Papua New Guinea, December 2005 - It’s the first time that a Development Marketplace competition has been held in Papua New Guinea so there’s been a lot of effort put in to reaching out direct to the people. The best way to do that in a country of 5 million people and around 800 local languages is to use theatre and a lot of humour. 
The Watete Theatre Group actors warm up the crowd in the marketplace at Rabaul |
When Oala Oala-Rarua – the project officer for the Tingim Yut Kompetisen (as the Development Marketplace is known in PNG) – headed to the provinces to explain the competition, he took with him three actors from the Port Moresby-based Watete Theatre Group. The troupe specialises in performance around themes such as HIV/AIDS, violence against women and children and corruption. But rather than going straight to the serious message, they warm up the crowd first with side acts that put everyone in tears – from laughing. 
A crowd of more than 150 people gathered at the sound of laughing and cheering. |
In Rabaul, the capital of East New Britain province, a crowd of more than 150 people gathered in the town’s marketplace when the Watete actors – dressed in traditional outfits – started to perform. One of the actors, Eddie, is quite well known in PNG because of his appearance on TV ads and in music clips, so there was plenty of curiosity when he emerged. 
With the crowd now fully receptive, the actors perform their play about the Tingim Yut Kompetisen |
Before long, Eddie was pretending to be a child who’d lost his marble and was staging very credible fits of crying. The two other actors came to help him find the marble and before long, they were crying very loudly too. This had the crowd in peals of laughter which attracted more people to find out what was going on. Soon, people were standing on the backs of trucks and hanging from trees to get a better view. 
The street theatre was a perfect warm-up for a talkback session on Radio New Britain where project officer, Oala outlined the competition in detail |
The finale was a short play that had the actors discussing the proposal they were planning to submit to the Tingim Yut Kompetisen. As the crowd dispersed, the coconut wire (PNG’s word-of-mouth telegraph system) was abuzz – the perfect warm-up for Oala’s session on talk-back radio with Radio New Britain.
Around 50 people, mainly from youth and community organisations gathered to learn more at a community hall |
The next day, around 50 people – mostly from local youth groups and community organisations – packed in to a community hall to discuss their proposal ideas and raise questions with Oala. The Rabaul roadshow followed equally successful events in Lae, the capital of Morobe province and Mt Hagen, the capital of the Western Highlands. 
The Mt Hagen roadshow attracted 80 people, some of whom had travelled all day by public mini-bus |
In Lae, around 80 people gathered to learn more about the competition, while in Mt Hagen, people travelled from as far away as Mendi, Wabag and Tari, after picking up the news from the coconut wire. So far, 25 proposals have been received at the World Bank’s Port Moresby office. But with interest growing and inquiries coming in from as far afield as the island of Bougainville, the number of proposals received by the deadline of 3 February, 2006 is likely to reach 500. More information:
PNG Development Marketplace |
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