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Education, Empowerment, Exchange

Papua New Guinea is a country on the brink of development: the country has a rich cultural diversity and strong tribal traditions, and is home to incredible biodiversity and natural resources, while the overwhelming majority of the population lives on subsistence agriculture. At the same time, the country faces one of the fasting growing AIDS epidemics in the world, the challenge of integrating students speaking over 850 native languages into a global economy via English education, and the preservation of traditional languages and environments alongside increasing foreign investment and economic growth.

How can a country retain and protect its unique cultures, traditions and heritage, while becoming increasingly open to international influences and developing technologically, economically and socially? How can public policy in each of these fields help achieve these goals? Most critically, how can the country stave off looming environmental and health dangers, and find a sustainable path towards development?

The Stanford-Papua New Guinea Conference on Development is bringing together academics, diplomats, and practitioners from Papua New Guinea, the United States and Australia to discuss these issues and the wider, global issues of sustainable development. The challenges of promoting health initiatives and protecting environmental and economic interests go hand in hand with crafting a stronger government, rooting out corruption, and providing access to higher education.

This conference aims to look at the many challenges of international development – and the intersection of health, environmental, governance and education concerns and policies – through the case study of a single country, and to inspire discussion and research on the future development of Papua New Guinea.

Join us in exploring these issues throughout the weekend of February 26-28, with panels featuring PNG Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Aisi, the PNG Minister of Education James Marape, PNG Ambassador to the United States Evan Paki, Dr. Francis Fukuyama, and others! For Stanford students and the Bay Area community, the conference will provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore and understand development challenges in one of the most culturally and biologically diverse regions in the world from the perspectives of PNG citizens and leaders. For participants from PNG, the conference would provide a forum to discuss their own first-hand development experiences and to engage American counterparts in discussion of currents in development policy and practice.