PACRES USP Supports Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Training – Kerema Town and Karama Village, PNG
29 September 2022
A Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Training was held at Kerema Town, Malalaua District Station, and Karama village in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea on 25 – 27 September 2022. The training was supported through the EU funded PACRES USP Project and responds to the need to conduct a WASH awareness and training, identified through a participatory needs analysis conducted by the PACRES USP Project. A total of 37 participants attended the three-day training.
The WASH workshop and training sessions were designed to take a holistic approach and conducted purposely to :
- Increase the understanding of the importance of (WASH)
- Increase awareness of the significance of WASH in the workplace, schools, and communities; and
- Raise awareness on the resources and methods available to achieve a WASH-resilient community in the face of climate change, as well as how to undertake a self-assessment of the WASH-related components of town/village operations.
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Prior to the training, courtesy calls and follow-up meetings were held with all sub-national climate change change agents, including Gulf Provincial Administration, Kerema District Administration, Central Kerema Rural Local Level Government (LLG), and Karama village council members, as well as the wider village community to ascertain climate change and disaster resilience training needs.
The training raised community awareness and knowledge on how waterborne illnesses are transmitted, as well as the many techniques for protecting water sources.
Participants recognize the importance of the workshop and training, as well as how they can use the knowledge and skills gained from this training to address Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management issues related to WASH, and align them with their subnational and community development plans. Both the Malalaua and Kerema District Administrations shared their views around the need to integrate critical issues concerning service delivery, climate and disaster resilience including WASH into district development plans, currently in draft.
The training was organized by the University of Papua New Guinea’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Development (CCCSD), in partnership with the USP component of the EU-funded Intra-ACP GCCA+ PACRES programme, which is implemented in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), and the SUPA Project is implemented in collaboration with SPREP.