PNG’s National Standard for Community Development Workers

Authors: Rebecca Pepame Robinson, Merilyn Gairo, Priscilla Pius, Lucinda Gulluman-Kisip, Chris Gard

First published at: https://devpolicy.org/papua-new-guineas-national-standard-for-community-development-workers-20200716-1/

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a competency based National Standard for Community Development Workers. It is home-grown and Government endorsed. The Standard was officially launched in May of 2007 by the then Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu. The Standard falls under the auspices of PNG’s National Apprenticeships and Trades Testing Board (NATTB). It describes the minimum performance criteria for tasks commonly carried out by Community Development Workers (CDWs). CDWs include field officers, field workers, pastors, community liaison officers, Ward Development Committee members, community volunteers, District officers, extension officers, and others. CDWs directly engage with families, groups and communities to facilitate participatory, inclusive, locally-led and self-reliant development.

The National Standard reduces the complexity of development approaches to common minimum criteria for performance. Not a recipe to follow but the absolute minimum ingredients that need to be in the recipe. It complements other specialist skills and supports existing workplace practices – so that when a CDW with sectoral expertise such as an agricultural officer, pastor or a District commerce officer, carries out their normal duties, they will also have the common minimum skills and knowledge to work with families, groups, and communities in ways that facilitate participatory, inclusive, locally-led and self-reliant development.

Because literacy and education levels are generally still low in PNG, development initiatives that help families, groups and communities relies upon CDWs from outside or insidethe community to help facilitate the process. The National Standard is a great tool for building the capacity, confidence, professional identify, and employability of CDWs, either from outside and inside the community, leading to better development assistance for PNG families, groups and communities.

The desire to establish the CDW National Standard was driven by PNG civil society organisations (CSOs) and tertiary institutions, and its development facilitated through an AusAID funded program (the Community Development Scheme). A committee of PNG experts was nominated by CSOs and the tertiary sector to develop the National Standard. It was comprised of representatives from Divine Word University’s PNG Studies, the University of Technology’s Communications for Development department, the PNG Department for Community Development, the NATTB, and PNG CSOs working across improved forestry practices, conservation, disability services and advocacy, agricultural extension, family violence, health, education and broader community development. This committee formulated the minimum competencies required of PNG CDWs when they: conduct training or awareness; help a community, group or family to analyse their development situation and identify priorities; help them to develop a plan; facilitate an agreement; begin implementing an activity; and monitor progress and evaluate activities. The National Standard also includes minimum competencies required of PNG CDWs when they make preparations, conduct community entry, and prepare a report.

Since 2007 the CDW National Standard has been reviewed and evolved. Notably, the assessment and accreditation process has evolved to make it work-place based, simpler, and easier to use for organisations wanting to help their personnel to obtain nationally recognised (Government) accreditation. For many organisations, however, it has been sufficient to train their personnel so that they have the skills to meet the National Standard, even if they are not formally assessed and accredited. Competency-based training handbooks and coursebooks that target the National Standard have evolved and been refined and are now widely used. Currently PNG’s Fresh Produce Development Agency, the Coffee Industry Corporation, CARE International in PNG, Ok Tedi Development Foundation, Oil Search Ltd, and Oil Search Foundation, have officers participating in CDW training. Many Districts and PNG NGOs have trained officers and community volunteers against the National Standard in recent years including Gumine District, Obura-Wonenara District, Menyamya District, Bougainville Women’s Federation, the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Backyard Farms, and the Community Development Agency.

The National Standard helps CDWs and the organisations they work for by providing:

• A basis for CDW duty statements
• A basis for CDW training courses
• Benchmarks for CDW assessment
• Broadening the CDWs skills base
• Recognition of skills held by people in both formal and informal employment
• A portfolio of a CDW’s competence to support professional and employment opportunities
• A basis for in-house accreditation and the option of NATTB accreditation
• Identifying further training needs
• A common standard for CDWs in PNG
• The opportunity for CDWs and the organisations they work for to market themselves as delivering development assistance in line with the PNG National Standard

Over time the standards may gradually be raised and added to so that community development worker practice also continually adapts and improves. Capitalising on progress so far, there are opportunities for the National Standard for Community Development Workers to more broadly adopted and embedded to ensure that it is sustained, improved, and so that its benefits are realised more widely in PNG:

• Commitment from larger organisations, including the resource industry, to provide their CDWs (field officers, extension officers, community liaison officers, etc) with ongoing access to training, assessment and accreditation against PNG’s National Standard for CDWs. Just as minimum standards must be met in traditional trades, so too minimum standards should be met in the ways that industry-affected communities are engaged with (Oil Search is currently partnering with the Australian Council for International Agricultural Research to develop CDW coursebooks that will be integrated into the professional training of Oil Search field officers).
• Commitment from international agencies to ensure that their PNG programs are conducted in ways that enable field activities to meet (and exceed) PNG’s minimum standards for community development workers.
• Web-based open access to the CDW National Standard and related information (currently access relies upon people ringing and requesting hard copies from the NATTB).

The PNG National Standard for Community Development Workers provides a simple foundation, the minimum requirements, for the complex and sensitive work of community development workers and community development practice. It provides a structure for professional development and professional recognition of community development workers and has the potential to continue to drive improved practice. Whether engaging and supporting CDWs in long term community development programs or during times of emergency such as the current Covid-19 pandemic, having access to and confidence in the professional capacities of community development workers to effectively facilitate engagement and action is critical. How, then, could more agencies and organisations be made aware of and take up the PNG National Standards for Community Development Workers? Your ideas welcome!