UNFPAStanding together against SARVPapua New Guinea · SVRI Forum 2026
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2026 rollout

Where the teams work

Twelve church and community delivery groups in six Highlands provinces: Simbu (also called Chimbu), Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka, Enga, Southern Highlands and Hela. The 2025 trial took place in Wapenamanda District, Enga.[3, 12]

Map

Map of six Highlands provinces in the 2026 programme: Enga, Hela, Southern Highlands, Jiwaka, Simbu and Eastern Highlands. Western Highlands is shown for reference and is not a programme province. 147 orange dots mark community sites from the coordinators' 2026 planning maps. Black squares mark sites assigned in the 2025 Wapenamanda trial in Enga.EngaHelaSouthern HighlandsSimbuEastern HighlandsJiwaka
2026 community sites (planning maps)2025 trial sites, WapenamandaProgramme provinceWestern Highlands (not in the programme)
The coordinators’ 2026 planning maps identify about twelve sites per cohort, plus some base churches and training centres. The map shows planned locations, including sites that changed during delivery. Province boundaries are approximate.

Who does what

Local church and community partners run the delivery groups. The Melanesian Institute implements the rollout with these partners. UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, supports it with funding from KOICA, the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Divine Word University partnered in curriculum development and the 2025 trial.[7, 10, 11]

The twelve delivery groups

Community Curriculum cohorts, 2026, as recorded by 29 September 2026
CohortProvincePartnerCommunity sessions
Cohort 01SimbuSt Christopher Alive Association (SCAA)Seven sessions
Cohort 02SimbuChurch of the NazareneSeven sessions
Cohort 03SimbuMaunkui Integrated Agriculture Resource Training CentreSeven sessions
Cohort 04SimbuEvangelical Lutheran Church of PNGSeven sessions
Cohort 05SimbuCommunity Development Agency (CDA)Seven sessions
Cohort 06Southern HighlandsCatholic Diocese of MendiSeven sessions
Cohort 07JiwakaFoursquare Church, BanzSeven sessions
Cohort 08HelaEvangelical Church of PNG, TariSeven sessions
Cohort 09EngaGutnius Lutheran ChurchSeven sessions
Cohort 10Eastern HighlandsFoursquare Church, Lower AsaroSeven sessions
Cohort 11Eastern HighlandsEvangelical Brotherhood ChurchTwo sessions, then the cohort was cancelled
Cohort 12Eastern HighlandsCatholic Diocese of GorokaSeven sessions

Eleven delivery groups completed the seven-session series. The Eastern Highlands EBC series ended after two sessions.[21]

How many people

Reach of the 2026 rollout, September 2026
FigureWhat it means
About 4,100 participantsEstimated number of distinct people who attended at least one community session, based on attendance sheets and survey records. The estimated range is 3,800 to 4,500.[19]
215 facilitatorsCommunity facilitators reported trained by the twelve delivery partners, supported by twelve coordinators.[21]
11 completed delivery seriesEleven of the twelve delivery groups completed the seven-session series. Individual participants' attendance varied.[21]

The programme was designed around 144 community sites across twelve delivery groups. Locations were adapted during implementation; the map above shows the coordinators' planning locations.[3, 21]