Anna Solomon confirmed as Secretary of Department of Religion, Youth and Community Development
Minister Gore described the confirmation of Solomon as a way forward.
She says this now gives the government the confidence that the department will deliver.
“She is the only female and first to be confirmed by the government as secretary,” says Gore.
Gore says the department has a lot of work to do this year.
Ms Solomon has been acting for the position for awhile and confirmation is a good news for her to carry on where she started.
One of the plans the department will introduce in 2015 is Gender Based Violence Strategy will, for the first time, be tabled in parliament in 2015.
This is one of the attempts made by the Community Development department and development partners to address gender based violence, sorcery and other forms of violence.
However, the department remains under-funded resulting in partners withdrawing their services
Mrs Solomon says although they received funding from the government, it is not enough to fully support key social services throughout Papua New Guinea.
They include the country’s Welfare Office, Civil Registry Office, Women, Youth, Elderly and Disability offices.
Development partners that have assisted the department to come up with key policies and perhaps bills and then laws to protect the rights of women and children and policies to eliminate all forms of violence have withdrawn their services due to lack of funding.
The Gender Based Violence Strategy Bill is an important legislative that will be tabled on the floor of parliament by the Minister responsible, Delilah Gore in February, this year.
What’s contained in the Bill are ways on how the policy will be implemented by all stakeholders through to the district level, however, coordination has been a challenge for the government to implement much of the policies.
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