Hera (pictured left), aged 15, lives in Gabagaba, a small coastal village an hour and a half south of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. For young women like Hera living in rural parts of the country, there are many obstacles to achieving a higher education including gender expectations and financial restrictions.
“I left school during year 10 due to COVID-19 so I came back home to live in the village. I couldn’t go back to school because of financial difficulties and as a big sister I wanted my younger siblings to carry on learning,” said Hera.
In her village, Hera is teaching her peers about life skills development as part of ChildFund’s Youth Peace and Protection Champion program. Through her participation in the project, she was able to find a new purpose when she couldn’t return to school.
“During my stay in the village, my little brother had joined this group and he was the one who introduced me and told me a lot about the group. I wasn’t aware of them before.”
Although she was initially hesitant about taking part, her younger brother convinced her to attend a meeting. Most of their meetings are outside, down by the water or under a tree.
“I went, first when I sat with them, they started introducing the group and so on like I have a lot of experiences.
When I first went and sat with them, I learned that we had a lot of similar experiences. I I decided to join the group and bring them into the church so we could talk to more of our peers.”
Hera and the group leading a peer education session.
Like many other young people in her village, Hera has found it difficult to find purpose and meaning in her day-to-day life. This group is a safe place for her to share her experiences, challenges, and her hopes for the future with her peers that can relate.
“I have learn a lot from the other members. You know, as a young person I go through situations which I feel like there’s no need for me cause I’m in the village I can’t do much. Living in the village you have to provide and also do things to make your family happy and contribute.”
ChildFund Papua New Guinea, in partnership with Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) is providing young people across the country with necessary tools and skills to promote peace, resolve conflict and prevent violence and become Youth Peace and Protection Champions (YPPC).
As a YPPC, Hera has gone through extensive training on awareness of rights, respectful relationships, non-violent conflict resolution and peace building. Working alongside five other YPPC’s from her village, they have each claimed a role in the group and together they are creating an action plan to reach more young people in the community.
The group ran a peer education session with about 40 year 8 students. They drew on their training, running different energisers and brainstorming activities to encourage their peers to think about the issues they face and how to best overcome these challenges.
Now Hera, is confident in her leadership skills and abilities. She feels more excited and optimistic about her future. “I have ups and downs but through the advice and experience from this group, they help me a lot.”
You’ve probably come across people giving in their various workplaces. You’ve seen a box at the checkout of your favourite café, or perhaps you’ve noticed the option to donate as you check out on a local website. Maybe you’ve even held a fundraiser in the office or workplace or participated in a workplace team challenge. But what is workplace giving, specifically? What is it, and how can you participate? Let’s take a look:
What is Workplace Giving?
Workplace giving is a simple way to give to a charity you love regularly. One of the main benefits of workplace giving for your organisation is that this form of donating is tax deductible. This means you and your workplace can contribute more for less.
Workplace giving is a great way for charities to receive regular donations. Dependable regular donations are imperative for charities to be able to plan in advance what projects can be undertaken and what resources to dedicate to them. Every amount helps. A reliable regular donation from your workplace at the end of each week or month is all a charity needs to help them strategise for the future.
What are the benefits of workplace giving?
When you donate to ChildFund via workplace giving, your donations will go towards a range of different types of initiatives. Not only will you help to give children around the world an education, but you’ll also help provide improved healthcare, protect children from violence, and keep children safe from emergencies. Big or small, regular workplace giving is vital for charities to make a powerful impact.
How does workplace giving work?
What exactly happens with workplace giving, anyway? Let’s lay it out:
First of all, you choose how much you want to give from each payslip, pre-tax. Donating from the pre-tax amount means you get the tax deductions from your donation immediately. This means you don’t need to hold onto receipts to claim the tax back.
At the end of the year, your organisation’s payroll team will give you a statement laying out that year’s donations and your Group Certificate. When you donate from your pre-tax salary like this, you’ll pay less in your donation. Thus, workplace giving is a cost-effective way to help ChildFund Australia.
How can I get others interested in workplace giving?
So, you’ve seen the benefits of workplace giving and want to start. But how can you get the others in your workplace on board?
Well, giving starts from the top. So, you must get the bosses in your organisation interested in workplace giving to begin with. When the bosses are engaged with giving, they can help get the rest of the organisation excited about giving. For example, bosses can set goals about donating, like how many members of the business are involved with workplace giving or how much gets donated in a month.
But you also want to ensure that the whole organisation knows about workplace giving. You want employees to be able to discuss giving and share what they care about. As some people join the workplace giving scheme and start talking about it, more and more workers will typically become interested.
How can I get started with workplace giving?
So, we’ve established the benefits of workplace giving. But how can you get started with workplace giving?
The simplest way to sign up to workplace giving is to check with your organisation’s payroll team. Your payroll team may already have a workplace giving form. If so, the team can send this to you and nominate ChildFund Australia.
How else can I help?
There are many benefits of workplace giving donations. However, there are plenty of other ways to help us with our work.
By donating monthly, you can help us distribute food and resources to those affected by climate change. In addition, a monthly donation helps us form a plan to make a more significant difference in the future.
Alternatively, a one-off contribution also helps us in our work to help children around the world. You can also donate to our specific appeals, such as the Afghanistan Food Crisis Appeal or Ukraine Appeal.
With climate change causing natural disasters like flooding, droughts and famine, and ongoing and new conflict across the world, we’re working hard to combat resulting poverty and famine risks. We also help get children into education, as well as provide hygiene and sanitation.
You can also tell other businesses and organisations in your area about ChildFund Australia workplace giving.
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