Our Impact

Through our high-impact, high accountability programmes, the Foundation aims to drive a positive change in the communities we serve.

  • 33% ⬆ in primary school admissions
  • 30,000 graduated with certificate in FLT
  • Over 550 Female Farmers Empowered
  • 15,000+ reached through Menstrual Awareness Sessions
  • 100,000 people given free health checks
  • 64 Pride of PNG Winners recognized

“The real PNG is in the rural areas, and if we inspire the youth to go back to their roots and help their communities, then we are doing somthing right!”

Pride of PNG Awards for Women Empowerment:

Pride of PNG Awards for Women Empowerment: Pride of PNG Awards for Women was first incepted in 2007, as a Community Initiative of CPL Foundation. This initiative has come a long way with 64 Winners in total since 2007. The patron of the Awards is the Governor General of PNG, Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae. The Awards is the flagship program of the CPL Foundation and celebrates women who work tirelessly and selflessly to care, protect and serve the communities they live in.

There are 5 categories: Bravery & Courage, Care & Compassion, Community Spirit, Education & Role Model, Environment and Young PNG Award.

Financial Literacy Training for Market Mamas:

Financial Literacy Training for Market Mamas: CPL Foundation has supported over 30,000 women in the informal sector graduate with a certificate in financial literacy skills in the last five years. Many recipients of the training have now managed to upgrade themselves from being street vendors to formal business ventures like catering, baking, and fabric designing. Through our support for the Ginigoada Financial Literacy Training programmes conducted in some of the toughest neighbourhoods and settlements, women are learning concepts of money management and increasing their potential for setting up small businesses. CPL Foundation has spent over 1 million Kina since 2013. In 2022, the target is to provide training for 1,000 more women in Port Moresby as we continue to expand to other provinces.

Women in Agriculture Sector:

In Papua New Guinea, women do 70% of the work in agriculture but their role has not been fully recognized. As we expand our farmer network across the country, our mandate is to break the bias against women in agriculture. CPL Foundation aims to encourage female farmers through training in farm economics, providing reliable market access, and a robust supply-chain mechanisms. From the Taros of Bougainville to the Mushrooms in Goroka, we have identified model farmers who can grow commercially and supply consistently. Currently, over 550 female farmers are a part of our network nation-wide. Through the income generated, these women farmers are now economically independent and can pay for the nutrition, education and healthcare of their children.  Studies show that a steady income for mothers translates into a positive impact on the dietary status of children.

It would be great to have some more numbers to report. How many?  Also this will link nicely to the idea we discussed today of supporting markets at our SnSs. Mahesh when can we share?

Connecting Rural Communities to Urban Markets:

The CPL Virgin Coconut Oil project had sourced cold pressed oils from Mushu Island in the East Sepik Province. The project initiated by the late Sir Michael Somare, founding Prime Minister of PNG, saw CPL Group engage with women leaders to create product concept, through to logistics, packaging and marketing of the final product. The product and its sustainable production methods captivated Sir Mahesh. The project aims at providing market access to local women entrepreneurs on the island – one of the ten islands in East Sepik where the community depend on coconuts and fishing for their livelihood. Since the initiation of the project, City Pharmacy has sold over 3,000 bottles ranging from 100ml – 200ml virgin coconut oil.

Mentoring & Advancing Women Entrepreneurs:

CPL Foundation is committed to creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs through a comprehensive mentoring programme. One of our success stories is Ann-Shirley Korave, CEO of QueenPads. The SME sells  environmentally friendly sanitary cloth pads through City Pharmacy outlets across 15 provinces in the county. The affordable menstruation product is proudly PNG-made and minimizes the health risk for girls and women in rural areas. We have also supported menstruation awareness sessions through schools, communities and our nursing stations, reaching over 15,000 people across Lae, Mt Hagen, Kokopo, Port Moresby, Madang, and Bougainville.

Supporting Maternal Health Programmes:

A woman in PNG has an average of 3.5 children. Only 36% of births are supervised by a skilled birth attendant. 22% of 19-yr-old women have already had one child and 12% of adolescents have experienced child-birth. According to UNFPA, maternal deaths could be reduced by a quarter and child deaths would decrease by up to twenty percent if only women and adolescents had access to modern contraception.. Cultural barriers make it difficult to discuss sexual and reproductive health. CPL Foundation plans a focused intervention in terms of awareness and engagement with the community through access to accurate information to make positive choices. We are also building capacity amongst midwives and nurses, through partnerships with grass-root level health authorities.

Cyber Security Awareness for Girls:

In 2022, CPL Foundation launched the Cyber Sawe PNG programme, targeted at young girls aged 6 to 16. Supported by expert Australian community Computer Science organization, SecuriDay, the Cyber Sawe PNG workshop is a first-of-its-kind training focused on raising awareness on the safe and informed use of the internet. The training topics are designed to build confidence through cyber games, coding, internet security and digital tracing. Over 120 children participated in the first round of the workshop, which will be conducted on an annual basis.

Health & Education for Children:

Since 2014, CPL has sponsored the Buk bilong Pikini literacy on Tatana Island where more than 1,000 children have learned to read.   Since the sponsorship of the program, BbP has reported a 30% increase in the graduation of students into primary schools. This year CPL Foundation was proud to launch the two readers model for Buk Bilong Pikinini titled

  1. “When I Grow Up, I want to be a Pharmacist”
  2. “When I Grow Up, I want to be a Nurse”

These books were developed to inspire the young children to choose healthcare as their profession.