Secretary for the Department of Community Development and Religion, Jerry Ubase, recently thanked the Government for allocating funding in the 2022 National Budget to address gender-based violence (GBV).
Speaking at the second meeting of the National Gender-based Violence (GBV) Advisory Committee on December 14th, Ubase, who is also the chair of the committee, outlined that the Department was allocated K7.93 million.
“For the first time, we received a substantial budget from the Government to address GBV,” he stated.
“We have tried to use that money effectively. Most notably, we awarded grants to 13 NGOs, in partnership with UNDP, from provinces across Papua New Guinea to support their efforts.
“We are committed to using the 2023 national GBV budget to expand those efforts and help more GBV survivors.
“That funding was used to support the establishment of the National and Provincial GBV Secretariats, support the development of Provincial GBV Strategies and to provide grants to 13 local NGOs to implement activities aimed at addressing GBV and Sorcery Accusation-related Violence.
“The Department has chosen UNDP as a principle partner in delivering initiatives with this funding.”
Ubase further said the community development team is committed to building on the work they started last year to have an even bigger impact in 2023.