Achieving selfreliance, health and quality of life in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province communities
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Homes for Miamrae village
First home complete at Miamrae village
Miamrae village witnessed the completion of the first of 10 houses funded by the Miamrae Village development funds in September.
The Trust project is a partnership between OTDF and the Miamrae community of the CMCA Trust Region.
Community woman presentative Mrs Tumba Worin, the second recipient of the home said, “The first successful delivery of the homes shows the great partnership we have with OTDF, and our people will benefit through this partnership.”
OTDF Infrastructure Department GDS Architect and project lead Mr. Edward Kosi said: “We were involved at all stages of the project, including monitoring the contractors to ensure compliance to standards and specifications. As a new graduate and having created this architectural design am thankful it has come to reality.”
OTDF North Fly Regional Development Officer (RDO), Mr. Veao Nami, said the project was a sign of change in support at the community level, as it is a legacy project which needed to be completed.
The house has three bedrooms, built to specifications on high posts by a local carpenter from Miamrae village.
OTDF Infrastructure Development Department continues to supervise the construction of the remaining nine houses.
Suki basket for hygiene kits donation
Miss. Shirley Korave, the CEO of QueenPads presents the hygiene packs to Mr. Klomes – Photo credit QueenPads
Specially designed reusable menstrual hygiene pads donated for women of Suki Fly Gogo Trust region, South Fly district Western Province.
All this happened when a Facebook post of Suki baskets being exchanged for items of necessity went viral. “The response was much bigger than we expected”. Mr Jack Klomes, OTDF Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, who made the FB post told the Fly Breeze.
Mr. Klomes said it all began when a work colleague established the OTDF WaSH pilot project in Pukaduka 1 village of Suki in South Fly. He said OTDF WaSH officer Mr. Shedrick Diou came across the unique Suki baskets made from reeds and vines extracted from specific orchids. Noticing the proximity of Pukaduka 1 Village in South Fly to the nearest town and the low cash flow in the village, Mr. Diou came up with a great idea of collecting baskets from the mothers from Pukaduka Village in exchange for items they chose instead of cash.
Liaising with his friends and family, he (Shedrick) brought several baskets over during his break, each basket with a short note from the basket weaver listing items that she wanted in exchange for the baskets. His first return from leave was a success. He returned with items and distributed them when he visited Pukaduka 1 village for work.
Upon learning of this initiative, Mr Klomes shared this initiative on his personal Facebook page. He said: “I put up a post on my wall on the 29th of August, 2022. Miss. Shirley Korave, the CEO and Founder of QueenPads, sighted the post and offered to donate 50 reusable Menstruation Hygiene Kits as part of Queenpads Menstrual Health Campaign and Awareness for the Suki women. While on break in Madang, I received the Menstruation Hygiene Kits on behalf of the OTDF WaSH Team in October.”
The products are made and distributed by Queenpads in Port Moresby, which is an organisation Miss Shirley Korave founded specialising in Women’s Menstrual Hygiene. The product is an environmentally friendly reusable pad that is made with fabric that is quick to dry and could last up to 5 years if used correctly.
Mr. Klomes says the donation is timely and will go a long way in assisting the OTDF WaSH Team as part of their initiative to promote Women’s Menstrual Hygiene, a key WaSH Program indicator under the OTDF WaSH Program.
First Vanilla Vines Arrive
Local staff planting vanilla in the quarantine tunnel
After three years of project planning, research and development, and 18-months of site construction at the Samagoes Agro Industrial Centre (AIC), the Fly Vanilla project has moved into the production phase. A first of the large-scale agribusinesses being developed under the WestAgro Master Plan has now come to reality.
This project milestone was marked by the arrival of 4,600 vanilla cuttings. These vines were procured from Sepik farmers and flown from Wewak into Kiunga on the 17th October. 4,451 (3% loss in transit) vines have since been planted into a quarantine tunnel with controlled conditions for initial growth and plant monitoring, before distribution to grow-out tunnels.
Eitan Ribak, the AIC farm Manager stated that the vines will be in the quarantine tunnel for the next 6 weeks. Once ready for transplanting, each of the seven grow-out tunnels at site #2 will each be planted with 500 vines. Within each tunnel, the best possible growing conditions will be simulated, including fertigation and misting. Each tunnel is fitted with irrigation lines and state of the art misting nozzles that enable optimum growth within a highly intensive growing environment.
Ian Middleton, the WestAgro Holdings Chair was delighted to announce the arrival of these first vines, heralding the beginning of the operations phase of the project, and moving one-step closer to realising a sustainable ‘green’ future for Western Province beyond Ok Tedi mine closure.
Vanilla market at Samagoes, Kiunga
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Kiunga Agro Industrial Center, site 2 tunnels
OTDF Program Services & Sustainable Department Manager Andrew Mari said, “This is a milestone for OTDF and the whole Western Province, as it opens market opportunities for people in the province to earn from planting, growing and selling vanilla.”
Vanilla is the focus of the Kiunga AIC in the North Fly, with state of the art vanilla processing capability and local farmer support, aiming to significantly improve the quality of vanilla beans processed under the Fly Vanilla brand. Fly Vanilla has already purchased more than 47 kilos of beans from local farmers and the interest in preparing and planting blocks is growing significantly each month.
Through the WestAgro Holdings partnership with the Innovative Agro Industry (IAI), international buyers (with a particularly strong market in the United States of America) are ready and waiting on the production of beans.
Who We Are
Each executive and board member, team and individual involved with OTDF is an essential part of achieving the goal of allowing the residents of Western Province to have greater choices in mapping out their own direction to live better lives.
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Executive Management
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Our Partners
What We Do
Operating independently of OTML since 2009, we are proud to have 50 full-time staff, 60 part-time staff, and committed volunteers throughout Western Province dedicated to ensuring our objectives and goals are aligned with those of the communities for which we serve.
To date, we have achieved significant outcomes across our investment portfolio and all five pillars of CMCA community development.
Economic Development
From inception as an independent organisation in 2010, OTDF has worked tirelessly with the CMCA communities to establish family and village-based economic and food production options.
Women's & Youth Development
Developing women and youth aspirations following the intensive consultative community engagement in the communities and mine villages.
Infrastructure Development
OTDF continues to focus on infrastructure delivery for communities to gain easier access to regional centres and government services, and to get produce to markets.
Community Health
The OTDF Strategic 5-year plan goal for the Health Sector is the CMCA primary health care service delivery strengthened and in line with the Western Province & National Health Plans.
Community Education
The OTDF Education Sector goals are to improve to quality education services, improve teacher education and training.
Our Communities
Western Province
North Fly District
Middle Fly District
South Fly District
Annual Reports
Our latest Annual Report is a comprehensive report of what OTDF has achieved and defines/outlines our ongoing priorities and goals going forward.
Newsletters
Each month, our OTDF media team creates a PDF newsletter that encapsulates the many activities and achievements by OTDF, partners and communities.
Contact Us
OTDF is committed to cooperation and integration of ideas from our community, therefore, we are always interested in what you have to say.