Digicel Foundation first visited the Soko Women’s Association a few months ago and was very impressed by the great work being done by the local women spear headed by a young determined woman, Easter Jericho Pan, the main coordinator of the women’s association. They have been operating as an Association for 1 year now and have already achieved a lot for their community. They help teach their women income earning skills such as cooking and sewing as well as making local handcraft. NCDC has recently come on board supporting them with shop space at the airport where they can sell their bilums and baskets. 

The Digicel Foundation especially recognizes those communities that are active in helping themselves with the little resources they have. The CLC will be used as a training centre for the women as well as a pre-school for the many children in the settlement that do not go to school. They will also be running literacy classes for the many illiterate mothers in the settlement.

It is the Digicel Foundation’s strong belief that Education should be accessible to all both young and old. The earlier children learn numeracy and literacy the more chance they will have in leading a better life.

This is only the beginning as the Digicel Foundation has earmarked a dozen other communities, not only in POM but also in the Highlands Region, for the launch of a Community Learning Centre over the next few months. Digicel Foundation plans on rolling out a total of 40 CLC’s in PNG by the end of this year.  

Since the launch of the Foundation last year October, 31 Community Learning Centres, 4 school building projects, a Meri Seif Haus and the first Mobile Clinic have been established. A further 6 school building projects, the funding of another 5 Family Support related infrastructure projects and a second Mobile Clinic have already been initiated. Over the next year the Foundation plans to fund more projects that aim at supporting communities to become more self-reliant in the future.