Development Studies

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The role of the private sector in providing access to educational and employment opportunities in PNG : a case study of the Work Readiness Institute, Lihir Island, PNG : a research project presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2020-06) Tyro, Sophie Lynne
Despite Papua New Guinea being resource rich, the country has struggled to turn these revenues into positive development results with PNG still lagging behind in all development indicators. Mining companies within the country have made effort to contribute positively to development, and are increasingly held to account through critical evaluation and measuring effects by way of social impact assessments. This paper seeks to look specifically at the role of the Work Ready Institute, situated within the special mining lease of Newcrest Mining Ltd., Lihir Island, New Ireland Province. The WRI has been developed by the mining company as a training and development program that provides trainees with the skills necessary to access employment opportunities available within Newcrest and is specifically aimed at young Lihirians. The aims of this research project are, firstly, to investigate the obstacles to educational success that exist for students at the Work Ready Institute, an educational training facility administered by Lihir Gold Limited (LGL). In understanding these challenges, the second aim is to explore how the mine, the WRI, and the trainees can work together for better educational outcomes. The overall context of this research project is to critically examine the education system in PNG by looking at the history of education in PNG and how this history relates to recent curriculum reforms. The research considers the available literature surrounding education in PNG as well as the extractive industries and the way in which the latter can partner with the government to improve educational outcomes in the country. This research considers these through the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility, particularly looking at the motivations of CSR within the mining industry and its influence on outcomes and sustainability of social performance initiatives. Broadly speaking, the conclusion of this research project speaks to the need for social performance initiatives to be well considered in partnership with the very people the project is aimed at through effective social assessment and monitoring. There needs to be a clear objective for the program, and all stakeholders need to understand the objective in order to find success. Most importantly, the outcome of the initiative needs to satisfy business objectives in order to ensure continuity and sustainability during the mine life, as social performance requires long-term investment in order to deliver effective social change. And herein lies the difficulty: placing priority on business outcomes, like social performance, while also prioritising the needs of the community. True partnerships in sustainable development are when interests of all stakeholders are met.
Values-based evaluative management : an integrated and adaptive approach to enhance inclusion, development effectiveness, governance, and sustainability : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2021) Averill, Catherine
Sustainable development, an articulated goal of development practice in the 21st century (United Nations Development Programme, 2015a) now needs to be inclusive, based on multi-level systems of accountability, and have robust governance. This thesis proposes alternative evaluative management values and principles for inclusive sustainable development that are values-based, integrated, and adaptive. It suggests the way such values and high-level principles could underpin and reposition development, management, and evaluation approaches. An initial idea behind this research was that there needed to be a better way to connect strategic evaluative approaches within management and potentially the new sustainable development goals in international and national development. The impacts and significance of changes for both the broader development context and governance systems of country-level development, and the management and evaluation practices, were examined in the context of countries and donors in two Pacific settings: Papua New Guinea and Aotearoa/New Zealand. To achieve the sustainable development goals, current management theory and practices needs to be reconsidered. This research pointed to the emergence of evaluative management as an identifiable theoretical and instrumental discourse and knowledge frame repositioning and integrating existing management discourses underpinned by values and principles relating to strategic planning, performance management and governance. This thesis proposes that a new model of integrated management – called, in this context, evaluative management that is premised on three values (inclusion, partnership and participation) and three high-level principles (relationality, contextual sensitivity and adaptive response), is needed to underpin such considerations. The potential of evaluative management can only be realised if it is enacted through values and principles that are well communicated and widely understood. This may include effective interaction and communication between different levels of governments, agencies, sectors, regions and communities including non-governmental organisations, private sector, and development partners. This new model of integrated management would also provide the capacity to address inclusion, governance, accountability, and sustainable development with more effective strategic evaluative practices.
Exploring the roles of women in indigenous businesses based on customary land : case studies from Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2020) Steven, Hennah
The purpose of this research is to explore how indigenous enterprises based on customary land in Papua New Guinea (PNG) work to empower women. This research is part of the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden project “The land has eyes and teeth”: customary landowners’ entanglements with economic systems in the Pacific that draws upon the notion of land as ‘assemblage’ (Li, 2014). The study brought in a gendered dimension to the project to understand how economic engagements on customary land involve and benefit women. Three examples of small-medium indigenous enterprises from PNG were selected as case studies. Utilising the Pacific Vanua and Tali magimagi influenced research framework, the involvement of women in these cases was examined to understand how they contributed to and benefited from small business engagements on customary land. From executing a mixture of tok stori/stori sessions (storytelling, conversations), semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, the study revealed the significance of indigenous social values and practices that were of critical support to business sustainability on customary land. Women played an important role as the ‘social glue’ within the businesses, maintaining the local value of wanbel to keep social cohesion and harmony within the businesses, communities and, with associated people. This was seen through their work on the maintenance of wellbeing for workers, relatives and communities; meeting socio-cultural obligations and responsibilities, and allowing spiritual values and beliefs to influence their actions and decisions. The desire to maintain these social values influenced the way they behaved. They also played direct business roles as co-managers, financial managers, workers and producers that helped to support business viability and retain customary land for the benefit of the family, clan and community. Further, women benefited from these businesses in various ways including gaining recognition and status in their households and communities. The study shows that customary land ownership is not a barrier to economic development, as widely held perceptions would suggest, rather it is an asset that can facilitate different forms of local development for people and communities in PNG and in the wider Pacific. There is a need to understand economic-centred intentions alongside the social-cultural interests of women to drive context-specific development. A culturally appropriate gender-sensitive framework is proposed in this thesis as an alternative development framework that can guide the work of government policymakers, development agencies and donors to formulate inclusive development programmes that also support women’s other interests in PNG and the Pacific.
Subsistence food production and marketing in Papua New Guinea : a research paper presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
(Massey University, 1994) Peng, Peter Benjamen
Agriculture is the main component of the economic sector of the Less Developed Countries (LDC's) of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In most of these countries, which includes Papua New Guinea (PNG), subsistence agriculture dominates despite the tremendous advances in agricultural technology elsewhere, especially in Developed Countries, in the course of the twentieth century. The characteristic feature of these subsistence farms is low productivity which means small, if any, production surplus over consumption, which results in very little trade between the agriculture sector and other sectors of the country. In LDC's, this has often led to declining food production and increased dependence on imported food as the bulk of domestic food supply is produced by the subsistence sector. In PNG, very similar trends are noted. This paper examines some issues affecting smallholder agriculture and implications for increasing agricultural productivity in PNG. Specifically, the research problem and the focus of this study is firstly, how to increase subsistence food production and secondly, how to effectively move the rural surplus to urban consumers where it is required. To increase productivity, LDC's are faced with two choices; extend land area under cultivation if land is available or improve agricultural technology if land is scarce. While PNG is relatively well endowed with land (more than four times the average for developing countries) , much of the land is too mountainous to convert to arable land, with only less than 0.3 per cent of the land used for annual crops and grazing. The choice of strategy thus is determined by land. This paper shows that the PNG government has under-invested in agriculture, particularly subsistence agriculture. Further investment in research and technology is required, focusing especially on their farming systems. Traditional farmers are not traditionalist by choice. Agricultural techniques have been developed over centuries, through years of accumulated experience of generations of farmers. Extensive literature in agriculture economics show that traditional farmers cannot normally adopt technological innovations unless the circumstances in which they operate are first changed. The important role of marketing in economic development is also underplayed. It is a common fallacy to assume that markets when left to their own devices can lead to increased productivity and efficiency within the distribution system. Government intervention is also necessary in marketing to achieve social goals of self sufficiency in food production. This study attempts to demonstrate that given the right incentives, mostly institutional and technological, subsistence food production can be increased in PNG.
Mining and development : examining the effectiveness of mining company community development intervention in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2018) Richardson, Emma
This thesis explores the effectiveness of mining company contributions to development within the gold mining communities of Lihir and Simberi islands, in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). More specifically, it analyses the extent to which forms of community development intervention undertaken on Lihir Island by Newcrest Mining Ltd, and on Simberi Island by St Barbara Ltd, actually support meaningful forms of development. This has been achieved through the use of development ethics (Goulet 1995) as a conceptual research framework, which when applied in research practice, gives priority to the wellbeing of those whose realities may be ignored, misread or marginalised within the neoliberal realm of development. This research is based on a total of four months of fieldwork undertaken on Lihir and Simberi islands. It draws on community narratives to frame the relevance of human wellbeing, human rights and inclusive development as development ethics within the research context. This development ethics research lens facilitates discussion about the meaningfulness of development intervention from a morally-informed community development perspective. Underpinned by a locally contextualised appreciation of what human wellbeing and meaningful development means on Lihir and Simberi islands (which results in the exposition of a set of local Community Wellbeing and Development Rights), a critical review of the practice and governance of development intervention within each Island community is then detailed. The analysis of development interventions then proceeds using firstly an evaluation of practices within a human rights lens, and secondly consideration of inclusive development outcomes relative to Newcrest's and St Barbara’s development related rhetoric. The resulting account of mining company community development intervention is critical, but ultimately hopeful. This hopefulness reflects the hope of customary landowners that mining will one day lead to meaningful development benefits. The analysis from this development ethics lens reveals insights into the promotion of social justice through the delivery of mining company development interventions. It is argued that mining companies have the opportunity to enhance a set of locally significant and internationally recognised human rights that are important to the wellbeing and development of customary landowners. Although, in some instances, mining company performance is falling short with respect to the enhancement of these human rights, it is argued that the enhancement of Community Wellbeing and Development Rights exists as a potential means for mining companies to add value to host communities. However, if such a development programme is to be meaningful to customary landowners, it must also advance equity and fairness. If mining companies fail to navigate such complexities, this thesis contends that mining, and forms of mining company community development intervention, will likely do more harm to communities than good.
Cultural aspects of infant undernutrition among the Lujere people of Papua New Guinea : a nursing perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Social Sciences)
(Massey University, 1983) Gillam, Elizabeth Alice
A field study of five months has been undertaken to determine the causal or predisposing factors related to the prevalence of undernutrition in the Lujere infants and children of Papua New Guinea. Strategies used in the field study include: • visiting eight venues and weighing infants from fifteen villages at regular intervals, variation in the weighing schedule occurred and are discussed • participant observations which incorporated unstructured interviews and ethnographic recordings. • the maintenance of a daily journal, in which all activities and cultural interactions related to the study were noted, has been used as a basis for the descriptive sections of the field study. An anthropological and a nursing perspective has been combined into a "transcultural" nursing approach. The results obtained through these field work strategies show: of 477 infants regularly weighed 27.25% of the infants were seen as well nourished and 72.75% suffered from undernutrition in varying degrees. 19.25% of the undernourished infants were deemed to suffer from severe undernutrition. Causal factors for the high percentage of undernutrition were seen to be related to: • insufficiencies in subsistence patterns mainly due to climatic factors which govern when hunting, gathering, fishing and gardening activities take Place. • the well developed cultural patterns which determined what portion of the available foods were given to infants and children, and when it was culturally acceptable for them to be given • incongruity in relation to health care delivery between the care givers and receivers. The dominant features here were the two different philosophies of causality and treatment of disease. This incongruity generally tended to prolong the duration of undernutrition experienced by Lujere infants and children. These factors need urgent attention and it is recommended that, together with health care givers, the Lujere people need to become aware of and encouraged to use community self care. This self care should amalgamate salient aspects of their own care ideas with prominent aspects of the western health care system.
Building community resilience in mine impacted communities : a study on delivery of health services in Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2016) Kuir-Ayius, Dora Dau
The purpose of this study was to explore the building of Community Resilience in mine-impacted communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The study aimed to establish the general relationship between community resilience, community capitals and the delivery of health services. It investigated the delivery of health services in three mining communities in PNG to see how these services contribute to or detract from the building of resilience. The study investigated relevant models of community resilience from the literature, and how the way policy functions in PNG can be related to these models. The study also developed a way of quantifying the impact of mining on health service delivery (through the use of community capitals) and the building of resilience in these communities. Furthermore, the thesis develops an indigenous, Melanesian-centric ‘Bilum Framework’ approach to resilience to create greater understanding of how resilience in the mining communities can be strengthened through improved access to health services. Three mining communities were selected as case studies, each representing a different stage of mining: (i) the beginning; (ii) the operational; and, (iii) post-mine closure. A mixed method approach comprising both quantitative and qualitative methods was used to collect data for this study. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect views of community members who accessed health services in their respective communities. Results from the survey questionnaire were converted to proxy indicators and led to the development of a Community Resilience Index (CRI) to provide a measure of resilience in each community. The qualitative research methods included document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and purposive observations. Document analysis was important in reviewing relevant policy documents and other literature to link theories to the experiences of the people while the latter methods contributed to describing people’s encounters in accessing health services. Analysis showed inconsistencies in the levels of resilience in these communities that varied with the stages of mining: both the beginning and post- mine closure stages demonstrated significantly lower levels of community resilience than the operational phase. Findings from the research indicated a lack of access to health services – a key influence in building resilience – is the result a range of factors including insufficient finances, weak sector governance, and the need for infrastructure and transport. The Bilum Framework is proposed as an approach that allows decision-makers to target assistance to strengthen and support specific community capitals and hence more effectively build community resilience in the mining communities in PNG.
Is wantokism a form of social capital? : comparative study of two communities in Oro Province, PNG : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
(Massey University, 2007) Manuda, Tony
Social capital is an important prerequisite for development however the form it assumes is one which has to be understood well by development practitioners. A lot of interest in social capital has been generated recently particularly in the Pacific as social relations in between people and various societal institutions in these islands are in many ways influenced by ethno linguistic affiliations. Only when these relationships between development agents and beneficiaries are understood in their local context can one truly appreciate it as a form of social capital. Hence, the term 'wantokism' which relates to social relations between people sharing similar ethno linguistic ties becomes an interesting topic of discussion in especially in the heterogeneous Melanesian countries of the Pacific. This subject is discussed in this thesis through comparing social relations between actors in two separate communities in Papua New Guinea. The Buna community school project and Kokoda hospital project in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea are examples of projects that involved a wide variety of people from all sectors of the community. The Kokoda project funded jointly by the Papua New Guinea and Australian government under the Australian War Graves office was successfully completed and is fully operational while the Buna project funded by the Japanese government under its Japanese International Cooperation Agency program was not completed. In a society where trust and cooperation among wantoks is expected to a higher degree this research explores this issue in both this projects and whether or not the lack of it or abundance in one may have contributed to its failure or success. Through consultation with project board members, community members, provincial and district government personnel at both these locations this research raises the question of whether there is trust and cooperation between project boards and the wider community prior to and during the project work. More importantly it raises the question of whether there is trust and cooperation on the basis of wantokism. This thesis shows that the strong bonding social capital inherent in wantokism is clearly exemplified in both communities. However, there was minimal trust among board members and the local community, and a lack of bridging social capital in particularly Buna which affected its ability to access resources from outside sources. In contrast, there was a higher level of bridging social capital, and better trust and cooperation between board members and the local community at Kokoda. Drawing together from firstly, a theoretical analysis of social capital, ethnicity and wantokism and secondly, from qualitative and quantitative research in these two communities, it reaches conclusions about the extent to which wantokism could be a form of social capital.
Overcoming the inequity of isolation : small grants and guided self-mobilisation for microenterprise development in rural Papua New Guinea : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
(Massey University, 2003) Jennings, Shona
Stimulation of an informal sector is seen as a key strategy for poverty alleviation in many parts of the developing world, including Papua New Guinea. The stimulation of microenterprises within this sector aims at enabling the poor towards 'self-help'. The two pillars on which microenterprise stands are empowerment and finance, yet very isolated communities, such as those in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, often lack access to such enabling forces. In the absence of other financial opportunities, they sometimes apply to donor agencies for small grant funding as a means of accessing seed capital. Yet they are hampered in their efforts by low literacy, poorly developed infrastructure, the absence of organisations supporting microenterprise development, aid agency criteria, and isolation. Using Papua New Guinea as the field of reference, this paper initially looks at aid and microenterprise development, using literature to develop best practice understandings. These best practice understandings, which concentrate on issues to do with sustainability, appopriateness, viability and empowerment, accompany three tiers of knowledge (formal, common and perceptive) to form a framework. This framework helps assessors deliberate upon key topics in a way that incorporates praxis when making decisions concerning funding I then propose a workbook-style application form, that: 1) feeds appropriate information from the community back to the funder for use in the framework; 2) can be completed by people with very low literacy; and 3) leads a community through participatory exercises at both the village and household/clan levels, enabling them to analyse, plan and act in the ways they choose to and value.
Evaluating contestable grants in facilitating NGO-government collaborative projects to create safer, peaceful communities : a case in Papua New Guinea : a research presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(The Author, 2014) Camilus, Betty
Monitoring and evaluation is a key feature in contracting relationships between government, donors, private sector, NGOs and the wider civil society in law and justice service provision. However, less effort are placed on evaluating the impacts of NGO-Government collaborative projects funded with contestable grants to create safer, more peaceful communities. This research explores the role of monitoring and evaluation of projects funded with contestable grants focusing on issues and challenges raised by the lack of evaluation and identifies ways in which local communities define a successful collaborative NGO-Government project. The research proposes a potential evaluation pathway as a culturally appropriate monitoring and evaluation tool.

Development Studies

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