The Mauberema Ecotourism Nature Conservation Education Research & Training Center (MENCERTC) in Sinesine Yonggomugl District in the Chimbu Province is setting a perfect example of what happens, when a community comes together with a common goal. MENCERTC will be launching the Professor Novonty Early Childhood Development Center tomorrow, Thursday 10th of August, 2023. Head of the MENCERTC, Mr. Moses Kirikumul Kerry explained that funding for this Center came from the United Nation’s Development Program’s (UNDP) Global Equator Prize Award Grant that they won in 2022. “We decided to use the money to build a learning facility for the children that attend the Mauberema Early Childhood Learning Center.” Mr. Kerry said that the Mauberema Early Childhood Learning Center is an existing arm of the MENCERTC under their Community Education Outreach Program, where they carry out educational programs to complement their main work of Conservation. “The kids that come to the center usually have to sit on the ground. They also don’t have proper learning materials.” Tomorrow’s launching of the early childhood learning center will now fix these issues. “The Professor Novonty Early Childhood Development Center is a proper educational facility with a double classroom, a library, a computer lab, café for the kids to have their lunch, a mobile health facility, as well as a small cultural museum.” Mr. Kerry said some of the building materials they needed, like wood, were sourced from their surrounding environment. MENCERTC also put part of the grant towards purchasing a small vehicle for ease of logistics in their remote location. “We tried our best to utilize the grant and our own natural resources in the most efficient way possible, to build this early childhood learning center and cater for additional things as well.” Moses Kerry explained that here are volunteer teachers at the Center who are all trained in early childhood education. “Now that we have a proper education facility, we are in talks with the Provincial Education Department to register the school and have the volunteer teachers register as educators with the Department of Education, so they can get paid.” He said this will also pave the way for MENCERTC to seek subsidies and funding from the National Education Department to expand the Center. The Launching will have in attendance, representatives from key stakeholders that continue to be instrumental, not only in the building of the Learning Center, but in the overall work that MENCERTC does. Chimbu Governor Noah Kool will be the guest speaker at the launching, which includes a program that will see traditional performances from neighboring provinces as well as. “The Launching of the Professor Novonty Early Childhood Development Center will be a small ceremony, but a very special and significant one.”