japanese

Papua New Guinea

RNN COUNTRY REPORT
CAMPAIGN 2002 OSAKA, JAPAN

Adrian Winnie
Rajesh Nanda and Idah Dail

[A] Evaluation of the progresses of the Decade in Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, the country's progress in term of the"107 point Targets" regarding the "Agenda for Action"emphasizing on the equalization of opportunities: its inclusion of PWD in the Development Process, it can be seen that the country falls under the scale of 1: slightly implemented with regard to the 4-point assessment scale for several reasons.

The first and probably the most important is awareness. Because the able-bodied population in such a manner that once an individual is deemed as being disabled perceives PWD, there are certain things that the disabled individual may and may not be able to do. The individual then is presented with that negative attitude and therefore limits her/himself to an extent where the opportunities to further or improve her/his education, career, wellbeing and/or rehabilitation and counseling.

Next is that since Papua New Guinea is a third-world country, with a very small GNP and subsequently a lower standard of living, the majority of the population (60%) lives in rural areas and are subsistent farmers. This brings into mind other issues of illiteracy, poor infrastructure and accessibility for people living in rural areas to resources, information and facilities available in urban centers.

Lastly but not the least is that although the Public as well as the Private Sector Organization in Papua New Guinea do, to an extent, acknowledge the presence of PWDs and are willing to help, the biggest problem for these possible employers, is the technical know- as to how to facilitate a PWD in the workforce. Specifically as to how the working environment can be adapted to suit the needs of individual PWD. Currently there is less than 1% of PWDs in Papua New Guinea when compared with the general population of the country, who are employed in the Public and Private Sector. Those PWD who are either not in school or employed, are subsistent farmers (for those whose disabilities does not prevent them from doing so) or live under care of their immediate families and/or relatives. A very tiny percentage of other PWDs who do not come under the categories mentioned above are left to fend and care for themselves through other money-making activities.

[B] Summary & Future Directions and Basic Data of PWDs in Papua New Guinea

[a-1]

The National Assembly of People with Disabilities (NAPD) formed quite recently, following the Leadership Training Seminar for PWDs in Papua New Guinea last month (19th-22nd August, 2002) is of the opinion that up until then, the majority of PWDs through out the entire country were not aware of the fact that there was an Asia-Pacific Decade of Disabled Person from 1993-2002. The participants at the seminar were quite surprised to find out from Mr Sam Vilsoni, Mr Setaraki Macanawai from the DPI Oceania Regional Office in Fiji and Mr Topong Kulkhanchit from the DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Thailand who were present to chair the proceeding of the seminar.

[A] Evaluation of the progresses of the Asian and Pacific Decade for PWD's in PNG.

Since its inception, people with disabilities in Papua New Guinea were not aware of an Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Person 1993-2002 . Whether the Government and/or the Non-Government Organization(s) knew about it is yet to be determined.

This raises a questionable and obvious issue of representation by persons other than people with disability. To our knowledge able-bodied persons whether representing the government and/or NGOs upon attending such meetings fail to inform organisations that are in direct contact with people disabilities groups such as National Disabled Sports.

Participants majority of whom are people with disabilities who attended the first Leadership Training Seminar for PWD's in Lae PNG from the 19th - 22nd August 02 were caught by surprised upon being informed by DPI representatives Mr. Topong Kulkhanchit, Mr. Sam Vilsoni and Mr. Setareki Macanawai of its existence.

However from what NADP has gathered through its survey, it must be pointed out that actual data concerning PWD's cannot be provided due no proper collection of census data during the 2001 National Census.

The data, which NADP refers to for this report, is, that obtained by the department of Health, through its National Health Plan 2001-2002. According to population of PNG of 5.2 million it is estimated that 10% is made up of people with disabilities. From that NADP uses the figures provided by a small survey carry out in one part of the country and rough estimated that there are 150 000 persons who are physically handicapped, 20 000 mentally handicapped and 100 000 who fall under the category of visual and hearing impaired.

We proposed to cover key areas and make our assessments as per the 4-point scale assessment from the 107 targets under the following:

1. access to services, which covers health, education, training & employment.

2. transport

3. children with disabilities

4. women with disabilities.

5. sports and recreation

6. independent living

7. public awareness

8. legislation

   
   

   1. Access to services

      A.Health

      Critical Issue:

      Because of the country's challenging geographical features, access to Health services could be rated as 1: slightly implemented and is a consequence of the remoteness and poor road network which hinders PWD's from reaching this essential services. Although the Department of Health has hospitals, health centers and aid posts in all the 19 provinces throughout the country. There are also a handful of small private hospitals that have state of the art medical services but are only available to a small minority who can afford it. However, the only problem is the lack of specialized professionals, facilities especially for rehabilitation and the availability of medical equipment.

      Targets:

      As per the National Health Plan 2001-2010, the Department of Health is committed to:

      1. improve the capacity of Public Hospitals and Health Centers to support rehabilitation service care to minimum standards by 2010;

      2. establish community-based rehabilitation services by 2005.

      B. Education

      Critical Issue:

      Access to education comes under the scale of 1: Slightly implemented through special education services in different part of the country. Part of the problem lies in the current economical hardship the country is experiencing. This has resulted in most educational institutions raising school fees to counteract their expenses and with most people being low income earners are facing the greatest difficulty of sending PWD's to school let alone care for them.

      Targets:

      NADP aims to carry out the task of establishing a form of financing network, which is one of its long-term goals once it generates enough funds to do so. It will aim to assist parents and/or children of PWD's by offering scholarships to them.

      C. Training & Employment

      Critical Issue:

      Access to training and employment for PWD's in Papua New Guinea is 0: none or few measures has been taken. This is a result of unaffordable tuition fees as above, lack of awareness and technical knowledge from possible educators and/or employers on how to assist PWD's especially those who are a specially challenged in a teaching and/or working environments. The other part of the problem, comes back to PWD's themselves in that they lack the professionalism expected by training and/or employment institutions when approaching them.

      Targets:

      NADP will aim to establish a volunteer position for a person regardless of disabilities or not, whose role would be to approach training and/or employment institution for the possibility of having few PWD's integrated in their institutions.

   2. Transportation

      1. Transport Modes

         Critical Issue:

         Access to transportation in terms of modified and/or specialized vehicles with equipment is very poor and would therefore rate Papua New Guinea as 0: none or few measures has been taken. For example, most part of PNG is reachable by air transport only but access to and from the aircraft from the airport lounges is very difficult and often enough, PWD's are subjected to embarrassing situations which is violates the dignity of a person with disability. The problem is two-fold; one is lack of financial means as a consequence of various reasons such as education and employment. The other and most importantly, is the oversight by the Government and/or NGO's to collect data concerning PWD's.

      2. Road Network

      Critical Issue:

      Finance, physical geography and weather are primary reasons as to why there is poor road network in Papua New Guinea. This therefore rates as 0: none or few measures have been taken. Poor road network makes accessibility by PWD's to services mentioned above very difficult. Recent road constructions are seen accessible to wheelchair users.

      Target:

      NADP once it becomes a member of DPI will use its discretion and along with the support of DPI member countries will therefore seek to raise this issue to the Government so that in the next National Census, inclusion of questions pertaining to the data concerning PWD's in the census questionnaire should be included.

   3. Children with Disabilities

      Critical Issue:

      Access to essential services by children with disabilities and their families rates as 1: slightly implemented. This is because of the societies view on responsibilities due to the Melanesian culture and traditions as well as Christian values, which encourages the care and well being of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities under the age of 6 are properly cared for; the problem arises when they reach the age of schooling, which is after 6 years when their problems are similar to other PWD's.

      Target:

      NADP will seek to rise more awareness for the availability of special education centers and their resources which is available to parents of children with disabilities and also it will seek to address the lack of specialized teaching professionals in special education centers and resources and more importantly in teacher training colleges as a degree program.

   4. Women with disabilities

      Critical Issue:

      With regard to women with disabilities in PNG, the rating would be 0: none or few measures have been taken. Women in general, are normally faced with the Melanesian culture and tradition, which is a male-dominated in many aspects of social and economical situations. Women especially if they are disabled, are faced with the grim reality that they may not be allowed the opportunity to receive some form of education. No education means any means of earning an income. Statistics from the 1990 Census showed that only 49% of women in the population were literate. This poses the question of what about the other 59%? One of the main reasons then and even now is that women regardless of disability or not, remain at home and are seen as helpers by their parents for activities such as gardening, child rearing and house work. For that matter also, women when compared with men are worse off in their accessibility to health services.

      Target:

      NADP will seek to enforce with regard to the clause for equal participation of women in its and DPI's constitution. The biggest problem would be how to challenge and change the century-old cultural mentality of men as to this issue.

   5. Sports & Recreation

      Critical Issue:

      In Papua New Guinea, sports and recreation for PWD's would rate as 2: fairly implemented. This is due to the fact that PNG has a National Disabled Sports Association, which is assisted by the PNG Sports Commission and Federation.

      Prior to the establishment of various organization for PWD's, Disabled sports was probably the only avenue of bringing PWD's together and allowing them to meet and know each other and subsequently creating a sense of unity, exchange past and current information pertaining to PWD's and establishing life-long contacts within the country and at international sporting events such as the FESPIC games.

      Target:

      NADP will now seek to push for more Government input in terms of finance for traveling athletes with disabilities to compete in national and international events and also to host them. NADP will also seek to address the issue of lack of avenues for allowing specials types of facilities for different groups of people with disabilities to compete in.

   6. Independent Living

      Critical issue:

      The rating for PNG in terms of people with disabilities living independently would be to be rated as 2: fairly implemented. This is because of firstly culture and traditions and Christian beliefs which encourages strong family ties and responsibilities within the society and resulting in PWD's to be supported by them for their needs and wants. The other reason is that - there are establishment such as Cheshire Homes, Homes for the Disabled and etc... that caters for PWD's.

      Target:

      NADP will seek to address the issue of maintenance and installation of specially adaptive devices to assess PWD's especially those who are specially challenged. Also it will try to address the need for more homes in the community with access to all types of PWD's and most importantly push to prevent poor management; the down fall and subsequently mistrust by PWD's living in homes for the disables.

   7. Attitudinal Barriers

      Critical Issue:

      The rating for attitudinal barriers facing PWD's in PNG would be rated as 2: fairly implemented. Melanesian culture and tradition and Christian beliefs encourages people to be helpful and charitable towards those less fortunate then themselves. The public however, tend to over-emphasize the quality of being helpful and charitable to an extent were they assume the role of being someone who PWD's must always depend on. This infuriates and makes a PWD to become very dependent thus preventing him/her to full participation.

      Target:

      NADP will push for the print and digital media to present a "in-your-face"approach to awareness to the general public as to issues concerning PWD's in PNG and also to co-ordinate and organize public awareness throughout the country.

   8. Legislation

   Critical Issue:

   Currently there is no legislation in the PNG constitution that caters and covers areas concerning PWD's. However a drafted constitution is currently underway following 2 years of research prior to its drafting. This legislation will then be passed on to the ministerial department of Social Welfare and Development to be presented to the National Executive Council by the Minister.

   Another problem with this legislation is that it was draft by persons other than PWD's and therefore presence a lot of problems of omission, addition or alteration should there be a need in the future for it if the proposed draft is endorsed by the NEC.

   Target:

   NADP will seek to assist NBDP to push the drafted constitution in whatever capacity it can to firstly establish a legislation for PWD's in PNG. It hopes to be the primary voice with the help of NBDP to add, amend and omit clauses it perceives in the current drafted legislation to make it more effective and fully covers all aspects concerning PWD's.

   [2] Summary & Future Directions/ Basic Data on PWD in PNG

   [A] Evaluation of the decade

   [A-1] Significant Change in this decade

   Through National Board for the disabled persons (NBDP), programmes at rural areas been implemented by its affiliated/registered member organization working for the people with disability. The most significant changes for the life of PWD in Papua New Guinea would have to be the establishment of the National Assembly for Disabled Persons (NADP).

   The establishment of NADP and awaiting its acceptance to the DPI World Council as a member, it would most likely become pro-active as any other self-help organization to bring about the issues faced by PWD's in Papua New Guinea.

   [A-2] & [A-3] Three most undeveloped issues concerning PWD's

   The three most undeveloped issues concerning PWD's in Papua New Guinea are as follows:

   1. Legislation

   2. Transportation

   3. Training and Employment

   [A-4] Three priority programs of regional co-operation for PWD's

   The three priority programs are:

   
   a) Communication & NetworkingThis will focus on establishing an open dialogue between NADP and similar
   
   

   organization abroad on issues affecting the effective running of these organization and where possible offer advice. It will also allow an avenue whereby an exchange program can be set up to allow PWD's who have the potential to be future leaders of disability movements to gain the local experiences of host organizations.

   
   b) Technical Assistance
   
   

   This aims to allow the setting up of positions within and from member organizations on volunteering and through training by PWD's to provide technical assistance and/or advice where an organization lacks or needs it.

   
   c) Monitoring by Independent International Organization of PWD's
   
   

   Its establishment would greatly counteract mismanagement issues regarding self-help organizations within the country and therefore allow the management to be transparent and more accountable as the chances of cover-ups will not be there.

   [B] Basic Data

   According to the National Health Plan 2000-2010, it is estimated that 10% out of the PNG population of 5.2 million with the ratio of 2 males to 1 female are disabled persons. Practically speaking the Government and NGO's cannot collect exact figures largely due to geographical remoteness and lack of resources. However, from a small survey carried out in just part of the country, it is seen to be around 150,000 persons identified as being physically handicapped. These include amputees, congenital absence of body parts, congenital deformity, paralysis, polio, cerebral palsy etc. 20,000 are mentally handicapped and this includes certain areas of Cerebral Palsy, mentally retarded as or result physical, psychological and/or substance abuse, aging etc..

   The last major group, is the visually and hearing impaired whether total or partial amount to around 100,000 persons.

   The main causes of disabilities in Papua New Guinea are:

   1. Trauma

   2. Accident

   3. Diabetic

   4. Tribal warfare

   5. Gunshot

   6. Poor delivery technique/handling of child at birth.

   7. No availability of sophisticated appliances in rural areas to prevent disability

   .

   [B] Questionnaire

   How many people in PNG are aware of the following;

   
   1.Question: Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002?
   
   

   Answer: [ a. almost NONE]

   
   Does the Government inform the nation about the decade?
   
   

   [NO]

   
   2. Question: UN's Declaration of Disabled Persons in 1975?
   
   

   Answer: [ a. almost NONE]

   
   3. Question: International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981?
   
   

   Answer: [ b. less than 1%]

   
   4. Question: UN's Decade of Disabled Persons 1983-1992?
   
   

   Answer: [ a. almost NONE]

   [3] BASIC INFORMATION OF PNG CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

   1. National Organizations for People with Disabilities in Papua New Guinea:

      1. National Assembly of Disabled Persons (NADP).
         P.O. Box 3373, LAE, PNG. Phone: 473 2159/ Fax: 472 3868
         Email: nops@online.net.pg
         Contact person: Mr. John D. Nebare

      2. National Board for Disabled Persons (NBDP).
         P.O. Box 353, WAIGANI, NCD, PNG.
         Phone: 3254087, Fax: 3250133

   2. Well-known people with disabilities as Good Model/Leader of People with Disabilities.

      1. Ben Theodore (Blind)
         Divisional of Police Head Quarter
         P.O. Box 607, Kokopo, Rabaul

      2. Idah Dail (Amputee)
         C/- NOPS
         P.O. Box 457, LAE, PNG . Phone: 473 2159/ Fax: 472 3868

      3. Benedict Hipom (paraplegic)
         PNG Stationery
         P.O. Box 759, LAE, PNG. Phone: 472 2005/ Fax: 472 3412

      4. Kelly. J. Walpu (Polio)
         Fr. Antoine's Service for People with Disabilities
         P.O. Box 35, AITAPE, West Sepik. PNG.
         Phone: +(675) 857 2107 or 857 2221/Fax: +(675) 857 2207

      5. Kathy Ketepa (Bilateral amputee)
         C/- Notre Dame High School
         P.O. Box 164, Mt. Hagen, W.H.P, PNG.

      6. Iwakie Tumala (polio)
         Protect Security
         P.O. Box 288, LAE, PNG. Phone: (675) 472 3999/Fax: (675) 472 3137

   3. Future Leaders of PWD's in PNG:

      1. Adrian Winnie (Cerebral Palsy)
         P.O. Box 3666, LAE, PNG. Phone: (675) 472 7423/Fax: (675) 472 5614
         Email: awin_e@hotmail.com

      2. Tony Kevi (Paraplegic)
         P.O. Box 85, Buka, North Solomon Province, PNG. Phone: (675) 973 9602

      3. Susuve Maiva (polio)
         Portion 119, Murua Settlement
         P.O. Box 35, Kerema, Gulf Province, PNG

      4. Rex Larry (Polio)
         C/- NOPS
         P.O. Box 457, LAE, PNG. Phone: (675) 473 2159/ Fax (675) 4723868

      5. Anna Hitovea (Blind)
         P.O. Box 6075, BOROKO, NCD, PNG

      6. Lemok Tiriong (Deaf)
         P.O.Box: 457, Lae
         Sheltered workshop, NOPS
         PNG

   4. Foreign Organizations doing significant co-operation for PNGeans people with disabilities.

      1. Callan Services for the Disabled Persons
         P.O. Box 542, Wewak, East Sepik, PNG. Phone: 856 1081

   5. Introduce experts on Disability Policy Study and Research in Papua New Guinea.

      1. Rajesh Nanda
         National Orthotic and Prosthetic Services.
         P.O. Box 457, LAE, PNG. Phone: (675) 4732159/Fax: (675) 4723868/
         Email: nops@online.net.pg