New Case Management Centre in Lae to support survivors of family and sexual violence

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, last week announced AU $3 million (K6.4 million) of funding over three years from the Australian aid program to fund the Papua New Guinea Family and Sexual Violence Case Management Centre (CMC).

The CMC is a new Papua New Guinean non-governmental organisation (NGO). It will commence services for survivors in Lae later in 2014. Its goal is to improve access to and effectiveness of services for the survivors of family and sexual violence.

Ume Wainetti, CMC Management Committee member and National Coordinator of the PNG Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC), said that establishing case management services in the country is essential for the protection of survivors of violence.

 “We have stories of so many of our women who we have been treated at Family Support Centres and kept at safe houses, and then when we send them home they have been murdered. That is because we lack the facilities and skills to manage the cases properly so that proper assistance is given to these women before they are resettled in their communities,” Ms Wainetti said.

“This funding will help address this gap and this centre in Lae will become a model for the development of effective case management services around the country to improve support for women, children and families.”

The Lae Advisory Council has been established to represent stakeholders in the community.

“The CMC will not be taking over any service, but will be working with partners to provide better responses for women and children who have been at the receiving end of family and sexual violence. These women and children need health services, and often shelter, legal intervention and protection. We will work with service providers to help women and children access these services” Ms Wainetti said.

“We are very grateful to the Australian Government for their support. We have been waiting for something like this for a long time, and really think the CMC could make a big difference not only in Lae but throughout PNG.”

Australian aid funding will flow to Oxfam, and from Oxfam to the CMC. The Development Policy Centre and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU) are also working with and supporting the CMC. All funding from the Australian aid program will be going toward direct service delivery for survivors in PNG and related support costs. No aid funding will flow to ANU.

More information on the project is available on the CMC website, www.pngcmc.org.