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Sustaining Papua New Guinea’s Coast Lines

Life before joining the New Zealand Short Term Training Scholarship programme

Samantha Kuman is a graduate of the University of Papua New Guinea and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Environmental Science & Geography. She currently works for Sustainable Coastlines Papua New Guinea, a sister organisation to the Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust (NZ). She is the first to take part in a training programme at the organisation.

Samantha Kuman is a graduate of the University of Papua New Guinea

Experience as a student

Samantha joined the Auckland office of the Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust for her training, working alongside the team of eight there. According to her supervisor, she fitted in seamlessly and made friends easily.

During her time on the programme, she had training in the following four areas: enhancing project delivery skills and knowledge, public speaking and education delivery, evaluation and health and safety, funding and reporting. As she would be going back to work for a sister organisation in Papua New Guinea afterwards, it was very important for her to receive hands-on learning at the head office of Sustainable Coastlines. She was also able to attend a few professional development workshops run by the organisation, which supported the New Zealand Short Term Training Scholarship programme.

“It was an absolute pleasure having Samantha train with us and work alongside us for the period of her placement. We have a specialist skillset here at the Auckland office, and we truly believe she gained a huge amount from the first-hand experiences and competency-based nature of the training. We hope this is the first of many people we can conduct this training with through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Skills Consulting Group,” says Ryley Webster, Capacity Development Manager at Sustainable Coastlines NZ

New skills and future plans

Samantha’s training included first aid, risk management, and hazard management, meaning she can take on increased responsibilities in Papua New Guinea. As well as building experience in methods of environmental management carried out by the Sustainable Coastlines Trust, Samantha was taught invaluable skills in software to help with her work. These included Trello, Xero, Salesforce, and MailChimp. She also now has the capacity to train locals in environmental conservation.

“What I learnt while on the programme are extremely valuable to the functionality of Sustainable Coastlines in Papua New Guinea. The skills are highly useful to the development of the organisation and its growth in the country. Plastic pollution is a global problem that must be tackled locally at the most basic grass root level and especially with young children, in order for effective change to occur,” states Samantha.

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