NATIONAL Volunteer Service (NVS) has completed the final leg of its historic New Guinea Islands (NGI) regional tour, officially launching its call for partner organisations and national professional volunteers in New Ireland Province.
This critical outreach in Kavieng closely follows similar highly successful mobilisation campaigns executed in West New Britain and East New Britain over the last fortnight. The strategic regional sweep directly responds to National Executive Council (NEC) Decisions No. 220 and 335 of 2025, which mandate the NVS—an agency under the Ministry of Defence—to scale up its workforce footprint to 900 professional volunteers nationwide to eradicate service delivery gaps in rural communities.
As a vital matter of protocol and regional integration, the NVS executive team recently met in an extensive courtesy briefing with New Ireland Provincial Administrator Mr. Richard Andia, First Secretary to the Governor’s Office Mr. Stanley Peni, and Acting CEO for the New Ireland Provincial Health Authority (PHA) Mr. Dominic Sahamie.
The high-level meetings with each provincial representative served to reinforce the New Ireland Provincial Government’s commitment to collaborating on targeted socio-economic development efforts through structured NVS volunteer programs.
To bring this timely intervention to fruition in the coming months, both parties have agreed that a previously signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) will be revisited and updated to reflect the current expansion targets in New Ireland.
First Secretary to the New Ireland Governor’s Office, Mr Steven Peni said, “The visit to New Ireland successfully lays the foundation for deeper, long-term collaboration regarding NVS volunteer recruitment, training, and placement programs across rural communities and the province’s scattered islands.”
New Ireland Provincial Administrator Mr. Richard Andia warmly welcomed the timely intervention by the National Volunteer Service by way of this initial visit and through a concentrated awareness meeting.
Mr. Andia emphasised how the NVS can play a critical role in bridging the gap in service delivery across different key sectors.
“I will urge our provincial authorities to fully utilise and maximise the strategic benefits of this national volunteer intervention program.” Mr Andia said.
With the recent groundwork laid for the NVS Regional Volunteer Academy at Moramora Technical School in West New Britain to serve as the NGI training hub, this milestone engagement ensures that New Ireland’s remote maritime and rural communities are fully positioned to leverage a highly trained, incoming pipeline of skilled national manpower.
Call to Action for Host Organisations and Volunteers in New Ireland:
●Partner Organisations: New Ireland Provincial Government sectors, District Development Authorities (DDAs), faith-based health and education agencies, and local NGOs are urgently invited to apply to host professional volunteers. Host partners must demonstrate strategic need and ensure adequate local support and housing.
●National Volunteers: Qualified, resilient, and patriotic Papua New Guineans holding degrees, diplomas, or technical trade certificates in healthcare, early childhood education, and agriculture are challenged to submit their Expressions of Interest (EOI) to serve their country.