Morobe Development Foundation, Papua New Guinea.
Securing multi-year funding with international charity Oxfam.
The project
Morobe Development Foundation (MDF) is a community-based organisation in Papua New Guinea (PNG), working to raise awareness of and engagement in health and social issues. The group relies entirely on funding and volunteers to deliver its work, which focuses on using theatre, dance, and ritual as communication tools to promote desirable social and cultural change.
The task
MDF’s Women Not Witches campaign was a conscience-raising exercise to end violence against women accused of sorcery and witchcraft, considered one of the most pressing human rights issues facing women and girls in PNG. Oxfam is the only international NGO in PNG specifically working against sorcery-related violence.
I contacted their PNG Country Director to gauge their interest in funding the campaign and becoming a partner organisation to MDF. A partnership would allow MDF to expand their reach by training more volunteers to deliver campaign-related activities across an even greater geographic area.
Oxfam responded positively to my request, so I worked with MDF to write and edit the grant application and helped prepare essential documents for meetings and funding workshops.
The outcomes
MDF was invited to meet with Oxfam representatives to discuss the proposal and campaign funding was granted.
MDF’s director was also invited to participate in two events sponsored by Oxfam: the PNG Human Rights Film Festival and a Gender Justice Program workshop, during which an Oxfam–MDF partnership and four-year funding were confirmed.
These actions allowed MDF to broaden the reach of their original campaign, including performances in PNG’s three largest urban areas and remote highland communities and a national media campaign supported by Oxfam.