. At 40 deaths per 10,000 registered
to help with tasks such as clearing roadside vehicles in 2002, the country’s death rate on
drainage ditches of weeds and debris. the roads was four times higher than in the
1‚
  

 
Increasing roadside communities’ involvement
in the upkeep of rural roads will be part of a
$2 million grant project.
To achieve its objectives, ADB’s investment
program aims to strengthen the capacity
of the Department of Transport and the
best performing countries. Drunken driving
is the main cause of accidents, followed
by a lack of safety awareness by drivers
and pedestrians, and the absence of safety
measures in road design.
To be sure, much is at stake in improving road
National Roads Authority, complement  &
&


  
the ongoing initiatives of development
partners like AusAID and the World Bank,
prepare maintenance programs for the
entire Highlands region network, and help
and small, as well as local communities.
In the Western Highlands, the biggest

 ƒ#X#3 
  
the Department of Transport prepare a new Malaysian-owned company that operates
national transport development plan. large coffee and tea estates.

1_` 
9

 > 

   
 
 

 
Demand generally outstrips supply
 As the company’s general manager in Mount Toward the other end of the Wahgi Valley,
Hagan, Mike Jackson says, “We export 99% of 
  
  
 
our products through Lae and, when the road
is closed, we miss our ship and have to wait
#> 

another 30 days. This road is a nightmare for
investors.” Mr. Jackson says the plantations
already operate on razor-thin margins and
do not need delays in delivery schedules.

been deeply affected by the road—or lack

of the medium-sized Tremearn coffee
plantation, was born in the early 1950s when
a rudimentary road was beginning to bring
law and order, schools, and health aide posts
  #Y#{
 % 
At the other end of the economic scale, a tribal feud and his mother died giving birth
roadside stores like that owned by Tepra to him. Taken under the wing of a Lutheran
"

  %
 Y#% 

 
out of Mount Hagen, are equally dependent  
 {
on a good road.
Mr. Bimti, a small, elderly man with a white
beard covering much his face, saw few public
vehicles when the road was a mud track. On
the other hand, he could charge relatively
high prices for the items on his shelves like
^…
training through a government program, and
moving on to a lengthy career as a teacher.
During the coffee boom—when the road was
well maintained—he teamed up with Steven
Pup’s father. With a one tonne truck, they
went around buying cherry coffee from
  villagers and hand-pulping it into beans for
Dispirin, and cans of corned beef.
&Y#  

Since completion of the road surfacing in
2006, other stores have sprung up nearby,
he says, forcing him to be more competitive.
His lower margins are, however, offset by
more business as a result of greatly increased

  #| 
join others in taking over Tremearn estate in
1979 when the Government was encouraging
locals to take over foreign-held estates.
Later, however, serious neglect of the roads,
combined with mismanagement and low
  # coffee prices, brought hard times to such
Impact Stories

Better road access enables peacemakers to visit

a trouble-torn area quickly before many lives are
  
 #
10

 ƒX†  
  ‡
and his workers are pulping red
      %
is restricted by poor roads during
the rainy season

 %  

    !
 
planned for this stretch of road
 
  &     
passengers than it can carry:    ‰ 
Demand is strong in rural areas roads is the government’s target

estates and now Tremearn’s owners are “Since 2000, our student enrollment has
trying to sell it. more than doubled from 250 to 760, due to
the population increase and improvement
A generation further on, Mr. Pup, 34, is   ~&Y#%

another whose life has been shaped by principal for 10 years. “In the old days,
the road. His education, too, was hard students would take 2 days to walk here
won—raised in a Wali settlement north of       &#3 
  %    ˆ##  parents felt isolated from each other because
walk to school. The lack of transportation of the distance and the poor condition of the
meant that excess produce was fed to road also made it unsafe.”
pigs or left to rot rather than taken to the
 #ƒ  Y# Similarly, access to health services has been
father’s erstwhile partner, Mr. Pup extended boosted by the road. The local health center
his high school education to a degree from 
&  `  3  
the University of Technology in Lae and a fairly basic services, considering it serves a
master’s degree in road management and regional population of 50,000, but referral
engineering from Birmingham University services are better.

1_` 

 ‰
#9  
 
Department of Public Works as an engineer “Emergency cases can now reach Mount
and is now a project director in charge of Hagen much more quickly than in the past,”
ADB-supported road projects. &
 X   \ % 
 
During his lifetime, Mr. Pup has seen the
penetration of roads into the hinterland
strengthen law and order among the tribes.
“Better road access enables peacemakers
or the surrounding communities to visit a
trouble-torn area easily and quickly, and
health center. “In the old days, it was not
uncommon for pregnant women with delivery
complications to die on the way to Mount
Hagen.” 11
In contrast, where the road remains unpaved
 %

&
  {
make peace before many lives are lost in lives are restricted by rain and mud. At



~ &#! 


 his home beside a deeply pot-holed track,



%    
 Wakandi Raka watches his workers unload
is limited to sporadic outbreaks that are bags of red cherries and pulp it before
usually resolved by negotiation. they become dry beans. Up against stiff
competition from other cherry processors,
These days, education—the best way out of Mr. Raka processes up to 100 bags a month,
 
&Y#Y#


* and each bag weighs 50 kg. “But in the rainy


 & season, I just stay home,” he says, because
private boarding establishment, thanks to the muddy paths hamper movement of both
the improved road. Standing by the school’s workers and produce.
_ &  
X


&
   
  To appreciate the development impact
recent years—and more teachers are moving of a good road, a visitor need only visit


# communities without one. There are still
 many areas in the highlands where conditions 77, landed on a small airstrip in the Western
have not changed much since the Wahgi
Valley was discovered by the outside world
only 75 years ago.
It had long been thought that the highlands,
over 5,000 feet above sea level and sealed
off by soaring, impenetrable forests,
was uninhabited. But in 1933, two gold
prospectors, brothers Mick and Dan Leahy,
93Š ‹Œ#} 
dirt roads were very narrow, but they were
kept in good condition with graders and
most bridges had a covering,” recalls the
missionary, who has been based in Banz for
over 40 years.
That scene is still familiar to people living

 

  
 
 
and a kiap†  

 ‡ Wahgi Valley. With its handful of shanty-like
Jim Taylor, trekked up from the coast shops and barefoot men and boys standing
%   
 
  around aimlessly on dirt roads covered with
populated by tall, broad shouldered men, 
 

 {

many wearing plumed headdresses with poverty evokes an earlier period.
curved pieces of shell through their noses.
Leading out of town, the pot-holed track,
  Z 
  
 ƒ< &  %

 ^  %
grew kau-kau (sweet potato), sugar cane, times a year by the Wahgi river that runs
corn, beans, and cucumbers. With a culture alongside it. Dwellings, few and far apart,
 

&  
 tend to be thatched huts rather than the
more medieval than primitive, the people wood-and-corrugated-iron structures in
were divided into tribes who frequently more prosperous areas. Generally, the only
fought over land and other issues. vehicles to be seen are dynas†&
^


trucks) or four-wheel drives.
Because of the rugged terrain and the

 


 Of necessity, families tend to be self-
it was many years before a road was built contained. Outside a thatched hut at the
to the highlands. Early settlers, including    &
missionaries, undertook the arduous trek small, well-kept lawn. Several families
through the jungle. By 1938, Mount Hagen live here, growing cocoa, sweet potato,
had a European population of 700, but air orange, bananas, and guava, mainly
Impact Stories

services remained the main form of transport for themselves, says Peter Yapa, one
until the mid-1950s, when the 241-km road    #;    
was completed between Goroka and 7.5 km away, were improved, they would
Mount Hagen. grow more produce to sell in the market,
he adds.
One of the region’s long-time residents,
12 3 &> X " 

ƒ   

&   "  &
road in Western Highlands: This be walking to a wedding: Not many
road can become impassable during public vehicles use the unpaved roads,
the wet season especially in the rainy season
 !

 %   &      
  ƒ  9 basketball game to greet a visitor: A
Villagers are excited at the paved road will bring school closer
prospect of a surfaced road to the children

A mother, Hellen, says that when her baby shoulders. “Public motor vehicles don’t come
was sick, she had to carry her by foot to by here, and they are taking the sugar cane to
 
  
    a wedding as a gift,” says Mr. Pup. The wedding
 #!  1 will assuredly involve the husband paying a
her 70s and wearing a long woollen head “bride price” for his new wife (polygamy is also
dress, remembers when the kiap appointed common). “At a typical wedding, the bride
local head men to organize the building of price might be 30 pigs, two cassowary birds, a
roads. Sometimes, she says, the men were cow, and a horse, plus 10,000 kina and fruits
coerced into the backbreaking job. and sugar cane,” he says.

In these parts, familiar faces draw a wave Mr. Pup, who travels abroad in his work, is
and strangers excite curiosity. In the a Papua New Guinean who is comfortable in

1_` 
 
 %
  both the old world and the new. He respects
basketball game comes to a stop as players many tribal traditions, but he also has
crowd around a visitor. “Everyone is very seen the drop in tribal violence along with
excited that our road will be paved in the improvements in diet and incomes, health and
future,” says Samuel Hapa, a lay leader for education, that the roads have helped bring.
@…  3#| 

 
a kilometer away, getting there will be much
easier for the children, he says. Local coffee
and fruit growers will be able to sell their

“The roads have reduced our sense of
isolation,” he says. “With easier mobility, 13
people come together more on market day
 ‹’%&# and on sporting occasions. As they become
friendlier with each other, the number of
Traditions are entrenched in this isolated area. feuds settled with violence is becoming
On a deeply rutted track near a plantation at fewer.” In time, social cohesion, as well as
Nunga, a man and two women are walking, ^   _ 

  
balancing long poles of sugar cane on their with more and better roads. „

“As people become friendlier with each other,

the number of feuds settled with violence is
becoming fewer.”
—Steve Pup
Project Director, Department of Works
 Primary Health/HIV/AIDS
Impact Stories

14

 9   _ % \`
examines a patient at a refurbished
clinic at Aviamp: Between 60 and
100 patients visit the facility daily

“Although the private companies are managing

the project, provincial governments must assume
more of a leadership role to ensure sustainability.”
—Sakiko Tanaka
ADB Social Development Specialist
M
ount Hagen, Western Highlands:
Experts say that sexual behavior in
PNG follows the African pattern—
and the country could see a similar
committee with the national government.
We had to deal with this issue to safeguard
our labor force.”
explosive rise in HIV infection. ;ƒ 
9%  ƒ#X#3 

employs 5,500 people during the peak
As well as being a human tragedy, this would  
 Y#\
 
wreak havoc in the minerals, petroleum,
and agriculture sectors upon which the PNG
economy heavily depends.
All these sectors—PNG’s main export
earners—rely on large pools of labor, which
are prone to the type of risk behavior that
leads to HIV infection.
situation to be “not too different” from
Africa.
“I found we were getting quite a few people
dying on the estates and the surrounding
areas. Apart from the human tragedy, it
would affect our harvesting ability if 30% of
our labor force dies,” he says.

Just ask Michael Jackson, general manager       

Y&Z% ƒ#X#3   business is slim. “Our turnover may be big,
Estates, which runs extensive tea and coffee but the return on funds is 1% on tea and only
plantations in the Western Highlands. a little better with coffee,” says Mr. Jackson.
“That means if you invest $50 million, you
A 46-year-old South African, Mr. Jackson make 1%—and that is if everything goes right.
% Z     If the weather goes against you or there is a
AIDS when he managed a tea and serious strike, you lose. In 2007, for example,
coffee plantation in Malawi before coming we lost on tea and only made a little on the
to PNG. “We had about 10,000 employees coffee.”
on the African estates and HIV/AIDS
infection rates of between 30% and 40%,” 3  
 &% 
he says. “I became involved, with seven the fear of losing a substantive proportion of
or eight other companies, in setting up a their labor force, has motivated some half

Tackling HIV/AIDS
Tackling 15

HIV/AIDS
In an innovative approach, businesses, the Government,
and churches have joined forces to combat a deadly disease
 dozen big businesses in PNG to join forces In a 2004 issue of the respected medical
with the government and church groups magazine, Lancet, doctors Daniel Halperin
in a ground-breaking private–public sector and Helen Epstein suggest that the main
       9;<# reason that eastern and southern Africa have
50% of the global HIV/AIDS cases with only
This harnessing of private and public 3% of the world’s population is that men and
resources is a cornerstone of a $25 million women tend to have multiple and concurrent
9;<   3 X sexual partners, creating extensive webs
Development Enclaves Project that is of relationships that enable the disease to
supported by a $15 million grant from ADB. spread rapidly.

The project, which got under way in 2007
and is due for completion in 2010, was
sparked by the HIV/AIDS crisis—which
reached epidemic proportions by 2007—
but is also aimed at rehabilitating primary

By contrast, the doctors note, in most
of Asia, HIV transmission is much more
associated with injected drugs, male-
to-male sex, and prostitution. The notable
_ 
 !“ 
 &
health care services in rural areas.
The current health sector crisis in PNG is due
to the convergence of two critical trends—a
recent, accelerating spread of HIV, and a
long-term, steady decline in rural health
services.
add, is PNG.
In PNG, where the practice of injecting
drugs is negligible, HIV infection is passed
on overwhelmingly through sex. Moreover,
sexual practices in PNG are more like those
in Africa than other parts of the Asia and the
&@ "  

 
Mr. Jackson, who also chairs the enclave ADB project, which includes a component of
coordinating committee, is not alone in research into sexual behavior.
fearing an Africa-scale epidemic.
“As in Asia, men often have multiple
partners, but the HIV/AIDS situation in PNG
has the makings of an Africa-style epidemic
mainly because more women also have
concurrent partners,” says Mr. Brenden, a
Impact Stories

 3  {Y 
Jackson: Big
veteran American health specialist. “There
business leads is also more sex between males than is
the rural effort generally acknowledged.”
against HIV/AIDS
to protect its Such views are reinforced by a 2007
labor pool government report by PNG’s National AIDS
16 3@     9  #

Surveys conducted in recent years have

documented that certain sexual behaviors
create high risk for HIV transmission, says
the report. “The exchange and sale of sex
by female and male adults and youth; sexual
violence, including gang rape; and multiple

Sexual practices in PNG

are more like those in
Africa than in other parts
!  #
 3 &  % +
 
Ning at Mount Hagen General
Hospital: “People are afraid to
come and be tested.”

sexual partners, including polygamous
relationships, are prevalent,” it notes.
In addition, “unemployment and poverty,
high population mobility, gender inequity,
misconceptions about HIV transmission,
stigma, and discrimination towards people
…
†@+[‡1&
living with HIV heighten risk and vulnerability
to HIV infection,” says the report.
Tackling HIV/AIDS
“An epidemic tends to simmer along for a
time until it reaches a critical mass and then
it goes up rapidly. We are approaching that
critical mass and it’s important to get it under
control before it gets out of hand,” warns Mr.
Brenden, who was regional director for the
  
Health International, in Bangkok before 17
joining ADB as a consultant in October 2006.

The number of people testing positive rose an
alarming 30% to 4,017 in 2006, according to
the report. The national HIV prevalence was
1.28% among adults by the end of the same
& *
Although the roots of the decline in rural
heath services can be traced to the gradual
replacement of experienced expatriates
by less experienced local personnel in the
  


 *%
 years following PNG’s independence in
estimated 46,275 living with HIV. Importantly, 1975, analysts says a turning point came in
the report notes that, since 2007, HIV 1995 with the passing of the Organic Law on
infections are rising faster in the rural areas, Provincial and Local Government.
where 85% of the population lives.
This legislation transferred administrative
At the same time, the report acknowledges responsibilities from national to provincial
there are “serious weaknesses” in the HIV and local government. In the health sector,
 
&
#Y#"  & this meant that while Port Moresby remained
estimates of HIV prevalence are much higher. in charge of providing funds and setting
One doctor reckons the total of positive standards, the provinces became responsible
cases could be closer to 150,000. for delivering services.
 “Many health advisors are not motivated to go to the
rural areas, partly for security reasons.”
3

In theory, this decentralization was to
encourage rural development. In practice,
however, it widened the oversight gap
between central and provincial governments.
“The weak lines of communication between
Port Moresby and the provinces have led to
a break in responsibility and a collapse in
discipline and morale in the provincial public
sector,” says Mr. Jackson, who has been a
close observer of the political scene for 8
years. “There is a lack of oversight in the
provinces to make sure things are working.



  
—Neil Brenden
 
American who worked as a consultant for
PNG’s National Department of Health for
nearly a decade before joining ADB and
helping to design the rural enclaves project.
The impact on rural health infrastructure,
especially aid posts in isolated areas, has
been grim. “In the old days, the aid posts
were staffed by community health workers
who would walk for a day or two to hold
clinics in remote villages,” says Mr. Brenden.
“But, today, many provincial health advisors
 
  
1 _ 
  
  
 go to the rural areas, partly for security
medical stores but you can’t get them out.” reasons. About 40% of the aid posts have
been abandoned.”
The result is a “lack of management skills
and incentives at provincial and district To an extent, big business assumed health
government levels,” says John Izard, an and education responsibilities for their staff,
Impact Stories

18

 –  _ &  

warning against HIV/AIDS: Sexual
practices could lead to an African-
style epidemic
& #}` Z
based enterprises would build schools and
health centers as tax write-offs and leave
them for the provincial government to run—
and sometimes perish,” says Mr. Izard. “The
private sector was not particularly interested
in health or education outcomes.”

All this changed with the accelerated

  9;<=!;>  #}1 
with the growing loss of skilled and critical
employees, the private sector is now more
willing to engage to protect their work
force.”

By stepping in to broker deals in rural

development enclaves between major
enterprises and government- and mission-run
health facilities, ADB has turned a double-
edged health sector crisis into a timely
opportunity.

3  &

     
providing the management and supervision
that the public health sector is unable  " & †  ‡% > 
to provide. But a key goal, to ensure the Regina Wamp at the Banz station:
project’s sustainability, is to increasingly Helping those who are treated as
involve provincial governments so they can outcasts
take over in time.

Tackling HIV/AIDS
! ƒ#X#3      
operators include two other agriculture-

 ‰
>

> Z “Women are still struggling. In the private
owned Higaturu Oil Palms in Oro, and sector, they hire you on merit, but in the

   &X!Z public sector, men always win the jobs.
Industries in Morobe. Two operators are gold Women always fall back into number
 *"
+Y 
  two even if we have the knowledge and
Eastern Highlands and Porgera Joint Venture €
~&Y#  
|—

 % 
&3{" % { %

 ƒ 
9 19
Gold (formerly Placer Dome). The Australian- Youth and Home Affairs Department.
owned oil and gas producer Oil Search
Limited is the operator in the Southern ; €
&

% 
  _  ^ 

&
Highlands.
The businesses are deploying ADB grant
funds to renovate some 80 public and private
health centers, or 10% of the national total,
and equip them with medical equipment.
customs such as “bride price” and polygamy,
she adds. Men typically pay for brides with
livestock—pigs, cassowaries, horses, and
cows—as well as crops and cash. It is still
common, even among educated men, to take

 % #
They are also training health workers to
provide counseling and treatment for those “The practice of bride price fosters the idea
with AIDS, as well as primary health care. that the woman is a man’s property and he
can use his property the way he wants,”
A drive through Western Highlands’ fertile says Mr. Brenden. “In one of our counseling
ƒ< &%
"

&  
 courses, we talk about sex as an expression
 ƒ#X#3 
%
  of love between a man and woman, but this
of challenges faced on the ground, such as concept of ‘love sex’ is new to many men,
gender inequity and sexual violence. who are used to sex for pleasure.”
 “When they learned this one woman had potentially
infected so many workers, it was a wake-up call.”
—Neil Brenden
 
3


One result is that “a lot of men don’t treat Another sex worker, Margaret, in her 30s,
their wives properly and abandon them—and says she insists on using condoms after one of
their children—when they move on to the her best friends died from AIDS.
 _
% ~&Y# #
The lower status of women is compounded by
rising sexual violence. “Rape wasn’t common
before, but it is now because people drink
this home-brewed ‘jungle juice’ and smoke
Any complacency about the role of sex
workers in spreading HIV has also been
shaken by other revelations. In the Southern
Highlands, for instance, one HIV-positive sex
%   
 
  
marijuana. When they do that, they are not 19 workers with whom she had had

 
~&Y# #! unprotected sex.
 
&  Y# 
%
in her 40s, always drives with a “tire man,” “It was a wake-up call for middle
who doubles as a bodyguard, in the back of management,” says Mr. Brenden. “They had
her pickup. The windows of her vehicle are not been convinced HIV/AIDS was such a risk,
covered with a protective barrier. but when they learned that this one woman
had potentially infected so many of their
Many women who are abandoned by their workers, it was a good illustration of how
husbands—or who leave a marriage after risky it is in these communities.”
being beaten up once too often—often lack






# Aside from unprotected sex, the mobility
Some turn to “survival sex” or prostitution, of sex workers and plantation laborers is
seeking clients among plantation workers and another factor in spreading HIV. Some sex
Impact Stories

truck drivers. workers commute between workers’ camps,

Such women might hang around the open air
markets in nearby Minz, where people gather
to play the lottery or gossip. Others might go
to night spots like the Waipa Zone in Mount
20 Hagen where people come from far and wide
timing their visits with the fortnightly pay
day.
“Most of our estate workers are migratory
and the highway is the method,” says W.R.
3 
{Y#\#}[ 

 
to let their hair down. to the highway have the highest infection
rates.”
Even if they know about the risks, sex
workers can be inconsistent about using ‰ 
 !" 
ƒ#X#3 

condoms. On the outskirts of Minz, in a has stepped up its voluntary counseling and
darkened hut—this is a Tingim Laip†3 

†<3‡

  

for Others) center, part of a government
program to provide assistance for sex
workers—two women talk candidly about
their experiences.
Against background music, Lucy, 19, says
that her husband has left her and their
18-month-old daughter and she plies her
&
re-equipping 23 health centers, including
nine of its own and 14 run by churches or the
government.
One example is a sub-health center in the
village of Aviamp, 25 kilometers (km) west of
Mount Hagen. The bungalow clinic was built
‹ŒŒš
 3
!
1 %
trade mostly at the nearby market. Lucy says
‹ˆ›‚‚#
she understands the dangers of unprotected
sex, but does not use condoms because she is
too ashamed to ask for them.
3  
In early 2008, the center was refurbished
at a cost of 60,000 kina ($24,000) and now
has a freshly-painted and better-equipped
dispensary and treatment room, a new water
pump and tank, and an electricity hook-up
facility.
“We see between 60 and 100 patients a day,”
says Jim Lahar, a health extension worker,
Throughout the province, the project
is providing AIDS counseling and testing
services, as well as primary health care,
to an estimated 60% of the population,
estimates Mr. Jackson, and was having a
noticeable impact by 2008.
in between tending to a patient. “Malaria }ƒ % 


 
is the most common disease, followed by people wanted one-on-one sessions as they
pneumonia, diarrhea, wounds and injuries, %


 

&
 
and HIV/AIDS. We treat most cases with basic 
 
~&Y# #}@%

drugs and refer severe cases to the hospitals all the training and educating people with
Y
9 #~ the right information about HIV/AIDS, people
are more open and are coming in large
Mr. Lapar is assisted by Wara Tapi, a groups of 30 to 60 people. When we ask if
community health worker who was trained in they want one-on-one counseling, they say,
 Z%  
&ƒ#X#3 
 ‘It’s a waste of time, we are all here for the
January 2008. same reason, let’s have group counseling.’”

The villagers are very happy with the Mr. Jackson’s anxiety is also beginning to
renovated center, says Max Moto, the church ease. “I always assumed 30% of our workers
pastor and station manager. %    %      

Tackling HIV/AIDS
21

 Dr. Marie Aska with a patient at

Mount Hagen General Hospital:
Hard-pressed cope with a growing
number of patients
 spots where the rate is 30% to 40%,” he says.
“But we have tested 2,000 people in our
work force and our infection rate is 1.1%.
The project is making a difference because,
if we had done nothing, the infection rate
would be around 5%.”
from God. Jesus cared for the poor and the
sick. We have to help those with HIV/AIDS
and show that we care for them,” she says.
At the forefront of the battle against such
prejudice is Sister Rose Bernard, a feisty
American missionary who heads the Shalom
3 & 
 center at the Sisters of Notre Dame mission
role in the ADB project and, in Western station in Banz, a market town 60 km west of
9ƒ#X#3 
%%
 Mount Hagen.

 @…  
 3
>
center. !>
X  …  
&

one’s partner as the best way to avoid
However, the churches are constrained by HIV/AIDS but, as a realist, she also recognizes
an ambivalent attitude towards HIV/AIDS. the need for condoms to curb transmission of
Many priests and pastors—as well as their the disease through sexual contact.
congregations—believe that the disease is
God’s way of punishing people for sinful “I do not promote condoms for birth control,
behavior. “A lot of people say, ‘Let them die.


 3
3 … 
 

They’ve been going around. They haven’t of an individual to self-protection from


#ƒ& œ{~&Y#  life-threatening danger,” she says. “As a
who admits she also thought that way until counselor, I have to teach every method of
she started helping people with HIV/AIDS and protection, and it’s the people who make the
changed her mind. decisions.”

“We are trying to educate the church people.  }% ~   >3  
It’s not right to say that it’s a punishment gum tree with spreading branches and three
Impact Stories

22

 3  _%   

a Tingim Laip center outside Minz:
Understanding the dangers of
unprotected sex
 nervous-looking women are sitting on the
lawn under it. They are fearful as they have
come to be tested to see if they have HIV/
AIDS.
The youngest of the women, Julie, 23,
tells a common story. She was married at
20, abandoned by her husband not long
afterwards, and now has “a couple of
boyfriends.” She is “very scared” that she
them hope that they can still lead normal
lives.”Sister Rose, a slightly built and
energetic 77-year-old, has been conducting
HIV/AIDS awareness programs for 20 years,
long before it was perceived as a serious
threat.
“I read a magazine article in the late 1980s
about HIV in Africa and that alerted me to
the fact that if it came here, it would grow
might have been infected by one of her
% 
boyfriends. She lives with her parents, but
has not told them of her situation.
Such reticence is understandable because the
stigma attached to the disease is still strong
in these parts. Ignorance about HIV/AIDS is
widespread and many believe that testing
positive is tantamount to a death sentence.
Within minutes, however, a friendly and
persuasive Sister Rose, her green eyes brimming
with sympathy, puts the women at ease.
“We tell them not to be afraid. We tell them
HIV/AIDS is a sickness like any other and it
can be treated,” says Sister Rose. “We give
 % ~ &#!
holding retreats for people in different
villages, she began devoting one evening a
week to HIV/AIDS awareness.
As a woman talking about a taboo subject,
Sister Rose admits it has been challenging
trying to convince priests—and pastors—of
the need to talk about condoms. “People
don’t talk about sex openly,” she says, “But
it helps if you talk about it like an ordinary
thing, without beating about the bush as if
you are ashamed. People react in the way
you bring the message across to them.”
Her straightforward approach is paying
#}!

 

%&

Tackling HIV/AIDS
23

     Y_

Moto at the Aviamp clinic: Villagers
happy with the revamp
 disapproved of condoms, but many are
now beginning to recognize them as a
means of preventing the disease, she says.
Nonetheless, although more clergymen have
changed their minds privately, she wishes
they would address more of the sexual issues
from the pulpit, too.

In recent years, Sister Rose and her deputy,

Regina Wamp, have taken awareness-raising
and counseling to a new level by inviting
groups of HIV-positive women—and men—to
 %    >3   

with the nuns and each other.

“I started this after going around the villages

and seeing women calaboosed to the home,
looking after the family, the garden, and the
pigs. While their partners could go out with
their buddies, the women had no one to talk
to. They couldn’t talk to their husbands,
because their husbands would bash them
up,” says Sister Rose.

}; %&     % 

how to live with this virus. We needed
privacy, for when I go to their village they all
gather around to hear what I’ve got to say.
I also wanted more time as one day is not
enough to work with women and take away
their fear. I also needed suitable premises
and had to beg for 3 years before I could get
Impact Stories

the money to build this center.”

The result of her efforts, and funds from

the Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID), is a wooden bungalow
on stilts that includes two bedrooms which
24 can accommodate up to six people.

“Once they get here, they are very friendly.

They know that each one has the virus so the
bonding is right there,” says Sister Rose. “We
take away their fear and teach them how to
live a normal life with the virus.”

In addition to this therapy, the center hosts a

% Z & 3   % 
HIV/AIDS to “celebrate life,” says Sister Rose.

“More than 60 people come and they have

the run of the place. We play games, offer
prizes, tell stories, sing, dance, have a great
time,” she says. “It’s grown in number over
the years but we don’t have room for more
 >
X " 

   than 60. You need to have tickets, so some
those who come to see her: “We people make their own tickets—we have to
give hope that they can still lead
normal lives.”
  !


% ƒ 

“They relegated her to the piggery, threw medicine
at her, and forbade her to wash in the same river.”
lock the gate and put a guard in front to
keep out party-crashers.”
This embrace of people living with HIV/AIDS
has been remarkably effective, not only in
transforming the lives of participants, but
also in dispelling misunderstandings among
the community over how the disease is
transmitted.
Highlands: The mobility of laborers
and sex workers is a factor in
spreading HIV/AIDS
Tackling HIV/AIDS
—Sister Rose Bernard
Sisters of Notre Dame
25
positive, the woman said, her family had
ostracized her. They had relegated her to
sleep in the piggery, avoided touching her,
threw medicine at her, and forbade her to
wash in the same river as others.
Sister Rose did go to the village with the
woman and spoke with her family. “Once
they realized they weren’t going to catch the
virus through her, they accepted her back
>
X 

&

 ^ 

  into the home and allowed her to wash in the
ignorance about the disease. One young same river again,” she says.
woman, after spending a week at the center,
asked Sister Rose to accompany her home. On another occasion, Sister Rose visited a
She wanted the nun to explain to her family man with HIV/AIDS who was being treated as
%





  an outcast by everyone except his wife. “I
to another person except through sexual sat beside the man on his bed and gave him
contact. Since she had been diagnosed a big hug. When he started eating, I took a
  ! Y
9  ^ 

Impact Stories
At Mt. Hagen General Hospital, the lines for tests or
treatment get longer every week.
26 bite out of his kau-kau (sweet potato). Other
villagers had come in to watch. Actions speak
louder than words if you want to show people
that you can’t get the virus this way.”
Sometimes, too, an intervention can help to
save life. “There was a young man who had
dropped out of university in Port Moresby and
had come home to die in his sister’s house
because he was convinced he had HIV/AIDS.
He had gotten drunk on New Year’s Eve and
visited some girls. When he got the sweats
  

 ><3 

afterwards, he thought he had picked up
HIV/AIDS. He stopped eating and when I saw
him, he was just bones,” says Sister Rose.
“He refused to take an HIV test, saying
there was no need because he knew he had
it. So the only way was to trick him. I said,
the government’s concern:
It has also launched a nationwide
campaign to promote a new
and more affordable condom
‘We both know you have HIV/AIDS, but your
family will not accept it, so let’s get them
off your back and take a test. He agreed and
took the test. When I told him that he was
negative, he knelt down and held me by the
knees and thanked me as if I had worked a
miracle. I think he went back to university.”
Sister Rose believes that her awareness
programs over the years are paying off.
Some 70 to 90 people a month from all over
and, contrary to the trend of a nationwide
increase, the proportion of positive cases
has declined from 30% to 10%, she says.
She plans to build accommodation at the
mission station for a nurse to stay and
provide antiretroviral (ARV) drugs which are
“People were frightened of shaking hands
with me or sharing the same food.”
presently available only in Mount Hagen. “It
costs people 30 kina ($12) to come to Banz
from the mountains and another 10 kina ($4)
to get back and forth to Mount Hagen—and
they don’t have the money,” she says.
Meanwhile, an hour’s drive away in the
provincial capital, staff at Mount Hagen
*  &
Long-time patient
60 and 100 a day even though “HIV/AIDS
remains a big stigma in the villages and
people are afraid to come and be tested.”
One long-time patient who is doing his part
to counter the stigma by talking at public
meetings about his experiences is Thomas
  &ŒZ& Z 
 
General Hospital, where ARV drugs are collector.
available, say the lines of people waiting for
tests or treatment get longer every week. Originally from a village in the Southern
9Y#  &
   


To save patients embarrassment, the HIV/
AIDS unit—referred to as Tininga†[3‡
—is discreetly located in an unmarked
building that is fenced off from the rest of
the hospital.
“We started the clinic around May 2006 and,
after 1.5 years, we had nearly 1,300 patients
who were positive and were treating
‚‚  %
the virus in Port Moresby during the mid-
1990s after joining a party with two other
men and a woman. “We all drank beer and
shared sex twice each with the woman.
Who brought in the virus, I don’t know, but
the two men and the woman died and, in
1999, I developed full-blown AIDS,” he says.
“I was told, ‘If you live positively, you will
Tackling HIV/AIDS
live longer,’ so I followed that advice. I took
!X<~&# medication and kept my resistance strong.
Binga, who headed the clinic before being I have been on ARV drugs for 2 years now.”Mr.
transferred to the hospital’s main wing.   &% % 





“The number of positive cases in the clinic
rose in a year from 12 or 15 a month to
25 to 30. In a 55-bed ward where I now work,
% 
negative, is a regular speaker at venues
varying from mining camps to prisons. His
message is “that you need to think positively
and live with hope.” Encouragingly, he
   _ %  27
week,” says the 30-year-old medic regarded
by many as having a brilliant future. “We
have enough resources, but the problem
 !



 ƒ 

is growing. It’s an uphill battle and I am
Highlands: Risk of infection was a
guessing we are about a third of the way up wake-up call for management
the mountain. It may take years before we
reach a plateau.”

The Tininga clinic has only one full-time

medic, Dr. Marie Aska, who says she is hard-
pressed with the growing number of patients,
but the main hospital provides help when
necessary.

In the room next door, Gabriel Ning, a

community health worker who has been at

 
‹š& &
 ^%
patients has risen from a trickle to between
 notices that attitudes are changing slowly.
“Before, people were frightened of shaking
hands with me or sharing the same food or
plate as me but, after learning that it’s a
sickness like TB, polio, pneumonia, or cancer,
they worry less.”
2008 to distribute nationwide a new and
more affordable brand of condom called Seif
Raida (pidgin for Safe Rider).
The product was developed as a result of a
social marketing program, which involved
research into cultural preferences, pricing,
Although the condom is the most practical 


#}ƒ   

weapon against HIV/AIDS, its use is out what kind of condom the PNG population
“inconsistent,” according to the report of wants,” says Liesbeth Steuten, the Dutch

 @
!;>3
 @
 operations director for Population Services
Department of Health. One reason is kinks International (PSI), the social marketing NGO
in the supply system; another is the price.

…
 #1
“The government either can’t supply example, focus groups in four regions discussed
 

    a number of names and designs for the
in Port Moresby but they can’t get them out
to the provinces,” says Mr. Jackson. “You
couldn’t buy government condoms from the
pharmacies, only the expensive commercial
ones, like Durex, that workers cannot
afford.”
To address this problem, ADB launched a
$10 million program in the second half of
Impact Stories
condom packet before selecting one that shows
a couple embracing against a setting sun.
The new condom is being sold at 2 kina
($0.80) for a pack of four, subsidized under
a program funded by the PNG government,
ADB, AusAID, and the New Zealand Agency
for International Development. “We have
priced the condoms to be affordable,” says

In a national program,
condoms are being
28 distributed to
“hot spots” of
sexual activity

 #" Y 9 

General Hospital: “It’s an uphill
battle and we are about a third of
the way up the mountain.”
To improve targeting, research was conducted
on risky behavior.
Ms. Steuten, noting the price is between
commercial brands that sell for 2 kina ($.80)
each and free government-issued condoms.
Using well-established commercial channels,
the brand is being distributed to locations
that are “hot spots” of sexual activity, such
as night clubs, truck stops, hotels, and betel
nut markets, as well as local shops and drug
stores.
To improve targeting, PSI is also conducting
research to assess types of risky sexual
behavior among Papua New Guineans. As a
result, it is hoped the brand will sell better
than an earlier socially-marketed product
that had good initial sales with a low price
but failed to maintain sales after raising
the price. PSI is also committed to ensuring
that Seif Raida is available in rural areas, a
critical link to stemming an epidemic that
is growing faster in the rural areas than
in urban centers. So far, PSI has ordered
3.5 million of the new brand and expects to
provide 10 million over the life of the project
till 2010.
“There is a huge unmet demand for condoms,
 ^ 

&
 


& 9 
can people do? Should we not just provide
people with electricity and TV? These have
brought down birth rates in the west.”
All agree, however, that if ADB’s multi-
pronged attack—at national and provincial
levels—on HIV/AIDS is to succeed beyond
the life of the project, the provincial
governments must become more involved.
“Although the private companies
are managing the project, provincial
governments must assume more of a
leadership role to ensure sustainability,” says
Sakiko Tanaka, an ADB social development
specialist working on the project.
So far, Mr. Brenden reports good collaboration
with the provincial government in Oro, but
says more commitment is needed in the
other enclaves. Ironically, one cause for
government apathy might be the presence
of the private sector, he says. “They see the
private sector doing a good job, and it gives
Tackling HIV/AIDS
them an excuse to back off.”
As a remedial step, says Mr. Brenden, “We
are proposing to establish a public–private
sector partnership within the Ministry of



… 
# 

dispensers are frequently empty,” says is to strengthen the public sector response to
Ms. Steuten. HIV/AIDS.”
29
Others are less sure of the demand. “I have Overall, the project is “working well and we
an open mind on whether condoms will work need to work on the provincial government
here or not. Some men are against the use of

 

 
 
 
~
condoms because they feel it will encourage
their wives to play around by removing the
fear of getting pregnant,” says Mr. Jackson.
“Also, how many people in western societies
use condoms since the birth control pill was
introduced? When it’s dark in PNG, what else
says Mr. Jackson. “The incentive is the
opportunity to grow professionally. If anyone
proves to be a leader, he or she can grow
within the government or be snapped up by
the private sector.” „
 Brightening
the Night
Impact Stories

30

Rehabilitating lighthouses has made it safer to navigate largely

uncharted waters. The beacons also bring income to coastal

 

  
A
lotau, Milne Bay: The lighthouse A half hour later, a smaller beacon, with an
at Isulailai Point comes into view, arrowhead top, guides the dinghy into the
rising above mangrove trees to mark harbor of Samarai Island, a speck in the
the point where Milne Bay gives way    3>      


Lighthouses/shipping
to the open sea. a seat of power and commerce only a few
decades ago.

It has taken an hour to get here in a motorized These lighthouses—and many others—fell
dinghy from Milne Bay’s provincial capital into disuse after decades of neglect and
of Alotau, skidding along a choppy surface vandalism. Now they are working again—
^ 
&   #" &  repaired under the government’s
multitude of islands scattered over thousands Rehabilitation of Maritime Navigation Aids
of square kilometers of PNG’s still largely System Project, supported by a loan of
uncharted waters. $19.6 million from ADB.

Brightening the Night

31

 "&   ! 


A local tradition of ship-building has
helped the economy
     ;   > ! %> "  
+   3    %  _  
Strait vessels would crash or get lost

Lighthouses have reduced the number of local vessels

getting lost, especially in bad weather and heavy seas.

These restored lighthouses—38 in Milne Bay vessels lack basic life saving equipment like a
province and 167 across this archipelagic sail, or life jackets, or extra fuel.”
Impact Stories

nation—are helping both international and

local shipping negotiate waters that conceal The rehabilitation of lighthouses is a large
reefs and shoals as well as being frequently part of ADB’s overall strategy to help PNG’s
buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain. maritime provinces, many of which have
been neglected since independence and
1
 

 
  have seen rising levels of poverty. Another
32 sailing between Australasia and Asia, the  &

 

&
 3
&
lighthouses save time and fuel costs by ƒ

 
 
&
allowing them to take, for example, a ADB soft loan of 12.85 million in Special




 3>

 Drawing Rights, which seeks to improve
X 3  
 @+ shipping services in coastal provinces that
instead of traveling further out to the have become isolated through the lack of
Jomard Strait. such services. A third important component
of the strategy is the establishment of the
1
  %


 National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA)
boats, too, the lighthouses have improved as an agency dedicated to handling maritime

&
&&;  sector issues. Previously, the maritime sector
 %

 @
Y
 >
& came under the Department of Transport
!

&
  Z  
 3!
%  


 

agency charged with maritime safety to roads and aviation in terms of priorities
functions. “They have helped reduce and budget.
the number of local vessels getting lost,
especially in bad weather and heavy seas,” All these activities are revitalizing an ailing
she says. “Ships can drift off course and run sector as well as a geographically important
out of fuel. This can be serious as many local 

 
&#!X


 
“There are eyes
everywhere in
the bush. If they know
the lighthouse belongs
to someone, they will
leave it alone.”
—Julius Violaris
Businessman and Milne Bay resident
tasked with managing both the navigational
aids and coastal shipping projects, says, “I’m
very excited that we are bringing progress
to our maritime provinces, which have been
neglected for over 30 years, but where over

  
#
half the country’s population lives.”
In addition to acting as giant torches in the
dark, the lighthouses have had important
development impacts, both direct and
indirect, on the local economy.
Greek businessman, PNG citizen, and long-
time resident of Milne Bay who won the
contract to rehabilitate the lighthouses.
Both to protect the restored structures and
to help local communities, the government
is renting—or has bought—the land under the
lighthouses and is paying communities to
clean, maintain, and guard the lighthouses
against vandalism and theft.
By channeling funds to such communities,
the government hopes to instill a sense of
ownership—and this alone helps to deter
vandals. “There are eyes everywhere in
the bush but, if people know the lighthouse
belongs to someone, they will leave it
alone,” says Mr. Violaris.
Although the community development
component is crucial to the project’s
sustainability, it is, however, also the most

In general, the NMSA is paying 2,000 kina
($800) a year in rent for the lighthouse land,
which typically measure 10 meters by 10 on
land, and 20 meters by 20 in the water—
and another 2,000 kina a year to the
Brightening the Night
community for looking after the lighthouse,
1


 &   
 with a 500 kina ($200) bonus if there is no
  
#ƒ


 vandalism within the year.
 
 
 %& & 
 %%

# & 
 
&
 




 
to the bait more readily in the dark. The
 
 
   
 
trading and inter-island shipping, all helping
to lift the economy. 33

But the lighthouses are also directly

      
who have been tasked to safeguard and
maintain them. One reason why lighthouses
were damaged was that they presented
a tempting target to thieves. The solar-
powered batteries that ran them could
also be used in homes to save on expensive
kerosene bills. The lighthouses are also
vulnerable because they are often located in
lonely spots.

“Almost every lighthouse in Milne Bay had

been vandalized, so we have rebuilt the


 
 
 &

  
the batteries, even if people use an axe to
try and remove them,” says Julius Violaris, a
 ƒ


!
{> 
Bay: Vessels don’t generally leave
until they are full
 This might sound simple enough, but the But the outcome is rarely achieved without
issue of land ownership is frequently fraught 
&#}ƒ   &%Š#ˆ&
%
^

&%   each community. We focus on the lighthouse


&&Z% #!Y# committee, but we could also meet other
notes, “The procedure is for the government
to conduct a genealogical survey to identify
correct title owners of the land where the
 !"Z  

lighthouse is going to stand. Then it makes
a purchase or lease agreement with the
landowner. There is one set of landowners
initially, but when you want to do something
other owners emerge.”
Thus, the government began its community
development program well before
construction work began on the lighthouses.
“The idea is to convince the people that
we will deal with the problem with proper
procedures to allow construction to take
members of the community, sometimes
a few hundred,” says Ms. Inape, who was
  
and transferred to the NMSA, which took
over when the ADB project ended in 2008.
“The concerns of the villagers vary. Some
ask if there is radiation coming from the
lighthouse. Others worry that corrosion from
the structure might affect their farm land
even though the lighthouses are on rocks by
the sea. But money is the main concern and
they wonder if it is true that the payments
will come.”
On Samarai and its neighboring islands,
 ~&Y##}|   the villagers’ concerns were indeed largely
ownership issues remain unresolved.” # 
  
 
%


&


%
There are two phases of the program. The %  ^ 

  
 &


 Z&%  
  struck—and considered that they had been
 

&Y#<{  & treated unfairly.
went smoothly.

“We paid courtesy visits to make sure

everyone knew who we were before we
started rebuilding the lighthouses,” says
Adam Hay, an Australian in his late 20s who
implemented the program for Mr. Violaris.
Impact Stories

“In Milne Bay, every place has its cultural

differences, so our awareness program had
to be tailor-made to individual communities.
We also carried out the program in
Bougainville, where we had to be careful
because of the civil war in the 1990s. We
34 didn’t want suspicion acting against us, so
I went to each location and visited everyone
and distributed materials and made sure
everyone knew what we were doing.”

In contrast, the next stage of detailed—and

sometimes complex—negotiations over
agreements relating to the purchase or
rental of the land and to the upkeep of the
lighthouses demand painstaking efforts by
the project management unit’s community
     #

The purpose of the negotiations is simple:

to create a win-win situation whereby the
 &       
maintain the lighthouses and the provincial
government is spared the cost and headaches
of this task.
 }Y&       ! 
after dark.”
—Perry Dotaona
3` 

Samarai mirrors PNG’s colonial and post- Traders, administrators, missionaries, and
colonial experience and its sensitivity over adventurers soon transformed Samarai into
land issues. It occupies less than 60 acres, the second largest town after Port Moresby

       3>   in the vast territory of Papua. A short walk
endowed it, over a century ago, with an around the island tells the story of Samarai’s
importance all out of proportion to its size. dramatic rise—and abrupt fall. Derelict
Early settlers realized Samarai’s potential jetties, long-abandoned warehouses, and a
as a trading port and stopover between   !3
%  
Australia and East Asia—and obtained the to an era when Samarai was an administrative
island for a pittance. “Local lore has it that center and port-of-call for ocean-going ships
the early colonizers paid only a cow bell and 
% >& &"
 3 %
an empty wine bottle for the island,” says Gizo, and Port Moresby. The island had a
3  &     governor, and even a penal colony.
 %   !"  #

Brightening the Night

 Y &>;
(left) and youths hang out near
the island’s pier (right): Economic
activity is on the rise

35
 This colonial period lasted over half a
century before coming to a sudden and
ignominious end. In the Second World War,
the colonial authorities, fearful that the
Japanese would capture the island, applied a
“scorched earth” policy, razing every facility
that could be of use. In the event, the
 

problem, he says, is that he would have
preferred to rent the plot, rather than sell it.
In other provinces, the NMSA rents lighthouse
plots; but in Milne Bay, the authorities
wanted to purchase the land, so landowners
%   &
 #1
 
Japanese never landed on Samarai. 
 
 


Today, children leap into the sea from rotting
planks and a humid breeze wafts among the
ruined go-downs. Beside the former cricket
  
  % Another complaint concerns the 2,000 kina
died in 1904, captures the jingoism of the
sunset days of the Empire: “His aim was to
make New Guinea a good country for
white men.”
Samarai has long since returned to indigenous
intervene as they did not dare go against the
wishes of the governor. “They bulldozed us to
sign the agreement,” says a local councilor.
($800) a year levy that the NMSA has been
paying since 2006 to the lighthouse committee
on Logea, a neighbor island, to cover the costs
of lighthouse inspection and maintenance.
Any funds left over are supposed to go toward
 


 

 
&


rule—PNG has been independent since
September 1975—but today, a different sense
of injustice rankles among landowners.
Sitting under an ancient kokomo tree that
there has been no surplus.
Despite such dissatisfaction, all are in
agreement that the lighthouses have helped
revive the local economy. “Since they were
is often used as a meeting place, one of the


landowners, Tony Haridia, says the national
government paid him and his clan 14,000 kina
($5,600) in 2007 to purchase the land on
which the Samarai lighthouse stands. The
Impact Stories
_ &  
travel to Alotau or the other islands after
dark,” says Perry Dotaona, a councilor for
Logea, which has a population of more
than 500.

“Our lifestyle has changed very much.

Even people’s diets are changing.”
—Reverend Albert David
36  ‰ 3

 ƒ   > 

Bay: Sheltering from the sun while
waiting for a ride
 €   | 3   1 >;" 
But lifestyle is also changing quickly     

“Many of the local people, mostly of the “Without lighthouses, I could get frightened
+

    in a storm and sometimes wasn’t sure where
produce—tapioca, kau-kau (sweet potato), I was. At the beginning of last year, I ran
bananas, and other fruit—to Alotau and other onto a reef,” he recalled. Around Woodlark,
places and are becoming better off,” says where he comes from, there is no lighthouse
Mr. Dotaona, a slim, moustached man with and he has to rely on his knowledge of local
a brightly colored billum (shoulder bag) conditions.
hanging from his neck. “Many people are now
building semi-permanent houses made of 1| 3  
concrete and weatherboard with corrugated since the lighthouses began working again.
iron roofs to replace the old-style wooden Squatting in his outrigger canoe, with one
houses with sago leaf roofs.”   
 \9 &
&}1    
    
On the mainland, too, lighthouses have with the lighthouse to make sure I don’t

   &#| 3    get lost, I catch two or three times as many

Brightening the Night

easternmost settlement on the mainland with 



&&#~Y#9 &&
a population of around 1,000 people, mostly   
 


   

% 
 has risen to between 400 and 500 kina
arrived from Suau and other outer islands.
Like most of PNG’s 800 tribal groups, this
community was once isolated by thick jungle,
but was self-contained, surviving though
($160 and $200) a week.
With the road also being upgraded, an
increasing number of people are coming by
# bus from Alotau and leaving for the islands
|
3 
    &
Today, its pattern of life is changing rapidly. !



 ‰
3# 37
1
  
  
 
vicinity which has led to an increase in all “This has become more of a transit point since
 
 
#[

 the lighthouse was repaired and with the
gravel road to Alotau, 56 kilometers away, is road opening up,” says the Reverend David.
being surfaced. “The lifestyle has changed very much. Even
peoples’ diets are changing. They used to
!
|
3 {

&
   

%
 & 
excitement as a 9-meter work boat,
crammed with passengers, arrives after
a long voyage from Woodlark, an outlying
island. Skipper Gaunadi Mukaisi, 28,
more rice and sugared drinks.”
Although there are disputes over land
ownership and the maintenance levy, all
jumps off, glad of the respite. “We did |
3 
  

it in 25 hours, which is quite good. If the revenue.
weather is bad and the currents are against
us, the trip can take 30 hours,” says the Just like the lighthouses, local shipping
wiry seaman. He has been making the round     
&

trip twice a month for 6 years and says the     &Y# 
restored lighthouses are a big help.  &%% 
 manager. Although commercial services “Once boats stop
operate between major ports such as Port
Moresby and Lae, they do not stop at the at isolated villages,
small ports in between because it is not
commercially viable. As a consequence, communities will have
many of these smaller communities have
become isolated and are deprived of trading
 
 

opportunities and social services. grow produce and sell
“Before independence, the government them in the capital.”
 
% ^
=  
vessels, and it built jetties under the
department of works. But in the past few
—Allan Lee
decades, many of these shipping services Portfolio manager
linking rural areas with provincial centers ADB’s Papua New Guinea
 ~&Y##};
   Resident Mission
isolated coastal communities, people can’t
trade or even visit their families. Schools in
these places miss out because teachers go to
the city on leave and can’t return for weeks around 40 jetties in underserved regions,
or months. It is the same for health clinic such as Manus, New Britain, and New Ireland.
orderlies. Medicines also can’t get in for lack The project is expected to spark economic
of transport.” 

&%
cocoa, coffee, palm oil, and betel nuts.
To remedy the situation, in late 2008, the
3
&ƒ

 

 “Boats don’t stop at isolated villages in these
ship owners to bid for contracts to operate provinces but once they do, the communities
seven routes. “Each route will be tested for % 
  
 
%
‹’

  ~&Y## agricultural produce and sell them in the
“Passenger and cargo fares will be subsidized
initially. We mustn’t make the subsidy too
big yet we also mustn’t make it so low that
Impact Stories
operators will shy away.”
One prerequisite for the project is to build
infrastructure—mainly jetties—in these
remote areas. The project aims to construct
38

provincial capitals,” says Allan Lee, Portfolio
manager of ADB’s resident mission in Port
Moresby. “The aim is to remove subsidies and
to let market forces take over if and when
the new routes become established.”
The project is targeted at 14 provinces,
but will not include Milne Bay, largest of
the maritime provinces, since it has a well-
established shipping sector and will serve as
a model for others.
Shipping is healthy largely because Milne Bay
has a strong tradition of ship-building, thanks
 `&3 
Abel, who established a mission station on

 %
 >
 

19th century. Mr. Abel believed in teaching
locals a variety of skills and, aside from
introducing cricket and choral singing, he
showed islanders how to build and maintain
small sailing craft.

Mr. Abel’s legacy can be clearly seen in

Alotau’s main harbor, Sanderson Bay, which
hums with activity. Workboats and banana
boats that ply Milne Bay’s many islands are
moored alongside cruise ships that travel

 3 9 &Y 1 _

 
 
  &
   @ &†  ‡
passengers wait for a ride: Regular
trips and good business

 %
   ^ _
   
 
leaving only when they are full.

Brightening the Night


  #Y 
 

%  Safer conditions and more frequent trips
women and children sit on the beach under  



&



the shade of umbrellas. operators. Standing by his 12-meter
workboat, the MV Triumph Alotau, veteran
Andrew Sarto, skipper of the cargo vessel captain Henry Morea, says he charges
Goodenough, has been navigating local 50 kina ($20) for a one-way passage between
waters for 35 years, and says business has Alotau and Goodenough, one of the most
increased since the province’s lighthouses northwesterly islands. 39
were repaired. Although his regular route
is between Alotau and Goodenough and the  %

 
^ _
 
Entrecasteaux Islands, he now does chartered timetables, leaving only when they are
runs at night for cargo companies, traveling full. Mr. Morea’s capacity complement of
as far as Misima or the Liciani archipelago, 36 passengers represents a hefty return even
which can take 48 hours one way. if the cost of a drum of diesel has gone up
to 600 kina ($240) from 500 kina ($200) over
“The lighthouses help me get my transit the past year. After deducting costs of diesel
bearings from A to B. It was much more (150 kina, or $60, for 50 liters), oil, and food




%


 
    %
 

especially if there was fog,” says Mr. Sarto. is handsome, he says.
“When the lighthouses were not working,
accidents were common and many lives were Many passengers are also making money.
lost. Some vessels would crash onto the Trader Noel Tomiyavau says he is doing
reefs, others would blow off course and get good business with regular trips between
lost.” He says the number of reported marine Goodenough, where he runs a store, and
accidents has fallen since the lighthouses !
#9 


 

%  _ # and takes back rice, sugar, and kerosene.
 One of the passenger ships, the Atolls Queen,
travels to several ports in Oro Bay province
and often sails at night. “The lighthouses
are very useful,” says skipper Haring Polang.
“Before that, it was risky, especially in the
restricted areas with lots of uncharted shoals
and coral reefs, where skippers have to rely
on local knowledge.”
The institutional strengthening aspect of
ADB’s strategy is designed to ensure that
reforms in the maritime sector will endure.
The NMSA, which was created under the
lighthouse project in 2003 and became
it raises revenues through shipping levies
and other sources, and is responsible
for maritime safety, search and rescue
operations, and environmental issues, such
as oil spills. In addition, it is slowly acquiring
technical skills, such as hydrographic
surveying and mapping, activities currently
undertaken by the Australian navy. Only 10%
of the country’s waters have been chartered.
It will take time for all the elements of the
ADB-supported strategy to come together and,
in the end, it is up to the coastal communities
to take advantage of the new opportunities.
operational in 2005, is being strengthened !Y#
} 
  

under the shipping project. The authority,
which is expanding in staff and capacity,
is not only taking over responsibilities
bequeathed by the projects. Importantly,
motivate people to participate in economic
development. That’s the only way to increase
production and access markets for the
produce and raise livelihoods.”

In the end, it is up to the coastal communities to

take advantage of the new opportunities.
Impact Stories

40

 Y  >;

The beacon in the background has
    
 X
 ; %   | 3  \9 &% 
to bid for contracts to operate new outrigger: Bigger hauls since he
routes    

In short, they need to follow the example According to the fable, the enchanting songs
of Nuakata Island where, the story goes, of the seductive Sirens lured ships’ crews to
the lighthouses have encouraged so many their rocky shores, only to be shipwrecked.
  %      %  In reality, however, the women of Nuakata
complain their men are abandoning them for have little to complain about for, when their
modern-day versions of the sirens of Greek husbands arrive home, it is usually with a
mythology. much larger haul. „

Brightening the Night

41
41
 1
Impact Stories

42
 > Z  

trochus are long gone from this
 Z 
   
Small shells and peanut worms are
all that are left

Several villagers have taken part in a community-based

management approach to conserve marine resources.
Restoring
the Reef
Over-fishing and destructive fishing practices are
depleting the richly diverse coastal waters and coral
reefs. Under an innovative program, several villages are

Restoring the Reef

taking charge of protecting their marine resources.

43

T
wo stretches of water reveal much of
the story of PNG’s declining coastal
resources—and of the efforts by some
communities to reverse the trend.
; 

350-kilometer (km) long, narrow island
province, it is a different scene. Half a
dozen men, holding nets, wade into the sea.
They are only 15 meters out, with the water
lapping around their waists. Within seconds,
  
 
 they catch several mullet, slithering and
of New Ireland, a group of men and women shiny. Shouting with triumph, they return to
are treading carefully in the ankle-deep the palm-fringed beach and start degutting
water, trying to avoid the razor-sharp edges 
   #
of broken shells concealed among the sea
 #;
 & &
 &
 The difference between the two locations is
some small shells and the peanut worms that that marine life is exhausted in one, while
feed on the grass. But the big prizes—sea it is recovering in the other. On the beach
cucumbers and trochus (sea snails whose
&    
}
thick shells are used for mother-of-pearl  


& Z 
 
{
buttons)—are long gone, possibly forever.
Two hours away, on the other side of
the mountain range that divides this
near town, very accessible, and there are no
restrictions or management of the reef. The
people who come here have no idea about the
importance of managing these resources.”
 By contrast, the village of Panakais on the “Some of our inshore resources have been
west coast has stuck white poles into the over-exploited, like beche-de-mer (dried sea
water to demarcate an area that is closed cucumber) and others, so this program is very

#[
&
 & % 
 important and the approach is good,” says
break the ban for a special occasion—there Sylvester Pokajam, acting Managing Director
is to be a feast the next day to accompany 
 @
1  !

&†@1!‡
  &%
_


 the semi-autonomous agency in Port Moresby
brought to these islands from Rome.
 %

 
&{  


 

 
#
The no-go zone is only one of several
restrictions that the residents of Panakais, ;@+
  
a tiny settlement of 300 people in thatched
homes among coconut palms and grey sand,
have imposed upon themselves as part of a
management plan drawn up with the help
of a local NGO. Other measures include a


nations, land is customarily owned by
communities and, for coastal villages,
this right extends to the sea in front of
them. “This makes it important for coastal
communities to take responsibility for their
%
 
 own resources,” notes Augustine Mohiba,
&
%
  
 @1!{ _ 
    
by torchlight at night. management.

This community-based management approach With a coastline of 17,000 km and located

to conserving marine resources has been in one of the most isolated parts of the
   3 1   %@+%    
Management and Development Project,  
  
 
&!"% Ÿˆ#› # coastal waters to prawns, tuna, and other
pelagics in deeper waters.
Seven communities in New Ireland—and
another 17 in the province of Morobe—were         
implementing this approach by the time the but the sedentary ones are particularly
project ended in 2007—and a further 37 were vulnerable as they can be plucked from the
on a waiting list to participate in the scheme.  
#1  Z 

      

Impact Stories

“Our project was to kick start this concept a source of ready cash as they can be sold to
and pilot it, and I’m happy that this has traders to feed a huge and growing demand
been achieved and we would like to see it     {X 
3†X3‡
replicated throughout the coast,” says Allan 93%  
 Z Z 
Lee, Portfolio manager at the ADB resident delicacy. Similarly, trochus and other mother-
mission in Port Moresby. of-pearl shells are simple to gather and
44

  

   
mode of transport in PNG: But the
livelihood of coastal villagers is
threatened by declining marine
resources
sell for export as decorative items and raw   & &  #
material for buttons. You stun them with the light and spear them
and off you go. Then we saw small boats with
As a result, however, both resources have outboard motors come in. Just the technology

  &  #X ^           
this, exports of sea cucumber plunged to reef,” says Mr. Walton, a former commercial
400 metric tonnes in 2005 from a high of  Z  Z  #
700 metric tons in 1991.
3  
    
!  
  *         
%
groupers, trevallies, snappers, and are the best breeders. “A mature grouper,
emperors—are also under threat. One reason which can live 35 years and sometimes much
    
  longer, are 50 or 60 times more fecund than
       & # a recently-mature 5-year-old grouper. You
take out the big ones, male and female,
} 
 …  Z and you essentially take away the spawning
a lot of this is the result of the impact of population,” says Mr. Walton.
technology on traditional methods,” says
Hugh Walton, a rangy New Zealander with Y    &%   
   +      %  #}ƒ    % 
! %%  
&  @1!  have huge species diversity, but the biomass
oversee implementation of the community- is not vast and many species are slow
based management program. breeding,” says Mr. Walton.

}+ %    

 All this translates into bad news for PNG’s
for only the past 20 or 30 years. Then they coral reefs, once among the most pristine in
brought in underwater torches and suddenly the world.
you can go out at night with spear guns. This

Restoring the Reef

“Some species of sea cucumber may be depleted
beyond a tipping point.”
—Michael Schmid
Marine biologist
45

 @    

 
  
 
 Z
      
  3 
    
Panakais: Stocks are rising after a
self-imposed village ban

“The coral reef is like an oasis. It’s a self- each year; but many think this is too little,
contained ecosystem,” says Michael Schmid, too late. Brian Green, general manager of
a German marine biologist who was a guest    &  
      @ 1  3   beche-de-mer situation is so dire that he has
Impact Stories

 ’‚‚›#}!    

 
 @1!’Z& 

consume algae, reducing its smothering harvesting them.
effect on coral, while the sea cucumber


 
 %
 
& “They should recognize that if somebody who
absorbing organic material from the seabed. makes his living out of selling sea cucumber
You also upset the balance if you take out recommends a 2-year closure, it must be
46
 
 
 Y%   serious. But you have to do these things to
and red emperor. In PNG, the ecology has make it sustainable,” he says.
been stable for so long that when it becomes
 

… 


  @1!’“Š&  
to recover.”


  #X
the authority’s executive manager for projects,
A March 2007 report on sea cucumbers in notes there is a political aspect to the issue.
New Ireland, carried out under ADB’s project “There are so many people who depend on

 @1!


  selling sea cucumber to meet basic needs,”
to 13% of 1992 levels, which had been
alarmingly low even then. “The concern with
sea cucumbers is that they need a certain
density to reproduce, so some species may
be depleted beyond a tipping point,” says
Mr. Schmid.
he says. This is also true. Papua New Guineans
are squeezed between a dearth of income-
earning opportunities and having to pay for
their children’s schooling and high prices for
many imported essentials, including kerosene,
clothes, radios, lamps, batteries, and canned
% 
     #
!    
 @1!
imposed a closed season on sea cucumber 3 &

@1! 
}
  
for 3.5 months from 1 October to 15 January further need to involve the community in the
    
% 
variety of vegetables and fruit:
But many coastal villages have
poor soil and limited crops—
   &

“Not enough was being done to educate people about

the damage they were causing to our resources.”

Restoring the Reef

—John Aini
Head, Ailan Awareness

overall management of the resources under transition from tribal to modern society at

   
 
~
 @1! breakneck speed.
states in a recent annual report.
However, carrying out ADB’s pilot community-
based management program in a country
like PNG can present formidable obstacles.
With some of the world’s most inhospitable
terrain, including soaring mountains clad
with near-impenetrable jungle, parts of PNG
47
In New Ireland, home only decades ago to
fearsome, cannibalistic warriors and one of
the last areas to be settled, ADB’s program
has been implemented by an NGO, Ailan
Awareness, which has strong local roots. Its
founder, John Aini, is a down-to-earth man in
his early 40s, who was born in New Hanover,
remained unexplored long after Africa had 
@ %; %  
unlocked its secrets. ‹›& @1!
&

  
  
#9 


So divisive is the topography that many of his NGO with a few supporters in 1993
its tribes—the country has an estimated because, he says, “I saw a lot of destructive
800 languages—lived near each other for 
 
  ;{

centuries without knowing of the other’s think enough was being done on educating
existence. Having gained independence people about the damage they were causing
from Australia only in 1975, PNG’s 6 million to our resources.”
population has also had to make the
 “Over the years, some

   
and it took longer to get
a sizeable catch.”
—Marcos Nges
Village elder

Then, as now, the challenge of raising

people’s awareness takes on another edge
when it involves traveling through the
jungle or on the open seas to visit isolated
communities.

A trip by banana boat, the common mode

  
%  @ %
Hanover, for example, can vary between
}  %     
the sea is rough,” says Mr. Aini. With limited
resources, he and his colleagues sometimes
ran out of fuel—and food—and had to rely on
passing boats for help.

A community-based management program

typically starts with a “road show” and this  3& %  
can also be a challenge. Ailan Awareness Walking long distances is part of life
Impact Stories

members take a generator and projector in remote parts of New Ireland

onto the boat and, when they arrive at a
village, hook up the equipment, string up a
sheet between coconut trees, and project
images on the sheet. If something goes wrong
with the equipment, they have to rely even
48 more heavily on other instructional tools like he has been stranded here before, sometimes
staging plays or role playing, handing out at night.
comics, or putting up posters.
Bursts of rain also hold up this journey—the
!’Z 
%
!!%   pick-up seeks shelter as the Ailan Awareness
 

 staff are getting soaked at the back of the
 
 #;


 Z
 
 vehicle. The only other people on the road
stage proceeds smoothly on a surfaced road are walking. Women carry poles across their
built, remarkably, a century earlier by one shoulders, weighted by bundles of fruits

 


 
 +  and vegetables. Everyone smiles or waves in
  1…"& greeting.
who somehow persuaded different tribes of
headhunters to construct what became the ;
  

 ^  
 

 

     # world is strong. The west coast is home
to the “shark callers,” men who undergo
The next stage, a dirt track over the 


 
 
&
mountains, is trickier and, as the pick-up
struggles, Mr. Aini notes that this path turns
into a quagmire during the rainy season and
chanting incantations and beating the water
with a rattle, draw sharks to the surface
where they are trapped or bludgeoned.
 In the past, small and stable populations
hardly made conservation necessary, but
 

 
 
&
growing populations have changed the picture.

A village elder, 70-year-old Marcos Nges, wearing

a traditional necklace of white mis shells
(often used as currency) and laplap (sarong),
     % %    #

}ƒ ;%  % &  

we would lower a meter-deep net into the
%   

ones like Maori wrasse and double-headed
 ~ &}ƒ %  
to feed our family—with enough left over for
other families as well.”

But over the years, he says, some of the

      
and longer to get a sizeable catch.

Thus, much of what they heard when the

@+[   ’& 
struck a chord with villagers.

} &   %&%&% 

  %&% 
    % ~&
1"%&%  ZZ

Restoring the Reef

pepper beard who is chair of Panakais’
management committee.

“Some traditional methods are not always

best,” says Thomas Gloerfelt-Tarp, an ADB
principal natural resources specialist and
marine biologist who helped design the
project. As an example, he cites a local
Around Panakais, parts of the jungle and
   %    49
sea are masalai (spirit) areas—off-limits for around the time of a full moon, it is an
 #! Y      #};    
belief, the spirits might harm trespassers.    &   & 
Waters declared tambu (taboo) by village spawning and that is exactly the time when
chiefs often include those with strong and &{ 
# {%&%  
unpredictable currents or high-breaking methods based on science,” he says.
waves with a rocky coastline.
Sitting on a log in the sand and chewing betel
Such traditions also act as a conservation nut leaves, Mr. Bolaf says the community, in
measure, as can customs that discourage        
%     has also agreed not to mine the coral reefs.
 %   %     Villagers like to grind coral into a white powder,
says Robert Melki, an Ailan Awareness staffer %  & ^  #
who is from Panakais. “Some believe that if Now they buy coral powder from outside.
 %&  % % 
is with child, the devil will follow him back, Helping villages such as Panakais develop a
and turn his unborn child into a monster.”       € 
patience, says Mr. Aini.
      
It took time, but villagers have
ownership of a project to protect  3  | %  
their coastal resources protect their future

“The important aspect is that villagers take such as replanting mangroves or mending
ownership of the project. Our role is to 
#
facilitate and support, but the program is
conducted at the village’s pace,” he says.
The initial road show, if the villagers are
interested, is followed by several other
One of the trickier aspects of implementation
is enforcing the village laws. An elder tells
Mr. Aini that a villager was recently caught
meetings.  
#  

 ‹‚‚†Ÿ‚‡#9%   
 
“At their request, we go back and talk to offender could not pay, he was made to clean
Impact Stories

the leaders again, as well as youth groups the church grounds for 3 days.
and the older villagers,” says Mr. Aini. “We
go to the schools, for the young are more 1  #}   
adaptable and they are tomorrow’s leaders. in Panakais requested for training and
But the young have not lived long enough €    &
&  
to notice changes on the reef, whereas the reef. We did give one training session, but we
50 older ones have. We also talk to men and couldn’t afford more training or equipment,”
women separately because they see the says Mr. Aini.
situation differently. The men will talk about
   &#!% Similarly, the NGO helped the community
%&   {              
children.” * &   Z% 
a little offshore—to gather, making it easier
Typically, a community elects a management       #% 
committee that takes charge of appointing well for several months, but there were no
subgroups, discussing problem-tree solutions, funds to replace it when it fell apart.
&%  
laws. The launching of a community-based Despite such setbacks, villagers say that the
management plan is the climax of a process conservation measures are working and that
that can take several months.      #

Afterwards, says Mr. Aini, follow-up Sitting on a bench outside her home,
work is needed, not only to make sure 3 >
    &Š‚
implementation is working but also to &      
provide technical support for activities % #} %   % % 
  ‰
 &"    &
  @ %;    %    
Marine life faces many threats threat from pollution

“A major reason the campaign works well is that

it appeals to the villagers’ concern for their
children’s future.”
—Hugh Walton

Restoring the Reef

1  

had it on the table only once a week. Now In Morobe, the second province covered

  
%   

 under ADB’s project, there was no NGO in
more often.”
Just as importantly, the community-managed
program has boosted village morale.
“We had feuds because some families
claimed ownership of the reef in front
of their property and they would resent

place to implement the program, and
Mr. Walton had to start from scratch.
51
“I hired people to do survey work and I ended
up with a core team of four guys in Lae
who are absolutely passionate about what
they doing and are really good at engaging
communities,” he says.
 
  ~&Y#"#
“Now we recognize that the reef is a
communal facility, for which we have joint
responsibility and from which we share the
resources.”
Morobe is more spread out than New Ireland
and its capital, Lae, is the country’s major
port and industrial center. The core group
formed a new NGO, Marine Resource and
†Y ‡1



So far, Ailan Awareness has facilitated three
community-based management plans on the
west coast of New Ireland, two on the Tigak
islands, and two in southern New Hanover.
Three other villages are ready to sign
management agreements and 17 communities
are “crying out to take part,” says Mr. Aini.
3 
has 17 management plans in place in Morobe,
with 20 communities on the waiting list, says
Mr. Walton. “In one area, we have seven
villages working together in one management
plan—this is amazing in PNG, where they like
to sit and bung (talk) and are not that good
at implementing.”
 }"  _   % 
took our road show to 35,000 people in
4 months, village to village, and we had a
huge impact,” says Mr. Walton.
One of the project’s most successful
communication tools has been a series
of comic books, printed in both the local
language, Tok Pisin, and English and
distributed to schools, communities, and
local governments. The comics cover issues
like reef management, closed seasons, sea
safety, and one, called Nina Catches It,
Mr. Walton says the project yielded some
lessons that could be applied in future. He
regrets, for example, that the project did
not conduct baseline surveys of community
management areas to gather indicators of
particular species and the health of the reef.
“We’ve had tremendous feedback, with
people saying, ‘It’s getting better,’ but it’s
all anecdotal and it would have been better
to have a more empirical study, based on
transect indicators, so that we could measure
the impact of our work,” he says.
 %
9;<=!;>

 

 Another drawback of the program is that,

  
#  while it has focused on getting communities


 
&%% 



   


all day without catching anything for her done to give them something in return, such
hungry son at home and, after encountering as alternative ways of earning income.
a purse seiner at anchor, agrees to exchange
 _* 
%
 Villages like Panakais are fortunate to
HIV/AIDs as a result.
A major reason that the community
management campaign works well, says
Mr. Walton, is that it appeals to the villagers’
concern for their children’s future.
“We talk to the older people, who always
have soil fertile enough to earn money by
cultivating a variety of crops, from copra,
betel nuts, and mustard plants to taro, yams,
bananas, and cucumbers. But many coastal
villages, with poor soil containing a mix of
broken coral and sand, cannot diversify
so readily.
&
  




#>%  Mr. Walton concedes that, “We have an
‘Grandpa, how do you want it to be for the alternative livelihood component in the
kids’ and, of course, they say they want the  
%% 
 

kids to have the same rights and access they  #~


 @1!
Impact Stories

have,” says Mr. Walton. “So we ask, ‘What implementing a cost-saving project in
are we going to do to turn that around?’ New Ireland to produce coconut oil as a fuel
That’s the challenge we put back to them.” alternative. This has led to looking at other

52

     +%

fruit and vegetables is an important
    

 9%

  
ways of saving energy costs, such as using and it was disgusting to see what they had—
solar light kits to reduce dependence on       … #~
expensive kerosene.
3   %  ‚ %
 @1!
 &   from 5 years ago, reckons Mr. Green, who
aquaculture activities for several years
&      
but development remains slow. Looking %#!     
at livelihood activities with potential, Mr. further and further away to earn a living.
Y
 % % Z He attributes much of the blame on “live
zones as one example, and developing ~ %   %  %     
  €   waters—and left it “like a desert.”
         
    
 # ;1
&’‚‚ 
  
appeared on the reef off the coastal village
3       &  of Malai in Morobe. It unloaded several small
of resource depletion. One major contributor boats, each with a crew reportedly equipped
 Z
  }  ~ with diving gear, cyanide spray bottles, and
entrepreneurs, spurred by heavy demand in crowbars.
Asian countries. In these enterprises, reef
       ;     
 @1! 
until a vessel collects and transports them,    & &Y 
  9# went out in dories to confront the Hong
Z     # & 
}1       three of the small boats as well as capsules
 &% ^     that allegedly contained sodium cyanide—and
 
&       handed them over to the authorities.
    X39#  %
     Z    !        @1!  
   ~   ! 3     %  } ~  
for International Agricultural Research in but the vessel was allowed to leave PNG

Restoring the Reef

a report. waters with its haul. In a test case, a group of
Y   
&@+[  3   
; Y#+ &}[ % |  `%3 &X 
caught operating here without a license and is taking the case to court, suing for a breach
their stock was put up for auction. I bought it  &#

53

 !!%   \

Aini and his children: He wants
marine resources to sustain future
generations
   1
Bolaf (right) talks with Esekian  <   Y@ }> 
Towon of Ailan Awareness     #~

“People in our communities are complaining of

   &
& 
  #~
—John Aini
Head, Ailan Awareness
Impact Stories

The episode underscores both a growing !  Z   
desire among coastal villages to protect their      & 
 
54 resources from outside poachers—as well Y#>#9     { % 
as the frustrations of trying to implement goes straight into the sea, causing algae, for
the law in a land with weak capacity and example, to grow rapidly and overwhelm the
governance among enforcement agencies. #1  …   
and the run-off of top soil from poor logging
New Ireland is another “hot spot” for illegal practices are other activities that jeopardize
     ;  marine resources.
; ‰  ‰  1
  3    
&   1  %      
‰ Z
 Y X   companies have been awarded licenses to
!   +#;  @1!    explore the seabed around New Ireland.
that only 5% of illegal vessels are detected by “If you dig up the seabed, the environment
 & # is altered. No one really knows what the
 %
 ~ &#
“People in our communities are complaining 3  *
%  
   &
& 
  temperatures and coral bleaching—is another
poachers, and really want to get their hands potential danger.
on them,” says Mr. Aini.
 ! 
Implementing the program faced  1     
formidable challenges pier

With the marine environment facing a  1!  [… 

multi-headed hydra, Mr. Aini confesses he has a wider program to formalize a
sometimes feels overwhelmed. “Sometimes policy framework for community-based
; ; 
  
    management and this project may include
the chair of one of our management areas at support for community-based management
 &           &Y##

Restoring the Reef

Maori wrasse in the sea grass, and someone “So there is demand. We see the value of
else at Pananaru says the sea cucumbers community-based management.”
have increased in size, and I feel better.”
As more communities decide to make
“Our reviews of the project during 
Z
 Z

implementation found the community-based  
 
 %&
management program to be working well,”
   


says Mr. Lee. “We would like to see the recover quickly.
community-based management program put 55


 
%

 @1! } 

 
&

&   consumption worldwide may be 20% of what
departments. The NGOs should upgrade they were, but if you had a complete ban on
themselves and become more like the
 & 
private sector, bidding for contracts from the
provincial governments.”
Although ADB’s project ended in 2007, its
Š& 
considerably, and it would make very good
economic sense,” says Mr. Gloerfelt-Tarp.
“The oceans would be teeming again and this
 &  

work may continue through another agency. techniques to harvest them sustainably.” „

3     %&

 
   €&#
Profiles of Progress—Papua New Guinea

This collection of colorful stories shows the human side of development projects in four key sectors—roads,
primary health care and HIV/AIDS, navigational aids/shipping, and fisheries. They reflect the many challenges
faced on the ground—as well as the ingenious and resolute efforts to overcome them.

About the Asian Development Bank

ADB's vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member
countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region's
many successes, it remains home to two thirds of the world's poor: 1.8 billion people who live on less than
$2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty
through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.
Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for
helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants,
and technical assistance.

Asian Development Bank

6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City
1550 Metro Manila, Philippines
www.adb.org
Publication Stock No. ARM090682 Printed in the Philippines