Papua New Guinea

Through ongoing partnerships with Pacific Women of Australian DFAT and the office of Global Women’s Issues (GWI) of the U.S. State Department, CIPE is implementing a cutting-edge women’s economic empowerment program in a country in which women face daunting obstacles. To help create a broader “entrepreneurial ecosystem” CIPE is operating a Women’s Business Resource Centre (WBRC) in Port Moresby, working with PNG universities to create new educational curriculum on entrepreneurship, and supporting PNG women’s business organizations.

The WBRC provides a safe place where women of all backgrounds can network with each other, learn from each other, and receive professional training and financial literacy education. The WBRC provides 24-hour security, is easily and safely accessible, and offers childcare services so that women with young children are not excluded. Since its November 2016 opening, more than 1,000 women have come to the Centre to receive training and business services, and dozens of women-owned enterprises are run out of the WBRC.

Through its work with universities, future generations of Papua New Guinean women will have the option of considering entrepreneurship as a career path. By providing technical assistance to PNG women’s business organizations, women in business now have a voice in economic policymaking.