The above CIMC National Development Forum in Port Moresby was attended by more than 500 people over two and half days.Those in attendance included Department Secretaries, Government leaders, Private Sector leaders, Donors, Churches, Development Partners, Persons with Disability, a range of regional civil society organisations and the media. Experienced implementing practitioners from various development sectors and interested citizens also attended. Provincial representatives numbering to 44 (two from each province) were invited and funded to travel and represent their provinces at the forum while some provincial participants attended at their own cost.

The Theme for the forum “Implementing Sustainable Development Plans: Building From Past Experiences For A Better Future” was chosen to ensure discussions were centered around how best the Responsible Development Strategy could be embraced by targeted stakeholders based using past experiences of implementing development plans so that similar mistakes were not repeated and there was some level of improvement and implementation outcomes. An important rationale also was to ensure the opportunity for citizens and their various representative to learn about current government policies and plans was provided.

Based on presentations around policy development and implementation, participants offered a number of practical recommendations in response highlighting that ways had to be found to overcome existing flaws with the public service structure, resource management and monitoring and accountability issues between national and sub-national guardians of the public interest and resources.

Recommendations from participants highlighted issues of strategic and institutional governance through careful planning and resourcing key public sector organisations, management and reporting and ensuring information of outcomes are delivered to the people. The Forum supports STaR because it focuses on natural resources, land and people. In line with that recommendations were made that government should provide agriculture subsidies, provides nucleus and out-growers scheme and proper training for farmers through extension programs.

The forum also perceived that bolstering the SME and informal sector is sustainable for the economy into the future, therefore recommended that the government finalises the draft SME Policy and ensure it has a clear definition that also caters for informal enterprises and catagorise financial products to meet requirements of people trading in different SME categories. It was also urged to consider improvement to safeguard the interest of women and young people in the largely unregulated informal sector.

Recommendations were also made for provincial and district reforms and for maintenance and reopening of all rural roads, airstrips, jetties and revival of the DoW and PSTB to monitor and maintain all transport infrastructure. Gender and social inclusion recommendations were also made with particular attention for government to consider Gender Policies and provide funding support for women programs across the country (eg. repatriation, counseling). Government was also called on to consider and give prominence to the Gender Based Violence Policy.

In summary, it was noted that mechanisms like CIMC should be supported and improved as they bring government and citizens together for the national interest. Good technical specialists and advice should be utilised more effectively to inform planning and implementation.

2015 Forum Gallery

2015 National Development Forum Presentations

• National Affordable Lands and Housing Program Update
  Mr Max Kep ML, Executive Director - Office of Urbanisation
• Achieving the Responsible Sustainable Development Strategy (RSDS) in Madang Province
  Mr Daniel Aloi, Acting Provincial Administrator - Madang Province
• Recommendations from the Highlands Region
  Mr Jimmy Drekore,, President/Founder - Chimbu Children’s Foundation
• Recommendations from the New Guinea Islands Region
  Mrs Alice Pawa, President - East New Britain Council of Women
• PNG Human Development Report, 2014
  Ms Debbie Maraki, - UNDP PNG Office
• Recommendations from the Southern Region
  Mr Carson Taylor Evari, Literacy Coordinator - Anglicare Adult Literacy Program-Oro province
• Overview on Current State of the Economy and Plans for Effective Economic Management over the Medium Term
  Mr Dairi Vele, Secretary - Department of Treasury
• Update on Current Monetary Conditions and Future Prospects
  Mr Loi Bakani, Governor - Bank of Papua New Guinea
• Private Sector Perspective on the state of the Economy and Future Options
  Mr Douveri Henao, Executive Director - PNG Business Council
• Lessons learned: Strategies for Effective Planning for Medium and Long Term
  Ms Hakaua Harry, Secretary - Department of National Planning & Monitoring
• Technical Working Team Report-District Development Authority, Findings from Provincial Awareness and Consultations
  Department of Provincial and LLG Affairs
• Reviving Agriculture for Sustainable Development
  Mr Graham King, General Manager - Hargy Oil Palm
• Financing SME Growth
  Mr Moses Liu, Managing Director - National Development Bank
• Open budget initiative, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and Open Government Partnership
  Mr Paul Barker, Director - Institute of National Affairs
• SMEs
  Mr Richard Yakam, Acting Deputy Secretary - Policy, Department of Commerce Trade and Industry
• Accessibility for All - Including People with Disabilities (Special Needs)
  Mr Ross Tito
• Implementing Sustainable Development Plans-the Transport Sector Perspective
  Mr Roy Mumu, OBE, Secretary - Department of Transport
• Empowering Women for Inclusive and Equal Participation in Development
  Ms Ume Wainetti, National Program Coordinator - CIMC Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee

For those who attended or did not attend the National Development Forum and/but are interested in presentations that have not been uploaded due to uploading capacity issues please email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the presentations will be sent to you.

Presentations not uploaded include:

• Empowering Women for Inclusive & Equal Participation in Development Issues & Challenges
  Dr Jeffery Buchanan, Country Representative - UNWOMEN & Ms Beatrice Tabeu, National Programme Specialist - UNWOMEN PNG
• Content, Implementation and Challenges of the National Informal Economy Policy (2011-2015) Future Options for Growing the SME Sector
  Mr Busa Jeremiah Wenogo, Senior Project Officer - CIMC
• Budget and Service Charters for Effective Service Delivery
  Mr John Toguata, Anti-Corruption Adviso - PALJP
• A Budget Tracking Initiative
  Mrs Elizabeth Avaisa, Senior Project Officer - CIMC

The 2015 National Development Forum Report is in compilation and will be made available here shortly