Pomio is among two districts in East New Britain Province that have been chosen to benefit from a German government-funded program; the IKI (Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative/International Climate Initiative) PacFresH2O project.
The project is funded by the German international aid agency known as GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit/German Corporation for International Cooperation), and a team, including partners like the South Pacific Community.
They are currently in the country to collect data and engage with relevant government agencies, like the Project Management Unit for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) project at the National Department of Planning and Monitoring, Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) and WaterAid PNG.
The selection of the two districts came about following a pre-design workshop held in February, where WaSH and government climate stakeholders used guidelines to choose Pomio and Rabaul; among 13 districts in PNG.
The climate adaptation project aims to enhance the climate resilience of rural communities by improving access to water and sanitation, as well as protecting water resources.
It has a funding package of 10 million Euros or almost K50 million, and will be rolled out over a seven-year period.
The project also seeks to strengthen gender justice at the community level and enhance livelihoods in rural communities.
Following a scoping mission in East New Britain last week, Sinivit LLG Environmental Health Officer (EHO) John Piga said the visiting team only managed to do inspections in Sinivit LLG due to accessibility.
“We were the two districts that managed to establish WaSH committees at the district and provincial level, because we met the criteria to be a recipient of the project. So, after the MoU signing by our two district administrators this year, the scoping workshop and inspections were conducted to find out the status of the WaSH program in the two districts,” he explained.
The two districts will be provided K250,000 each to do baseline surveys in the LLGs. This will formulate the budget for the WaSH plans for both districts, as per potential identified project sites.
“The inspections by the team to the Sinivit LLG was done at Sunam ward, where we visited Warangoi Rural Hospital and the secondary school, as well as a community at Rum Jungle to see if their water sources were safe and accessible. After the surveys and scoping works, they themselves will do the design and costings and also manage the project,” Piga added.
Additionally, Piga outlined that the two districts are taking ownership of the project through their WaSH district programs and are assisting the project with funding under the District Services Improvement Program (DSIP).
“The funding support from the districts is to aid the project implementation,” he stated.