Thanks to our recent interns who have played a key role in developing our food and nutrition security project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) – entering pilot phase in 2019.
KYEEMA’s latest interns Linda Sataro and Melissa Ralda are women with a vision for PNG that aligns with our goals at KYEEMA. In this country, and in the Indo-Pacific more broadly, our aim is to develop breeding programs and training in the conservation and expansion of indigenous chickens – a precious local food resource that is under-utilised. This strategy will be employed at rural community level to improve household incomes and achieve the ultimate goal of decreasing rates of childhood stunting and improved food and nutrition security in the country in PNG. These women have volunteered their time to develop this project – specifically for stakeholder analysis, business model development, adaptation of training materials into Pidgin, online agri-business marketing research, and networking with local groups. We are excited to report that in February this year, with funds from Rotary, we conducted our first training activity in village poultry breeding and husbandry for two “Master Farmers” in the Morobe Province.
Linda Sataro
Linda is a post graduate Masters student at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of Queensland, majoring in Communication for Social Change. Back home in PNG, she works for a government department with diverse functions that contribute to communication and public relations, planning and development and public policy matters. Her interest in planning and development prompted the idea to explore further how communication can support progress in PNG. We have enjoyed having Linda’s unique perspective and practical approach to how we might upscale our project at a national level.
“For me, this is an ideal small project to invest to help my rural village community. Lack of protein in diet for a rural household is common in many parts of the country (PNG), due to many reasons and factors. If I can get involved and engaged in helping my rural community and if the project is operational, we can replicate the practice across the district to help more families and communities.”
Melissa Ralda
Melissa is undergraduate student from Griffith University studying a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Business Management. She plans a future career in project management. This internship is giving her hands-on experience in trouble-shooting a small-scale agribusiness enterprise which has the potential to help many in her community directly (where we are piloting the project). We have enjoyed the enthusiasm and initiative that Melissa brings to her work at KYEEMA – it is clear her motivation in business is for tangible social impact.
“Working with this team and getting to understand the passion and drive that is invested into this poultry project has imparted me with so much appreciation for the cause of food security. Coming from PNG and knowing the struggle that is faced there on food prices alone, I can see that this project would be life changing for many rural Papua New Guinean’s”
Above: The breeding set-up at the farm in Lae, Morobe Province, which will host the first training on village chicken husbandry and breeding using egg incubation techniques.
Photo credit: Melissa Ralda
