The ground-breaking Secondary Schools partnership between Papua New Guinea and Australia is investing even more in women’s and girls’ leadership and innovation as it enters its second year.
150 Papua New Guinean participants, representing 12 provinces, are taking part in the first phase of Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership Secondary Schools Initiative 2020 program in Port Moresby this week.
Participants include 84 students, teachers and female school leaders from 12 high-performing PNG secondary schools, as well as female provincial education officers and provincial education advisors.
Over half of the participants are female.
At a welcome reception on 11 March, Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Bruce Davis, highlighted the group’s diversity and said female leadership would be in focus this year.
‘Women in leadership and girls’ and women’s empowerment are priorities for the Australian Government here in PNG and around the world,’ he said.
‘So it’s fantastic to see Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership Secondary Schools investing even more strongly in its female participants in its second year.’
A shared endeavour between the Governments of PNG and Australia, the Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership Secondary Schools Initiative pairs 12 PNG and 12 Australian secondary schools, with an emphasis on collaboration, leadership and people-to-people links.
Its priority areas include science, technology, engineering and maths, English, youth leadership and inclusive education.
Participants from the 12 Australian schools will commence their 2020 activities in the coming months, with reciprocal visits between PNG and Australia on the calendar again this year.
The program in Port Moresby this week includes orientation activities for students and school leaders, an intensive skills development workshop for teachers working in the 12 provinces and a capacity building roundtable for provincial education officials.
‘I’m thrilled to see such a large and diverse PNG group kicking off the initiative’s second year and look forward to Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership Secondary Schools Initiative reaching new heights in 2020,’ High Commissioner Davis said.
For further information, including access to related materials, please contact the Australian High Commission media team: +675 7090 0100