Gordons Market, Port Moresby officially opens
Date:
[Press release]
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea — After months of anticipation the newly rebuilt Gordons Market, one of the largest produce markets in Port Moresby, PNG, officially opened its gates to vendors, patrons and visitors, among them, the hundreds of women who influenced the design of the market.
UN Women Regional Director, Mohammad Naciri joined friends and colleagues from the Governments of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, including Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, the Hon. James Marape, Governor of NCD, the Hon. Powes Parkop and New Zealand High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, His Excellency Philip Taula to officially open the redevelopment.
Markets are extremely significant economic and trading hubs across PNG, with women and girls at the centre of agricultural production. This is why through the UN Women Safe Cities Programme, more than 400 female vendors were engaged in consultations regarding the design of this market. Through this gender-sensitive redevelopment, female vendors and patrons can be sure their rights, safety and security have been placed at the forefront of design.
UN Women Regional Director, Mohammad Naciri commented, “I would like to take a moment here to acknowledge the women vendors who are the engine of development within families. Many of you work tirelessly, long hours every day, to ensure your family is fed, your children can go to school and have the best chance for decent lives ahead of them. It is women like you all around the world who continue to provide food security and opportunities for millions of people.”
The redevelopment features adequate lighting, wide and multiple access routes, information signage and improved visibility for staff, vendors and customers across the market, as discussed with hundreds of women during design consultation. The new Gordons Market also features a purpose-built IT system to ensure transparent and reliable fee collection, boosting revenue and improving market governance.
Through New Zealand government funding, UN Women provided all necessary IT equipment to run the fee collection system in Gordons as well as in other markets. NCDC officials and market vendors also received training to ensure everyone can operate the system functionally.
Similarly, with support from the Australian Government vendors received tailored training in leadership, communication, business management, financial literacy and numeracy, food handling and hygiene, savings for female market vendors who attended the training having increased by more than 500 per cent compared to 50 per cent by men.
UN Women Regional Director, Mohammad Naciri commented, I believe this demonstrates that if women have opportunities to grow their businesses, they will seize them with both hands.
Through the Safe City Programme, funded by the PNG-Australia Partnership through the Australian Government, UN Women has shared an eight-year partnership with NCDC and other stakeholders for the benefit of women and girls around Port Moresby, not only through market projects, but also through provision of safe public transport and gender-sensitive infrastructure.
This USD 10 million redevelopment project has been a testament to the importance of this partnership, with multilateral support between UN Women, the Governments of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea through National Capital District Commission.
Thanks to the success of the work of this partnership, UN Women has been invited to extend the Safe Cities Programme to the district level, where majority of PNG’s population resides and where women’s work in agriculture is vital to the food security of the entire nation.
UN Women is privileged to work in partnership with NCDC, the Governments of New Zealand and Australia, as well as the hundreds of women who have provided input to this transformative project, and we look forward to applying this knowledge and supporting the health, safety, economic security of women and girls in remote and rural parts of PNG.