One of the challenges Easy Skill faced in conducting the Papua New Guinea Graduate Survey was how to access people in remote with limited access to the internet. The survey designed was to provide more employment opportunities for skilled people in every province. It ran for 3 months.
Gathering information of this magnitude was a big mission. Easy Skill identified local ambassadors and partnered with the national daily newspaper, the Post Courier, and the International Education Agency of PNG (IEA).
The IEA is a PNG owned NGO accountable to an elected Board of Directors and is one of PNG’s oldest and largest providers of education, managing 17 schools and four vocational colleges across the nation. The IEA enlisted their schools and colleges to promote the survey and spearhead the collection of paper-based responses.
In recognition of the support IEA schools pledged to the PNG Graduate Survey project, Easy Skill provided all 17 schools with sponsorship to procure additional sporting and educational resources.
“As an education provider, the IEA recognises the importance of accurate labour market data to assist in labour market planning. The IEA welcomed this opportunity to support Easy Skill gather information on skills across the nation. Consolidation of survey results will build a better understanding of the PNG labour market and contribute to more effective targeting of training and education. IEA School Principals also appreciated the sponsorship received for their contribution.” according to Chris Jones, Manager IEA College of TAFE in Port Moresby.
To take the PNG Graduate Survey project to new heights, our partnership with Post PNG was instrumental in our success. With 43 offices well dispersed across the country, it gave us incredible visibility. Given that a vast majority of PNG citizens live in remote locations, the partnership at the Post made the survey truly accessible to everyone.
“We benefited from a lot of good public feedback. People kept asking for the forms even after the end of the Survey.” affirms Vincent Kora, National Retail Manager at Post PNG. We were also delighted to hear the engagement from the Post PNG staff in different locations. “One challenge we faced was to explain to the participants that the forms did not guarantee a job, as they’re only a survey.” underlines Vincent Kora[sb1] .
For the Post PNG this partnership represented an excellent way to offer added-value services to the public. Easy Skill sincerely enjoyed the support and visibility offered by the Post PNG Facebook page to spread the word https://www.facebook.com/postpngltd/videos/599297687494262/.
On behalf of Easy Skill PNG, I would like to thank all participants who completed the Graduate Survey. It has been a huge success thanks to our 50+ ambassadors, TVET and IEA school partners nationwide and the support of Total E&P PNG. (Graham Rix, Managing Director Easy Skill PNG Limited)