From the ground up: Convergence program shows real results in Bogia

In places where progress is often measured by what’s missing — a clinic without staff, children without a school, a child without a birth certificate — the most powerful transformations are those that last.

Representatives from UNICEF Australia and UNICEF Aotearoa (New Zealand) recently travelled to Bogia District in Papua New Guinea to see first-hand the impact of the Convergence Program — a joint initiative bringing life-changing improvements to health, education, child protection, and WASH services.

Launched in 2022, the Convergence Program has reached approximately 178,000 people across Bogia and Nawaeb districts, strengthening essential services and supporting communities to build safer, healthier futures.

The visit presented a unique opportunity for the donors to witness the significant progress made in Bogia, and to hear directly from the people whose lives have been changed for the better.

In Tangu village, the delegation visited the new Early Childhood Education (ECE) centre, where all children aged 4 and 5 are now enrolled.

“It was amazing to see the construction of the new ECE centre in Tangu, and it was really great to hear that it is almost completed and that everyone in community played a part in building the centre,” says Charlotte Graham, International Programs Manager at UNICEF Australia.

Through the Convergence Program, two out of six ECE centres have now been formally registered allowing them to be included in the district’s Public Investment Plan for ongoing government support. The program has also supplied curriculum books and trained 109 teachers and 67 school board members.

A total of 678 children — including two with disabilities — are currently enrolled in ECE centres across Bogia and Nawaeb, giving them a strong start to their education.

“Until recently, early learning was a luxury few rural children knew. In many parts of PNG, formal schooling didn’t begin until around age eight. Starting from four or five supports early cognitive, emotional and physical development, laying the foundation for lifelong learning,” says UNICEF PNG’s Education Officer, Cathy Patuvii.

“Currently, only 27% of children complete primary school in rural PNG. This program aims to build basic literacy and numeracy to reduce dropout rates and set children up for long-term success,” Cathy adds.

UNICEF is working with government partners to scale the model nationally and ensure every child is given the best start in life. The program supports the National Department of Education’s Early Childhood Education Policy, launched in 2020 with UNICEF support, and ECE is now embedded in national frameworks.

But education is only one part of the Convergence puzzle. Nurturing safe, stable homes is just as important.

The delegation also met with parents and facilitators involved in the Parenting for Child Development (P4CD) initiative, which promotes positive parenting techniques. To date, 3,572 parents and caregivers have participated across Bogia and Nawaeb, benefiting over 6,800 children.

“We were really fortunate to speak with parents who had benefitted from the P4CD program, and we heard overwhelmingly positive stories,” says Georgia-Rae Cobon, International Programs Manager at UNICEF Australia. “Mothers told us they were able to communicate with their children and understand their children’s behaviour better, and they also saw their children were responding well to their positive parenting.”

Momentum for P4CD grew after PNG’s participation in the First Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children last year, where the government pledged to scale up positive parenting nationwide. This is critical in a country where 75% of children experience violence and 85% of fathers admit to hitting their children.

The program is now being prepared for expansion and deeper integration into government structures. It has also supported the formation of Child and Family Service Councils and built capacity among social workers.

From homes to health posts, the Convergence Program is helping communities take ownership of their wellbeing. During the visit, the team met Village Health Assistants (VHAs), local champions who link health services to remote and underserved areas.

Across Bogia and Nawaeb, 178 VHAs have been trained and supported to deliver health promotion and services at the community level. Their outreach has reached over 6,000 people with vital health and nutrition information and services.

VHAs are helping tackle urgent health and child protection challenges: half of all children in PNG suffer from stunting due to chronic malnutrition, only 47% of the population is fully immunised leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases, and just 13% of children are officially registered at birth hindering their ability to access essential services and legal protection. The VHAs support efforts to improve nutrition, increase birth registration rates under the government’s “50 by 50” target - 50% of children registered during PNG’s 50th year of independence - and boost immunisation coverage to 80%.

The Convergence Program has played a key role in shaping the community nutrition approach. This model utilises VHAs to deliver household-level health and nutrition support and encourage the use of key health services such as antenatal care, immunisation, and supervised deliveries. Since 2024, it has been incorporated into the government-funded Child Nutrition and Social Protection Project, with plans to expand beyond the current two provinces in 2025.

One of the VHAs the delegation met was Hilda, who serves eight communities surrounding Tangu, including one that requires a full day of walking to reach. Hilda promotes nutrition and health messages, registers births, and even assists with childbirth. For many women who are unable to reach the nearest health centre in Bogia Station, Hilda is often their only option, delivering 15 babies each month.

Due to cost and accessibility difficulties, only 10% of women in Bogia give birth at a health facility according to the VHA’s - a worrying statistic in a country with the highest newborn mortality rate in the Asia-Pacific region, where 21 newborns die every day mostly due to preventable causes.

Encouragingly, the health facility at Bogia Station is beginning to change that.

“Last year, the maternity ward was empty. This year, we saw a trained midwife, supported by the Convergence working in the ward. Every bed was in use with healthy babies, and another woman was in labour,” says Charlotte. “It was wonderful to see healthy new babies in the healthcare facility.”

So far across the program, 138 healthcare workers — including doctors, midwives and nurses — have been trained in emergency obstetric and newborn care, improving the quality of antenatal services, delivery, and immunisation for over 6,800 people. This training is now being used to develop a national curriculum for Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care which will be delivered across the country. It also underpins a national clinical mentoring program now being implemented in 10 provinces, with 5 more to follow.

Just as vital to children’s health is access to clean water and sanitation. The program has supported the construction of inclusive WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities in five schools and two healthcare centres in Bogia and Nawaeb. These upgrades intend to benefit over 2,000 students, including 850 girls, and over 3,000 patients.

With just 41% of Papua New Guinea’s population having access to safe drinking water and only 13% to improved sanitation, the need remains urgent. UNICEF is supporting district WASH planning and implementation in schools, clinics, and communities.

At Tangu Elementary School, the new facilities have had an immediate impact.

“Before the toilets were built, students used to open defecate behind the classrooms and were often unwell,” says Senior Teacher Petronella Duaya. “Now, with the facilities, they are no longer getting sick.”

At Tangu Primary School, where girls once queued for long periods to use the only available pit latrine, a new WASH facility has brought privacy and hygiene.

“Before, we had to wait a long time to use the loo,” says Mary, a Grade 6 student. “Now it’s clean and quick, and we feel safer.”

As the Convergence Program nears its final phase, the mood in Bogia is not of closure — but of continuation. The partnerships forged and lessons learned are laying the groundwork for national scale-up. UNICEF extends sincere thanks to all who have contributed to giving children in Papua New Guinea the best start in life.