Women and rural livelihood training: a case study from Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The Integrated Agriculture Training Program (IATP) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) aimed to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in the East New Britain Province, by providing targeted training and information services to both men and women. While this AusAID-funded project is now complete, the programme has continued on a self-funding basis. This article describes how the IATP attempted to ensure the integration of rural women's interests, and respond to their needs in a country where gender inequality prevails, and where rural extension programmes have traditionally focused on men. The article argues that despite the programme having considerable success in implementing appropriate training for women, meeting the needs of rural women, and making positive impacts on women's livelihoods, its success in responding to gender concerns has been limited by constraints which are themselves due to gender inequality. These constraints are: lower-than-anticipated participation of women in the courses, the lower educational level of women, and difficulties women have in implementing changes to their livelihoods after training.

This article was written jointly, and the order of author listing was decided with the toss of a coin

This article was written jointly, and the order of author listing was decided with the toss of a coin

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge with thanks the following groups and individuals: Dr Jeff Coutts and Peci Lyons (Monitoring and Evaluation), David Macfarlane (formerly UniQuest Pty Ltd), UniQuest Pty Ltd, AusAID, Dally Liu, Hosea Turbarat, and other Kairak Vudal Resource Training Centre (KVRTC) staff. Thanks to Ben Mullen (UniQuest Pty Ltd) for helpful comments on a draft of this article.

Notes

This article was written jointly, and the order of author listing was decided with the toss of a coin

1. The ‘informal’ sector includes small enterprises and micro-enterprises that ‘operate outside recognised and legal regulatory frameworks’ and are operated by self-employed producers, often with support from their families (Chung 1997, 5). On the other hand the ‘formal’ sector includes income-earning activities which operate under more formal legal and regulatory arrangements.

2. In this article we define ‘people-centred’ training as training that is designed with the trainee's input (for example through training needs analysis, pilot training, and monitoring and evaluation) to meet the learning needs and interests of the trainees. Furthermore, ‘people-centred’ training uses learning methods that encourage people to take responsibility for their own learning through their active participation in the training activities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miranda Cahn

Dr Miranda Cahn is an independent consultant who worked periodically between 2003 and 2005 with the IATP. Postal address: 19 Karen Lane, Christchurch, New Zealand

Mathias Liu

Mathias Liu is a lecturer at the University of Vudal, PNG, and was a component manager of the IATP. Mathias is currently completing a PhD at Lincoln University, New Zealand