PEANUT FARMER ON APEC EXPERIENCE - 2018

A peanut farmer from the remote Arou village of Lake Kopiago in Southern Highlands Province was among women from the SME sector that converged at International Convention Center to showcase their produces and their work in their respective communities during the third Senior Officials meeting. Julie Alo who came under the Advancing PNG: Women Leaders Network is a trainer of trainers on Leadership and good governance training program in Hides and Juha areas. ‘’I came not only to participate but observe what the discussions are about. I’m thankful to those brave women who represented small holder women farmers and did a presentation on women’s participation in Agriculture. The economies that were present clearly got the message. From time to time the voices kept on re-emphasizing on partnership and networking among other economies. I’ am also happy that our very own authorities were present to hear our needs’’, she said. Peanut farming has generated a lot income in her local community, encouraging women to participate in this important resource in Lake Kopiago. ‘’That’s the only way of seeing women earn income through this venture. I came to display our peanuts because I want other people to see our produce so we can make contacts with them. And create network to a bigger scale’’, Arou said.

Julie Displaying her peanuts. Apart from the peanut farming programs, other skills programs have been introduced to complement their ventures. ‘’I introduced life skills training programs, thought them to sew, basic book keeping assisted in starting a girl’s bible college in my village, a woman training centre and other training centre in Hides and Komo’’, she said. She has worked over with over 75 women into both Hela and Southern Highlands provinces, with the never-ending support from developers ExxonMobil and Oil Search Limited. But they did not rely on developers or their respective provincial governments to pay for everything. They have contributed money to start aid posts, build houses for staff and schools among others. With these initiatives developers such as Oil search and others have stepped in complete the projects.

. Some of the products displayed by other women. They had to be self-reliant and provide services from themselves, through the hard work of women in their community few basic services have been restored. ‘’An aid post that was closed for 15 years has reopened, because of Ralf Stone Award she got from attending ExxonMobil funded Global Woman in Management program run by Plan International USA in Washington and contribution of mothers. We built houses for the staff and are expecting two health officers to mend the aid post. While the self-reliance projects are working, women are now enjoying the benefits of sewing. They are able to sew clothes for their families or to sell. ‘’I am happy, that I was able to share our stories with few delegates that came by our stall. They were satisfied with our self-reliant projects and what women are doing. I hope that after this meeting we will be able to see a lot of projects implemented in the rural communities. END!! Note: Julie was on the women selected from her province to display her products during APEC SOM3 at the Convention Centre in 2018.