The Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership in collaboration with the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) is supporting an initiative by the West New Britain Provincial Government to boost financial literacy.
Fifty-one women and men from the Talasea District took part in a two-week intensive training on financial literacy conducted by the BPNG’s Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion Initiative (CEFI) - a component of the Cocoa Livelihood and Financial Inclusion Project.
The Australian funded Cocoa Livelihood and Financial Inclusion Project aims to improve smallholder livelihoods through strengthening the business competency of farmers through financial literacy and business management training.
Those certified are now able to train over 800 smallholder farmers from cooperatives and women’s groups across 12 Local Level Governments in the Province – which is consistent with the Provincial Administration’s vision to support farmers and businesses.
The CEFI graduation ceremony was held in Kimbe and was attended by Governor and local MP, Francis Maneke, the Governor for Bank of PNG, Loi Bakani, and Australian High Commission First Secretary, Amanda Young.
During the ceremony, the Governor commended the Australian Government for backing his Government’s vision of empowering people through supporting financial literacy.
MP Maneke commended the graduates for successfully completing the training program.
“Through the CEFI initiative the number of people with formal bank accounts will increase,” Maneke said.
He added, “With this training, as the money you earn and save increases, you will be able to make more effective decisions for your businesses which in turn will drive our local economy.”
Australia’s support to the District through the Cocoa Livelihood and Financial Inclusion Project includes cocoa husbandry training, construction of a commercial grade storage shed, construction of a dryer, and provision of rainwater tanks to provide irrigation for the planned 35,000 cocoa seedlings to be distributed among farmers in the District.
