Gordons, Port Moresby: In a small but significant event, Caritas Papua New Guinea - the Justice, Peace, Relief and Development Agency of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR), to work together on advocating and raising awareness on issues affecting communities.
The signing was officiated between Caritas PNG National Director Ms. Mavis Tito and Executive Director of CELCOR Mr. Peter Bosip on April 27th, 2023, and witnessed by officers from both organizations.
The purpose of the MoU is to formalize the working relationship between both organizations that until now have been supporting each other in areas of mutual interest on an ad hoc basis.
CELCOR provides environmental legal education and awareness as well as legal advice on matters affecting community customary rights to their natural resources and sustainable development practices in Papua New Guinea.
Caritas PNG on the other hand, promotes the social teachings of the Catholic Church by serving and defending the poor, vulnerable and marginalized and promoting a commitment to compassion and justice through Integral Human Development, peace building and responding to those affected by disasters.
Ms. Tito said although Caritas PNG and CELCOR have enjoyed a cordial working relationship over a period, there was no proper arrangement in place so to get to this stage is an important milestone.
“I am pleased that we have finally formalized this partnership so that together we can effectively address the concerns of our vulnerable communities that are prone to the exploitation of their natural resources by developers. We can now work with confidence knowing that the legal advice and guidance we lacked can be ably provided by CELCOR.”
Mr. Bosip said more can be done in the collaboration. “We share common interests and that is to serve the communities to make informed decisions on their environment and resources as well as issues relating to the impact of Climate change amongst others. One thing we do not is disaster response to communities we work with, and this working arrangement with Caritas is something that will boost our community work in times of any natural disasters”, Mr. Bosip said.