Window 1: 1 Governance and Crisis Management

UNCP Outcome 1: Government develops and implements effective governance and crisis management policies and strategies

Intermediate Outcome 2: By 2012, Government of Papua New Guinea efficiently and transparently coordinates international aid, donors and development partners to support Nation Building and facilitate the implementation and monitoring of the MTDS/MDGs.

UN comparative advantage

The MDGs are the results of a UN system initiative endorsed by world leaders. The UN system is charged with playing a key role in both their implementation and monitoring. UNDP is the “score-keeper” of the MDGs, while UNICEF continues to support Governments to meet commitments under the World Fit for Children. On a global scale, the UN system has a substantial track record in promoting the mainstreaming of MDGs in national development policies and in strengthening monitoring capacity. These functions are still at an early stage in Papua New Guinea but will be consolidated during the UNCP period. The Government prepared an MDG Progress Report for 2004 and the UN has played a strong advocacy role for the inclusion of the MDGs in the MTDS and sectoral plans and programmes. The DevInfo economic and social indicator database software will provide a base for strengthening government capacity for data collection and analysis. The UN system has also substantial experience and a track record in supporting aid coordination processes in developing countries. This experience will be used to further facilitate the alignment international aid to the national development goals and the achievement of the MDGs in Papua New Guinea through the strengthening of the aid coordination capacities of the Government.

Proposed UN system support

In mid-2006, the UN system approved a joint project involving UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO and UNHCR to support the Department of National Planning and Monitoring (DNPM) and relevant line ministries in building up their capacity to monitor the MTDS and the MDGs and to update planning tools on a continuous basis. The UN system will support relevant departments in ensuring that MDGs are reflected in sectoral planning instruments and work plans, and in maintaining monitoring systems through data collection and analysis, including through the use of DevInfo and other appropriate software, to be used for future MDG reports. UN agencies will provide support at the sectoral and thematic levels for their respective MDGs while FAO will support the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) in food security monitoring efforts through its Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems initiative (FIVIMS). UNESCO is also working on data collection and monitoring for education, which is linked to the DevInfo system. The Government will be assisted in coordinating aid alignment and donor consultations through capacity building of aid coordination and management capacities, and the establishment of an aid management and information system.

Partnership development

This will be sought from potentially interested donors, particularly AusAID, with respect to strengthening statistical and monitoring capacity, through the National Statistics Office (NSO), and in the establishment of a Performance Management Framework in the DNPM linked to Papua New Guinea s planning and budget timetable.

Project: Development, Production, and Broadcast of Two Radio Serial Dramas for Social Change

This project utilizes an innovative approach for behaviour change that will help Papua New Guinea work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

To this end, Population Media Center (the implementing partner) will create two radio serial dramas for Papua New Guinea, one to be broadcast nationwide in Pidgin and another to be broadcast in English throughout the English speaking regions of Papua New Guinea. These long-running serial (Sabido-style) dramas will address a range of interrelated issues such as: promoting the use of effective family planning methods; elevating women’s status; increasing HIV/AIDS awareness, decreasing stigma, and encouraging testing; reducing violence against women; building support for universal education; increasing enrolment of male and female children in primary school; preventing deforestation and promoting reforestation; reducing the use of harmful marine practices such as coral mining, overfishing, and dynamite fishing; increasing favourable attitudes towards locally protected and managed marine areas; and decreasing the use of clear-cutting agricultural practices.

The story lines and characters will be developed based on extensive formative research. Each of the dramas will consist of 208 episodes and will be broadcast twice per week over the course of 2 years. The content for each of the dramas will be tailored to the needs and interests of each of the target audiences.

Monitoring will be conducted throughout the duration of the project, and a comprehensive end-line evaluation will be conducted at the conclusion of the project using both quantitative and qualitative measures.