Source: The National

TWO groups of women from the Ramu Nickel project areas are the first in Madang to benefit from the small grants programmes for mine affected communities.

These women from Kurumbukari and Maigari will get two new trucks to assist with their agri-business activities.

Other two from the coastal pipeline and Basamuk will receive a truck and piggery project based on their applications.

The grant is a funding scheme for women in mine affected areas, which comes under the World Bank Mining Sector Institutional Strengthening Technical Assistance Project 2.

During a workshop earlier in the year, MRA committed itself to help women in mine affected areas through initiatives like the grant.

The authority has said the overall idea of the funding scheme is to give the women technical skills so that they are able to undertake bigger investment projects that can sustainably support them and their communities well beyond mine closure.

Development coordination branch acting executive manager Sean Ngansia was confident that if the women “were successful in obtaining the funds, it would bring positive impacts on the social and economic well-being of their household units and their entire communities”.