Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, 31st March-1st April 2021.
The Milne Bay Provincial Administration, Papua New Guinea’s Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) delivered in Alotau, Milne Bay Province the first workshop in a series of capacity strengthening workshops to mainstream climate-resilient and green growth (CRGG) into provincial plans and budgets. Due to the current Covid-19 lockdown in Papua New Guinea, the workshop was a hybrid of participatory activities and virtual presentations delivered by the GGGI team based in Port Moresby and Seoul with a limited number of participants attending in-person. The targeted audience of the capacity strengthening workshop were planning officials and representatives from the key priority sectors (Agriculture, Energy, Fisheries, and Transport) as identified by the Milne Bay CRGG assessment conducted in 2020.
Provincial Administrator of Milne Bay Mr. Ashan Numa reiterated in his opening remarks that Milne Bay Province is so fortunate to be selected as one of the focus provinces for the GGGI-Climate-Resilient Green Growth Project, funded by the Australian Government and the province is already benefitting from the project through discussions on the integration of climate resilience and green growth interventions into the provincial integrated development plan and other project ideas in the pipeline. He also stated the capacity strengthening workshop will help enhance the capacity of the provincial planners and sectors to develop results-based and strategic CRGG plans for the province.
Mr. Ruel Yamuna, Managing Director of CCDA mentioned in his introductory remarks that the CRGG project support to the Government of PNG to achieve a transformational, inclusive, and resilient green growth economy will also contribute to achieving the targets set by PNG’s enhanced NDC 
and 2030 SDG Roadmap. Also, strengthening the planning capacities of our provincial authorities is a key ingredient to effectively integrate CRGG and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) approaches into provincial plans and budgets.
Australian High Commission’s Mr. Thomas Wooden reiterated Australia’s commitment to climate action despite the impacts of COVID-19. He recognized PNG’s regional leadership on climate action and the work being done at the local level by CCDA and GGGI across PNG, facilitated through Australia’s Climate-Resilient Green Growth Project, to enhance the capacity of provincial authorities. He congratulated the Milne Bay Provincial Authority on their progress to achieve their vision of becoming PNG’s greenest province.
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe, GGGI Country Representative for PNG highlighted in her opening speech that capacity strengthening is at the core of GGGI’s CRGG approach to ensure that our provincial counterparts own and lead the work GGGI does in the province.
The purpose of the two-day capacity strengthening workshop was: 1) to help improve the CRGG planning capacity of provincial authorities, and 2) to support prov
incial authorities in mainstreaming CRGG priorities into the provincial plans and budgets (Medium-Term Development Plans and/or Annual Development Budgets).
The first day of the workshop focused on introducing the workshop participants to CRGG concepts, CRGG, and GESI mainstreaming approaches, tools, and applications. On the second day, GGGI presented the CRGG assessment findings for Milne Bay Province. Then the participants were tasked to draft sector mainstreaming plans based on the key CRGG interventions for each priority sector. The workshop participants also prepared action plans and schedules for mainstreaming CRGG into the sectoral and provincial plans and budgets with GGGI’s technical support.
About the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports governments of developing countries to transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in over 30 partner countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects, and publications can be found on www.gggi.org. You can also follow GGGI on Twitter and join us on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Local GGGI communications contact
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe, Country Representative, Papua New Guinea
achala.abeysinghe@GGGI.org