January 26, 2020; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea – GGGI Papua New Guinea’s team and the Climate Change & Development Authority (CCDA) held their annual reflection workshop for the Climate Resilient Green Growth Project (CRGG) with key project stakeholders on January 26 in Port Moresby.

The purpose of the workshop was to present the CRGG project’s progress and outcomes report 2020 to relevant stakeholders. The workshop was also an opportunity to review and discuss the key success factors, challenges, lessons learned, and areas for improving implementation of the project in 2021.

Provincial officials from the pilot provinces of the project (Enga, Milne Bay, and New Ireland) were in attendance at this important workshop. Also, representatives from Simbu, East Highlands, Manus, and Morobe were in attendance, as those four provinces are expected to implement similar projects in the next phase.  Representatives from CCDA, Department of Provincial & Local Government Affairs (DPLGA), Department of National Planning & Monitoring (DNPM), Australia High Commission, and Department of Agriculture and Livestock also attended the workshop.

Mr. Jacob Ekinye, Acting Managing Director of CCDA, mentioned in his opening remarks that “this project has come a long way from scoping phase to implementation phase. This year is important as we will be developing CRGG projects to mobilize climate finance for the three pilot provinces. Reflecting on lessons learned is one way to improve our work this year”.

Mr. Nicholas Saunders from the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby, in his opening remarks, mentioned that the CRGG project in PNG is a flagship climate change project for the Australian Government through the Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership and that they are pleased with the progress made so far.

In addressing the stakeholders in her opening remarks, Dr. Achala Abeysinghe, GGGI Country Representative in PNG, mentioned that monitoring, evaluating, reporting, and improving will be key activities until the very end of the project and that the learning experience will help other similar projects in Papua New Guinea. She thanked the CCDA, DNPM, DPLGA, and the Australian Government, as well as the three pilot provinces for making the project a success so far.