Program raises Papuan women’s stature

Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Paniai, Papua | Wed, 05/26/2010 10:31 AM | The Archipelago

The move to involve women in community development has gained momentum in Painai regency, Papua, with a training program specifically targeting women.

The Raising Her Voice program is run by the People’s Welfare Development Foundation (Yapkema) in Paniai with Oxfam GB Papua.

It trains 30 women from Mee and Moni tribes from the regency’s three districts — Obano, Enarotali and Bibida — to encourage them to take part in development programs.

One of the women, Emiliana Songgonao, said the program focused on governance and sharing responsibilities between men and women within families, communities and the regency administration.

She said the program helped raise awareness among women in the past year, such as on their rights

to healthcare and education and allowed them to take part in development.

“I understand my rights through the training and I can voice my concern to the Paniai government,” she told The Jakarta Post in Bibida district.

The administration has also backed the program through the recent signing of an MoU with Oxfam and Yapkema on the empowerment of people’s welfare, gender equality in the implementation of public policies, and the improvement of human resources.

However, despite the signing of the MoU at the regency level, the agreed points have not been implemented by officials.

Local health agency secretary Usman Busa said his agency had worked with NGOs, including Oxfam and Yapkema, to improve health services.

In Paniai, he said, his office trained villagers to become volunteers at integrated health centers. The agency runs 136 centers in 10 districts and 70 hamlets across the regency.

The administration, Usman added, also aimed to empower people and improve access to healthcare by setting up community health centers and by assigning midwives to hamlets.

He acknowledged that many of the midwives did not stay long, leaving 80 percent of the posts vacant.

“The problem lies in the high costs, which differ from hamlet to hamlet. Transportation is only possible by renting a plane or helicopter so it’s hard to serve remote villages,” Usman said.

The head of Obano hamlet in Obano district, Hendrik Keya, said poor health services were an issue in the district, with many children suffering from malnutrition and many people dying of diarrhea.

Women in the district, he said, helped deal with the problem by getting actively involved in improving health services, including promoting better nutrition for children and pregnant women, due to a lack of doctors and medical workers.

Raising Her Voice program coordinator from Yapkema in Paniai, Nathan Pigome, told the Post that the program worked by making women aware of their rights in the government and of their equal rights with men in development programs.

The program also empowers people economically. Most area residents earn their living from agriculture.

He said the activities in the three districts were Oxfam and Yapkema’s pilot projects.

“The voices of women from Paniai’s farming communities are heard by the Paniai regency administration. These women also take part in development planning meetings at the village level and higher,” he said.