Between 1982 and 1987 the first coordinated government strategy on women was put in place. It was known as the National Women’s Development Programme (NWDP). The idea was to have an integrated program emphasizing training, income-generating activities, family health, network building, and educational programs for women. It reflected a shift in approach from welfare to ‘equal and productive partners’, arising from the changing discourse on Women in Development. Network building and mobilization dominated the first phase of the NWDP, which involved setting up provincial councils of women and convincing provincial governments to establish positions for women’s affairs officers. Up till 1983, many provincial governments had welfare officers but not women’s officers. Network building required a close working relationship between the provincial governments, the official women’s machinery (the Women’s Division), and the NGO women’s machinery, the NCW (personal communication Jane Kesno, Marilyn Kajoi 2001). The NCW, which came to include twenty provincial councils, was recognized as an alternative vehicle through which women’s programs, information and educational training could be delivered.

This was the most productive period of policy making, policy implementation and resource allocation for women’s programs by government. Staff from the Women’s Division spent most of their time in the provinces mobilizing women and establishing provincial councils of women. They ran numerous workshops and training programs on issues ranging from food preparation, family health, and how to run meetings, to family planning, leadership training, appropriate technology and literacy (personal communication, Kajoi 2002). There was at least one women’s officer in each province, and in the districts community women’s organizers (CWOs) were appointed to mobilize women and set up the provincial councils. CWOs were volunteers; they were given a daily allowance to cover transportation and food costs and undertook the groundwork in the rural areas. Between 1982 and 1985 the National Youth Programme (NYP) and the NWDP worked closely together. In fact, many of the concepts used in the NWDP, such as the idea of using volunteers as community women’s organizers, were developed by the NYP.

A National Women’s Coordinating Committee (NWCC) was set up in 1983. Its role was to advise the ministry on policy, programs and training for women. Its membership included six church women’s groups, provinces whose women’s organizations were not members of the NCW, the NCW, and other women’s groups such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the Country Women’s Association (CWA) and the Women’s Division as the convenor. The NWCC was dominated by church women’s groups, as the NCW was still relatively weak in the early 1980s.^[3] The NWCC was reconstituted in 1989 as a result of the restructuring of the NCW after a period of dormancy between 1986 and 1988. Had this committee idea worked, it would have provided an important pressure group within the NWDP. The NWCC suggested that the NWDP be expanded in the areas of training, communication and networking. This recommendation was endorsed by an internal review conducted by the Women’s Division in Kundiawa in 1988, where it was decided that new components would be added on to the NWDP.^[4]

The NWDP was successful in establishing a women’s agenda, within both the bureaucracy and civil society, and in raising awareness about women’s participation in development. The program also paved the way for the development of the National Women’s Policy. There had been calls for a National Women’s Policy since 1982, when initial work on such a policy had begun. Intensive consultations on policy began in 1987. But while women-oriented policymakers worked outside the state apparatus, the training of those who worked within the bureaucracy was overlooked.

The most active period of policy making and implementation in the early 1980s coincided with the presence of a coterie of female social planners who guided various policy initiatives from the Women’s Division through the National Planning Office. One of these, Margaret Nakikus, became the director of the National Planning Office. In hindsight, what contributed to the loss of the momentum of the early 1980s was a failure to adequately cultivate the insider-outsider dynamics of women’s development within the bureaucracy, and to find negotiating spaces within the state.

Other components of the NWDP included the 1990 National Training Package co-funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), and training for CWOs and provincial women’s officers supported by grants from the national department. CWOs worked under the supervision of the provincial women’s development officer. They supervised projects and activities of women’s groups within the districts. A communication and network-building component saw the publication of Nius Blong Meri, a quarterly newsletter focusing on women’s issues, concerns and achievements. A UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women)-funded project, Mobilization of Women Through Communication, which operated from 1989–92, focused on training women leaders about media relations, lobbying, public speaking and fundraising skills. Practical exercises were conducted in writing press releases and newsletter articles, and preparing radio information pieces (Nakikus et al. 1991). A Women’s Resource Directory was also produced.

Other components of the NWDP came on stream after the launch of the Women’s Policy in 1991 and were incorporated under the policy. These included the first credit scheme launched in 1991 under the Credit Assistance Component. It had been piloted in the East Sepik and Simbu provinces in 1989. Seven other provinces came into the scheme in 1991. Other credit schemes have since been introduced, including Meri Dinau (Women’s Credit Scheme). A few provincial governments have supported women’s credit schemes by offering capital for lending, one of the more successful being that of the Western Highlands Province under Governor Robert Lak. The Women’s Division was also engaged in several inter-departmental training activities, including the Health Department’s sensitizing of women leaders on HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. This project was funded by UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund). A National Women’s Literacy Committee was established to liaise with the Literacy Council on adult literacy for women and to work with NGOs involved in literacy projects targetting women. A donor-supported Women in Fisheries Project was developed in 1989 in cooperation with the Fisheries Department. It was piloted in Milne Bay, with plans to expand it to Momase and the New Guinea Islands regions. The idea was to increase women’s participation in fish handling, processing and marketing. Direct funding by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Assistance (CFTA) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) ceased in 1997. Other international donors funded feasibility studies and technical assistance, including the Asian Development Bank, the South Pacific Commission, USAID Fisheries Program and the International Centre for Oceanic Development. Over six hundred women and youth were trained in various post-harvest fisheries activities in rural areas (Sungu 1999). The Women in Fisheries Project was transferred without funds to the Department of Home Affairs in1997. The Women’s Division failed to raise funds for its continuation.

By the mid 1990s, when a new provincial government system was put in place, the Women’s Division was implementing a credit scheme, and a family health and family planning project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).