2011 Port Moresby trip

This research update reports on the recent work carried out by staff and students at the Centre for Development Studies, in collaboration with colleagues in NICAI and Political Studies, in Port Moresby in early 2011. The research included a number of workshops on gender policies as well as field research by MA students.

In 2009, The University of Auckland officially became part of the Habitat Partner University Network (HPU) of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN HABITAT). The University of Auckland UN-HABITAT Partnership has provided opportunity for cross-faculty collaboration and strengthening of the University’s multi-disciplinary research and teaching in key themes of urban sustainability. The final part of the University of Auckland UN-HABITAT VCSDF was designed to send academic staff and research masters students to Papua New Guinea (PNG) for two weeks of research related activities. These activities were conceived widely to include establishing new research partners, strengthening research capacity, undertaking primary research and promoting The University of Auckland. The thematic focus of this component was the convergence of issues around urban informal economies, citizenship, safe environments, transport and social inclusion, housing and diversity.

A team of interdisciplinary staff were convened to form the University of Auckland Gender Policy and Research for Cities Team; Dr Yvonne Underhill-Sem (Director, Centre for Development Studies, Faculty of Arts); Professor Dory Reeves (Associate Dean Research Urban Planning, NICAI); Dr Anita Lacey (Senior Lecturer, Political Studies, Faculty of Arts); Yardena Tankel (Research Assistant, Centre for Development Studies, Faculty of Arts) and Dr Rebecca Miller (Research Associate, Centre for Development Studies, Faculty of Arts and Consultant for UN Women in PNG).

In consultation with colleagues in PNG the University of Auckland Gender Policy and Research for Cities Team developed two participatory workshops to explore and provide PNG participants with tools to understand how to utilise gender frameworks and approaches to analyse, formulate and evaluate policies. The focus on gender stems from many long-standing concerns about gender just development in PNG and from great interest from PNG colleagues to share the expertise of the University of Auckland team in gender training, gender analysis and gender and urban planning.

The first workshop on ‘Gender Policy and Research for Cities’ aimed to understand how life in Port Moresby, and cities more generally, is experienced differently by women and by men. The workshop intended to develop and offer frameworks for analysing and making policy and doing research, on cities and in particular the ways that gender can be taken into account. The two-day programme featured collaborative workshops on current local and international research and policy on women in cities with a focus on inclusivity.

The second workshop was designed for senior and graduate-level students and interested academic staff members and aimed to build potential methodological toolkits for understanding how life in Port Moresby, and cities more generally, is experienced differently by women and by men. The three-day student-centred collaborative workshop introduced tools for gender research, using the marketplace as a site of gender relations in cities. Methodological, including ethical, issues and reporting qualitative research was covered.

In consultation with participants of the workshop the team produced a report on the Gender, Policy and Research for Cities workshop.

Two Masters students from Development Studies, Nicky Spicer and Jaclyn Bonnici, and Jasmin Kaur from Urban Planning were selected to join the staff in PNG based on their research projects on urban issues specifically in Port Moresby.

Jaclyn’s research explores the gendered dynamics of national and sub-national governance in Port Moresby, with a particular focus on urban marketplaces. Her research considers the extent to which the policies and programmes of relevant governing institutions are inclusive of women working in the informal economy as market vendors. Jaclyn interviewed representatives from the municipal government’s Social Services Division, the national government’s Department for Community Development as well as development academics and practitioners in Port Moresby. Her research argues that for urban development to be sustainable it must be inclusive of all citizens.

Nicky’s research looks at the care economy and aspects of social protection in Port Moresby as they pertain to urban professional Papua New Guinean women. She interviewed women about the strategies they employ to fulfill both unpaid caring responsibilities and paid work responsibilities in the formal urban economy. Nicky also interviewed women about their own access to social protection mechanisms such as maternity leave, superannuation and savings as well as their role as providers of informal social protection to others. Her research highlights converging themes of care, gender and social protection in a rapidly urbanising Pacific context.

Nicky and Jaclyn both received additional funding for their fieldwork in Port Moresby from the New Zealand Aid Programme’s field research award.

For further information on the UN-HABITAT Partnership