Peer workers like Lina based in Lae City, Markham, and Bulolo are working tirelessly to support Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals and that is Goal 3: Ensure Healthy Lives.

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Climate Smart Farming in Usino - Madang, Papua New Guinea.

Our intervention is timely as climate change continues to have a massive negative impact on all traditional ways of farming – in this case, the cash crop farming of cocoa.

Janet says, project staff and farmers are currently working on her daughter's cocoa block and will eventually move to her block. She says she's been advised to clear her block and plant vegetables under overgrown cocoa trees to prepare for pruning to be done with a chainsaw.

Life for young youths Joshua and Stanley, both 24 -years old has not always been easy after they both dropped out of school in 2020, later that year they found themselves on the streets of Lae, joining gangs and getting involved in illegal activities to make ends meet.

World Vision through the MRAC project supports the National Vaccine Roll-Out Plan through various means, and one of them is by supporting Community Leaders around the National Capital District to carry out COVID-19 awareness in their respective communities.

Ngariawang village was recently declared an Open Defecation Free (ODF) community.

Run down hospital now improved through WasH Project.

Bernadine and Roselyn are attached to the Caring for Nutrition project which has ceased implementation; however, the duo pledged to continue helping women in their communities.

At the current price rate, 1 kilogram of cocoa is equal to 1.75 Great Britain Pound (GBP) which translates to around 7 PGK. In the case of Marex, his 5 kilograms would earn around 30 PGK. (6.98 Pound sterling) or (12.17 Australian Dollars).

In local currency, 30 PGK cannot sustain a family for more than a day.

Although Marex was dissatisfied with his current rate of production and income earned, he is also excited and believes that the current project will steer farmers in the right direction considering their production rate and the CPB scare.

As a mother who works in more than three food gardens to earn an income for the family, Janet is grateful for this project and believes that it can help improve their lives and enable women to shift from gardening to other income-earning opportunities through this cocoa project.

When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was so worried that I just cried my heart out. I felt very sympathetic for my 10-month-old son, Stevenson. I had mixed emotions; uncertainty about how to look after my son and I felt ashamed because my situation contradicted what we trained mothers in the communities. 

The Bougainville Economic and Health Resilience (BEHR) Project is implemented in 5 Districts in both Central and South Bougainville by World Vision with funding support from the New Zealand Government.

In his role as a Village Health Volunteer (VHV), Francis identified 11-month-old Julian, a severely malnourished child born to a teenage mother, who also has a second child.

Francis says he gathered the villagers and encouraged them to help the child and his mother by making a backyard garden for the family.

The GESI component comes along to educate men and women in these communities to better understand their roles and how they can support each other in their homes, as well as counter any negative gender issues that may arise in the family hence benefitting the most important group, the children.

As a result of the cooperative work between project staff and members of Rumba village, the village has reached its open defecation free (ODF) status and has been declared as ODF on 21st May 2021.

Norman is affectionately known as “the doctor” in his community at 9mile Jimi Block. He does not have any formal medical qualifications, and dropped out of school after year 12, however empowered and equipped with his knowledge gained through the World Visions ‘Caring for Nutrition’ (C4N) Project, Norman has been accorded the title by the residents  of his community.

Previously, counselling and testing has been left to clinicians but this will be changed because, members of the Key Population are now equipped with skills to counsel their peers in communities that they work with.

600 school children who took part in planting 700 mangrove seeds along the coastline of Riwo in Madang Province to celebrate World Environment Day on June 11, with the theme - Ecosystem Restoration.

 Stirring a thirst for rice farming in Madang province - 

Much smaller in stature than your average 2-year-old, we met William and his father Lawrence outside their family home in Pariro village, Buin District of South Bougainville. A couple of months shy of his 3rd birthday, you would not think anything wrong with this bright-eyed little boy.

Backyard gardening is an initiative of the Caring For Nutrition (C4N) project in Port Moresby communities of 9 mile and Hanuabada. According to Project data (2020), it has inspired an improved livelihood of an estimated 10,000 people.

The project is supported by the PNGAus Partnership and implemented by World Vision who work closely with the National Department of Health (NDoH), PNG Women’s Microbank and the Department of Agriculture of Livestock.

She was inspired and motivated by other health workers treating her at the clinic and shared her interest with one of World Vision's TB Treatment Supporter Supervisors that she loves the job he is doing and would like to do that same after completing her medication.

She remained faithful with her daily medication and was declared cured on December 18, 2020.

Inspired by intervention from the Klinpela Komuniti project, Angela rallied a charitable donation from the community members to support the purchase of cement for the construction of toilet slabs.

The plastic compound now has an entire household of over 30 households with safe toilets, installed with Sato pans.

Situm primary school is the biggest primary school in Nawaeb District of Morobe Province with an estimated one thousand student’s enrolled and 30 teaching staff with a limited amount of access to sanitation facilities.

They were using a semi-permanent classroom where the students sat on the floor during classes. Ms. Kwanean did not know how to create a School Learning and Improvement Plan (SLIP) for her school and had no experience in school administration. So the thought of building a classroom seemed like an impossible task.

This was until Together for Education's intervention brought to them the SLIP training. Ms. Kwanean together with the school Board of Management Chairman Michael Kupik and the PNC Chairman Paul Magan were trained on how to create a SLIP and how to execute their plans. This training was an eye-opener for Ms. Kwanean and her community representatives.  

More than 90 Morobe health sector workers have completed practical training to boost immunization coverage and reduce the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases in the province.

Participants improved their ability to administer new vaccines and manage the logistics of immunization outreaches, which will help to reduce illness, disability, and death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, measles, tetanus, and others.

By 2020, the Accelerating Immunization and Health Systems Strengthening program aims to increase national immunization coverage from 30 percent to more than 80 percent – the recommended rate to reduce and prevent illness, disability, and deaths.

The impacts of diseases like polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and measles can last a lifetime and for new mother Sophia this was a major motivation to get her baby immunized. 

Vaccine-preventable diseases can lead to disabilities or death – depriving people of the ability to fulfill their potential as contributors to their families, communities, and country.

World Vision in Papua New Guinea (WVPNG) has joined the government of Papua New Guinea to prevent COVID-19 in the Western Province of the country. The Western Province is border province where Papua New Guinea shares a sea border with Australia.

The PNG Government passed a bill to extend the PNG's state of emergency for another two months due to COVID-19 outbreak. “I'm feeling bored at home. I miss my friends. It's been so long already, when will this end,” says 12-year old Ruthie.

World Vision's Child-focused Disaster Risk Reduction project in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea works with children in schools to educate them on how to protect themselves during disasters.

Edward Kamuai is a lead cocoa farmer, buyer, and distributor in World Vision's Productive Partnerships in Agriculture project in Bougainville. 

As a TB treatment supporter, our role is to take care and love our patients, smiles Musato. She was once a TB patient who was cured and now works as a TB treatment Supporter with World Vision in Daru, Western Province, Papua New Guinea.

In March 2018, a month after the 7.5 magnitude earthquake devastated the Highlands Region in Papua New Guinea, I was deployed as an Emergency Logistics Officer to assist in the relief efforts of World Vision.

In 2018, World Vision responded to the call to assist survivors of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. One year after, with funding support from the New Zealand Aid Programme, World Vision was able to address the water, sanitation and hygiene needs of 22 communities around the Mt. Bosavi area, protecting the health and well-being of men, women and children in the affected areas.

This year’s theme for the UN certified International Day of Rural Women is, “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”. Gender equity and the empowerment of women and children is a priority area for projects initiated by World Vision and its partners in PNG, to in turn support the development aspiration of the Government of PNG.