Meeting Challenges in Indonesia’s Papua Region

Dernus is a member of a tribe in Bolakme district in the central highlands of Papua who not long ago struggled to make ends meet. The rabbit farming is one of many projects under UNDP’s People-Centered Development Programme (PCDP); it’s given him extra cash to buy basic needs and provide school supplies for his children. 

Highlight

• Papua lags behind in terms of achieving the MDGs, with around 40 percent of Papua’s population live below the poverty line.
• UNDP’s People-Centered Development (PCDP) has been supporting the people of Papua, designed to the specific local traditions and circumstances of the community.
• UNDP aims to to partner with the local government, ILO, & other key stakeholders to support more people in Papua.

Please continue to read by visiting UNDP Indonesia

Notes on Indonesia’s Papua Region

Located on the western half of the island of New Guinea and long racked by a simmering violent separatist insurgency, Papua encompasses Indonesia’s two easternmost provinces.

A former Dutch colony, West Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after an undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders. The result of the plebiscite was overseen and endorsed by the United Nations.

Since the democratization in 1998, especially since 2007, democracy by mean of elections has been introduced to increase political participation in Papua and West Papua. The fact that the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces are democratically elected by the people has strengthened the legality of West Papua as a province of Indonesia.