Papua New Guineans encouraged to apply for Pacific Humanitarian Challenge

Papua New Guineans are invited to apply for grants from Australia to develop new and better ways of providing humanitarian assistance in the Pacific.

The winners of the Pacific Humanitarian Challenge will share in the AU$2 million Challenge Fund, through grants ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000, to turn their ideas into action. 

Pacific countries are highly exposed to the impacts of climate change and extreme natural events. In the last 60 years, these events have affected more than 9.2 million people and caused more than US $3.2 billion in damage. Right now, Papua New Guinea is experiencing the impact of the El Niño induced drought.

Through the Challenge, Australia is inviting entrepreneurs, businesses, individuals, technologists, NGOs and scientists to help rethink humanitarian response in the Pacific. Australia wants to expand the pool of talent and creativity to find, create, incubate, and accelerate effective solutions to old and complex problems. 

The Challenge is open until 7 February 2016 and the winning submissions will be announced at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016. 

For more information about the Challenge and to apply please visit the Pacific Humanitarian Challenge website at www.pacifichumanitarianchallenge.org