PS Male Advocacy Network First Meeting

Officers from Department of  Personnel Management Gender Equity and Social Inclusion branch for the Whole of Government have recently attended the Public Service Male Advocacy Network’s (MAN) first meeting of 2023, which was hosted by the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council (PM & NEC) this month.

It was chaired by Mr. Henry Masin, Director,  Human Resource Management (PM&NEC), and attended by male advocates from eight agencies.

These agencies are DPM, PM&NEC, Planning & Monitoring, Immigration & Citizenship Authority, Education Department, Bank of Papua New Guinea, National Maritime & Safety Authority, Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, and Department of Information, Communication and Technology.

The members had a focused and interactive group discussion and resolutions that were agreed and endorsed by the members on the way forward for PS MAN and Women in Leadership (WIL).

This includes the Monthly Agency awareness, Two Community awareness, Review of the PS MAN terms of reference, the Five-year action plan and the establishment of a working committee for the 20 days of human rights activism campaign.

Last year the Public Service Male Advocacy Network experienced some difficulties in implementation, network strengthening and creating fresh approaches to revive the network.

However, despite the challenges faced, the network had managed to implement some innovative solutions and have produced successful outcomes.

The GESI Whole of Government, PS MAN & WIL Branches have plans to  complete outstanding work from 2022 and create    innovative ways to build collaborative partnerships in PS MAN’s work within the public service and in the communities.

The PS MAN is one of the programs used to institutionalize the National Public Service (NPS) GESI Policy.

The main objective of the PS Male Advocates is to support their respective GESI Managers and officer’s in advocating on a voluntary basis on the women’s human rights and gender base violence against women and girls in the public service, as well as the males themselves.

The PS MAN consist of male public servants who have been identified and undergone intensive training in strategic and influential decision making roles as PS Male Advocates.