Do No Harm Research: Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This report covers the research undertaken in the Papua New Guinea highlands as part of the much larger project, Do No Harm: Understanding the Relationship between Women’s Economic Empowerment and Violence against Women in Melanesia. The Do No Harm (DNH) research addresses the question of how to improve women’s economic agency and the security of their livelihoods without compromising their safety. It sought to capture the diversity of ways that women endeavour to overcome economic disadvantage in contemporary Melanesia. Fieldwork for the Do No Harm research was undertaken in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, with a total of 485 interviews conducted, including 238 with women.1 The interviews generated a large body of rich qualitative data on women’s lives and the difficulties and challenges they confront as they seek to earn income in order to improve their lives and those of their children.