The National Executive Council recently endorsed the first government policy on Volunteers, titled National Policy on Professional Volunteerism, which falls under the National Volunteers Service of Papua New Guinea.
The NVS was established by an Act of Parliament in 1990 for the purpose of delivering government services to villages and communities in rural and remote areas of PNG.
The Prime Minister James Marape, MP said it is now 30 years into operations and still performing its original mandate of ensuring that the government’s commitment to delivering services is maintained by NVS.
He said this when announcing the NEC decision to endorse the National Policy on Professional Volunteerism following a submission by the Minister for Defence.
The Vision of the Service is to be part of a nation-building driving force, instrumental in service delivery for the empowerment of the people aimed at reducing inequality, disadvantages, dependencies, vulnerabilities and ultimately eliminating poverty.
The National Policy on Professional Volunteerism 2020-2025 policy is a first of its kind and reflects the Government’s commitment to using its skilled human resources to contribute to development especially in rural areas where the majority of people live.
“It paves the way for all volunteers, both national and international to be able to develop a shared vision implementing the strategic directives of this important National Policy,” said Prime Minister Marape.
He said the vision of the policy is also to contribute towards nation-building by empowering people in our communities to be self-reliant and have improved living standards through the goal of promoting and supporting citizen’s participation in people-centered development.
Prime Minister Marape added that the National Volunteers Service had been strategically positioned with the PNG Defence Force for synergy in meeting the intent of Government so that the PNGDF Reserve Force and Ex-Service men and women are harnessed to provide the NVS’ efforts in volunteerism and vice-versa in our efforts in nation building.
The policy presents a multi-sector approach as it embeds itself with other sector policies and programs such as the Provincial Services Improvement Program and the District Service Improvement Programs of Education, Health, Infrastructure, Economy, Community Development, Gender Equity, and Social Inclusion.
“Therefore, the volunteer service provides a diversity in service delivery and better accessibility for the rural populace to those services and with the NEC endorsement of the NPPV, it would be also in the best interest of each Members of Parliament to roll it out in their provinces and districts for tangible development to take place,” said Prime Minister Marape.
The NEC endorsement will now enable the Departments of Provincial & Local Level Government Affairs, Implementation & Rural Development, Personnel Management and National Planning & Monitoring to work together in the areas of budget, programming, staff and resources and roll out of the program in the provinces and districts.