Senior Legal Officer, Ms. Fiona Yandi from the Public Services Commission was among forty-four (44) other women from both the private and public sectors who graduated with certificates in Leadership & Management from the Business Coalition for Women Leadership.

Ms. Yandi’s participation was made possible with financial assistance from the Australian Government through the Australian Awards which have also supported 28 other female Public Servants.

The graduation saw the combination of Cohorts 15, 16, & 17 celebrate the achievement of 45 emerging female leaders who completed the Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) 6 months certificate course that aims to meet specific PNG industry needs and is designed to develop leadership and managerial skills of women in the workforce who have the potential to take up supervisory or managerial posts.

When initially taking up the course Ms. Yandi said given the fact that we are a Melanesian society people tend to think women lack the capabilities to take up managerial positions in organizations but if only we could break that barrier, we will see a lot more women moving up to top positions.

Ms. Yandi is now equipped with good managerial and leadership skills and looks forward to implementing the skills and knowledge gained from this course in her line of duty.

Since its inception in 2015, over 300 women from 70 organizations representing a diversity of industries have graduated from the Coalition’s Certificate IV in Leadership.

‘’The Coalition is the go-to resource for gender equality and our solutions, which are tailor-made for PNG’s corporate sector, and helps businesses understand the value that their female staff brings to the company. The Certificate IV Leadership & Management Course helps businesses develop and reap the benefits of having gender diversity in their leadership in team’’ explained Evonne Kennedy who is the BCFW Executive.

The Public Services Commission continues to support the up-skilling of its officers to help them to perform their duties more effectively and efficiently and also allows officers to grow into managerial roles in the Commission offering equal opportunities for both men and women.

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