Improving lives of the people of Western Province is a priority of Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) through its subsidiary Ok Tedi Development Foundation (OTDF).
Moian village in the Middle Fly CMCA Trust region received its Community Learning Centre (CLC) on Friday 14 July. It was funded by the 10 percent Women and Children funds from the OTML compensation package.
Middle Fly Women and Children Association President, Ms. Charlotte Mathews received the key to the CLC on behalf of the Upper Middle Fly villages.
President Mathews (middle) celebrates with development partners
President Ms Mathews thanked the development partners and stakeholders for continued support. “I urge the women and youths of Moian to take ownership and care of this CLC infrastructure, this is your university; I encourage you all to get involved in using the building to continue your education, learn life skills and conduct meetings. She said life skills training and capacity building programs will be facilitated for the communities in Upper Middle Fly. “We do this work because we have the heart for our people. Our faith outweighs the struggles and our perseverance pushes us to accomplishing our plans outlined in the 5-year Strategic Action Plan (2019-2023),” said Mathews.
According to the OTDF Executive Manager Program Services, Eric Kuman, the CLC is a unique concept to bring life skills training to the community, giving equal opportunity and shared responsibility for the mission of educating all members of the community. He said: “Open the doors to partners, NGO’s, donors and government to use the CLC for development work. It is not an OTDF building; it is community property and most importantly, take care of it.”