We were honored to have officers from PNGFA (Head Office and Eastern Highlands Province) and DLPP accompany our Natural Resource Management Program Team to Haia Village in the Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Also part of the team was an officer from the Pawaia Sustainable Development Association (PSDA), the local CBO representing the Pawaian people. The state agency officers were there to monitor the progress of the project, take awareness videos and to conduct awareness on the National Sustainable Land Use Policy (NSLUP). The team arrived in Haia on the 4th of December and returned to Goroka on the 8th.
Haia and the surrounding villages make up Ward 27 of Karimui Rural LLG under the Salt Nomane Karimui District of Chimbu Province. Haia is landlocked and remains one of the least developed areas in the country. The Pawaian people who are customary landowners in these parts expressed sincere appreciation and gratitude towards the DLPP and PNGFA officers for their visit to Haia. The community, through PSDA, expressed that they have never had the presence of national government agency officers in their village, and this visit will stimulate positive change in the community.
It was encouraging seeing women and youth participating in the NSLUP Awareness Session and providing their views on how land use planning in the community must respect and consider their inputs.
All awareness videos taken during this trip will be made available to the community and our followers once compilation is complete.
