NETWORKING
Papua New Guinea: 3000 Women launch assault on problems...
Lip-service to women's needs is standard practice on the part of officialdom. What do women in remote areas of Papua New Guinea do when faced with it? Simply mobilise 3000 of themselves into a self help network which allows them to start small businesses, build community centres, organise agricultural projects, install water-supply systems, improve their communities, train themselves in diverse skills and myriad other new enterprises.
As an example of the type of approach which they adopt, here is an account of the activities of women's groups in one particular district:
"...In many parts of the Maprik District a safe and clean water supply is a serious problem. Very few villages have access to springs and the majority of villages rely on ground water, which collects after digging open holes. These water holes tend to dry up in the dry season, and the quality of the water for drinking purposes is questionable throughout most of the year.
"In the Wosera-suh-district the first water pump was installed in September 1983, in Kumunikum, near the women's training centre. Women from the surrounding village clubs were invited to participate in a course on methods of setting up water supply and the installation of pumps. The installation of water pumps in other villages was going to be organised via women's clubs. Interested clubs had to gather money from the community to pay for cement and a single pump.
"The idea of setting up a community based water supply programme began with a training course for women on how to drill for water and how to install a
single pump. Cooperation between the Department of Minerals and Energy and the Department of Health together with the Maprik District Women's Association was started for this purpose, mid 1984. Unfortunately the cooperation did not work out well: the provincial Health Inspector was unwilling to let the women use the auger to drill for water, claiming that only men can handle it. The project has been delayed by this disagreement. Maprik DWA could continue the programme if they can obtain their own auger to drill for water. With the help of one staff member of Maprik Hospital and the advice of a site allocation specialist pumps could be installed in the fifty villages that already have shown interest. The women are confident that once they are trained to use this equipment, two of their own women could travel around on an extension programme to help women in other villages to set up water systems.
"Water supply is further organised by the women installing of water tanks. To keep the costs relatively low, ferrocement tanks are propagated. The construction of such tanks began with demonstrations at the women's centre at Maiwi and Maprik. A course was organised to involve women's clubs in the construction work. Rainwater is collected from the roof of the centre and/or other houses. All women's centres now have water tanks. Water for drinking purposes and general sanitation is a priority demand put forward by the women who come together in courses. As water supply is a crucial aspect of health improvements, new recommendations on improved water supply are seriously considered. At Gave in the women heard of a new model cement tank... Their long term plan is to promote this kind of tanks among settlers in the local community, and other parts of the district..."
Water-supply is only one area in which the general community benefits from the existence of women's clubs in the East Sepik province. They also organise communal nutrition gardens and engage in manufacturing industries as well as animal husbandry projects.
Indeed, new products have been established throughout the province as a result of a nutrition training course run by the network. Now, "nutrition snacks" and "Sepik Snaks" have become household words. These are the brand names for banana chips and sago pops produced by women's groups to earn income, improve the nutritional quality of available snack foods, and utilise local produce. (see labels on this page)
How have these ambitious and difficult projects been carried out? Mainly through the support services rendered by the East Sepik Women's Network, which has developed since women got fed-up of the inaction of official agencies around 1979.
This network links the various groups (some of which are even on different islands), provides training facilities, organisational assistance and international connections.
As an umbrella organisation, its main focus is on education and training, offering programmes aimed at fulfilling grassroots needs. In the area of Subsistence Agriculture and Appropriate Technology, for instance, its report reads as follows:
" .. . The courses in this field are mainly directed on improving the general health and well-being of the family . Malnutrition is a major problem in the East Sepik Province, especially for women and children. Teaching women in nutrition gardening has become a part of the training programme of all the four districts. The pioneering work of the
Gavien Women's Development Group in co- operative agriculture and nutrition education has spread over the province since 1982. In 1985 there are women leaders involved in nutrition education in all four districts. They organise courses, visit women in their home villages, discuss problems, give advice on improving and conserving food gardens or offer new cooking or food processing ideas.
"The first nutrition courses were organised in the home villages of these women leaders. They accommodated participants in their own family houses. This popular wave of activities in training women in nutrition brought about the need to construct local training centres to accomodaie visiting groups of women. In 1984 nutrition courses were organised in the newly built centres at Kumunikum and Maiwi. In Maprik-town nutrition courses officially started in April 1985, just after the women's centre there had
been completed; although some courses had already taken place in the leaders' own home villages. Also in 1984 a change in training activities took place in Wewak
District, from a handicraft and sewing orientation to increased attention given to nutrition and health problems ... Wewak DWA started mid-1985 with the construction of a village based training centre, with a piece of land suitable for gardening nearby the centre. Nutrition courses have been conducted in all four districts ...
"The teaching of appropriate technology skills always forms a part of the nutrition education programme. This involves, e. g. the making of charcoal, construction of a
charcoal stove, construction of a drum oven, making bread tins, etc. These skills are taught because they are of use with the preparation of nutritious food and
some new snack foods for sale. T-shirt printing and poster-drawing are also part of the course. They are useful skills for communication purposes, e.g. the
advertisement of nutrition slogans. the participants of the course can take their printed t-shirt and posters back to the village."
"....The focus of the course is on preventive practices and first-aid techniques. Information is given on the cause of common sicknesses, how to recognise symptoms and how to treat the sickness at home. Attention is also given to the related nutritional and hygenic aspects of many diseases. A comic book, posters and songs are used in this education programme. Part of the course is directed on construction of a medicine box, to take home to the village. After a training of one or two weeks these women
take a medicine box back to their village. In this way the women's club serves as a base for community health care programmes. The 'marasin meri with her acquired knowledge, keeps in contact with the staff of the health division: they keep records of all treatments that they give and come back to the Maprik hospital or regional clinic for re-stocking items that have run out ... "
In order to create a cadre of women who are able to utilise this training for the good of the community while dealing with the conflicts created by traditional
community and family stresses, the network expends considerable energy on leadership training. They organise regular leadership courses which explore in depth
the problems that can arise and examine different methods of coping with these problems..
The planning for these courses, organised at the district and sub-district level, is extremely thorough. The discussions are based in concrete realities, but are meant
to stimulate consideration of the ideological aspects of human organisation.
The participants are housed in the training centres for the duration of the courses, where they develop close personal links which further deepen the process of networking. Audiovisual aids are solicited from friendly government agencies and drama sessions are used to explore more subtle issues. Special arrangements are made for women with infants.
In some of the .districts, the women's clubs have grown so strong as to be able to purchase equipment such as a jeep or a car (often through outside aid) which they use for extension functions. In one district, what was needed was a canoe with outboard motor, since the villages serviced were strung out along the river. In many places, they have been able to acquire a piece of land, and, together with sympathetic men, construct clubhouses. Whenever necessary, they try to get help from official bodies and sometimes from international agencies. The national radio station is used to broadcast news of their training programmes. The network has also been able to attract
assistance from overseas volunteers who give specialised help. A few of its members are literate and they perform much-needed functions. But for the most part, the women who carry out this sophisticated system of mutual support and development are, in traditional terms, illiterate.
Source:
Ol Meri Igat Paua
A Report on the East Sepik Women's Network
by Anita Aarnink and Netty Blaydorp
Published by the East Sepik Women's Communication Project
P. 0. Box 75 Wewak, East Sepik Papua New Guinea