Minister for Community Development

He says the information shared during the launching of the Churches Database System and Application was misinterpreted and incorrectly reported.

He clarified that church grants for 2019 is K10 million and not K155 million as reported.

Eoe emphasized that the K155 million was the total of government grants from 2009 to 2014 when the PNG Church State Partnership Program came into existence.

Reuben Aikea has now moved up the ranks, succeeding Norick Luio whose 3 year contract expired in June 2018.

Aikea, an evangelical pastor and dentist by profession, was an employee of National Youth Development Authority prior to his appointment as head of the agency.

Minister Eoe said Aikea’s appointment was done according to government procedures.

Minister Eoe thanked the outgoing Director General for the work he did in implementing youth oriented programs and addressing youth related issues in a bid to improve lives in the country.

Gore said if she retains the Sohe open seat after the elections, working more closely with the Provincial Governor and Government is something she longs to see.

She said cooperation will provide for counterpart funding of services to people in the Province.

“Counterpart funding is really the way forward for the province. Because we are serving the same people from the district and the provincial level.

“It’s something that I’m really looking forward,” Gore said.

The strategy aims to strengthen the work on GBV in order to achieve zero-tolerance towards GBV by 2025 and as per PNG Vision 2050.

The GBV Strategy was endorsed by the National Executive Council on December 15.

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Religion Delilah Gore said the strategy does not reinvent structures and processes.

The GBV strategy builds on existing interventions at national and sub-national level to secure government ownership and a stronger focus on coordination and monitoring for quality.

The strategy, endorsed by the National Executive Council, adopts a rights-based approach and takes into account all forms of violence committed on the basis of gender.

A technical working group did research and consultation for the first draft and worked on the implementation strategy and the budget.

Secretary for Religion, Youth and Community Development Anna Solomon said this is a big step forward for the country in collectively addressing GBV in PNG.