A third-year student from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) has successfully completed his three months fieldwork with the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) under the Student Placement Program yesterday.
Baclay Tumbiago, 22, from Hela, is a third-year student studying Social Work and minoring in Psychology.
Young Tumbiago made a presentation yesterday to the CIMC staff on what he has learned over the last three months, stated that practical experience with CIMC was a great learning opportunity, participating in the National Development Forum.
“I saw how leaders discuss important issues in the country and my experience helped me see how policies turn into action, and this has strengthened my ability to contribute to national development”.
He made his presentation on the overview of the organization, explaining its role, sectoral committees, and the impact it has on policy discussions.
He highlighted how CIMC facilitates collaboration among government, private sector, and civil society to promote inclusive decision-making for national development.
He was fortunate to joined sectoral committee meetings, learning how different groups work together to make decisions.
He said data entry has showed me how keeping accurate records can support policy making.
Mr. Tumbiago also highlighted that this experience has improved his communication skills, helped him to work on presentations, thus making complex ideas easy to understand.
He said students’ practical placement, often called field education or fieldwork, is a core component of the Bachelor of Social Work degree at UPNG.
At CIMC students work with them for three months and if their performance shows great potential then they can be retained but if not then they are given references to look for job elsewhere.
CIMC gives the opportunity to students in tertiary institutions to do their internship, and this provides hands-on experience on what they learnt in school.
Mr. Tumbiago added that the practical helps them develop foundational social work skills, and prepare them for the final, more advanced placement in their fourth year.
He plans to apply his learning experiences and knowledge next year during his final year.
“I plan to use my communication and analytical abilities to make complex ideas easy to understand and focus on connecting policy discussions.”
CIMC Executive Officer Wallis Yakam said two students from University of Goroko will be recruited under the annual Graduate Development Program soon.
CIMC takes in students to do fieldwork from University of PNG, Divine Word University, University of Technology, Don Bosco Technology Institute and other institutions.