Papua New Guinea - Country Partnership Framework for the Period FY2026-FY2031 Annex 4 - Papua New Guinea’s Eligibility for Access to the IDA21 Prevention and Resilience Allocation

Jul 19, 2026

This note explains Papua New Guinea’s eligibility to access IDA21’s Prevention and Resilience Allocation (PRA), focusing on elevated conflict and violence risks driven by urban insecurity and deadly communal violence in resource-rich areas. It describes the National Prevention Strategy (NPS) 2025–2030, strengthened support to the law and justice sector, and a monitoring framework aligned with PRA objectives. It outlines core conflict drivers, priority initiatives for youth and women, early warning systems, community infrastructure, and reforms for natural-resource governance, displacement management, and public accountability.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

Annex 4 – Papua New Guinea’s Eligibility for Access to the IDA21 Prevention and Resilience Allocation

Eligibility rationale and IDA21 recalibration

Conflict and violence drivers and monitoring design

Priority initiatives and action plan measures

Natural-resource governance, displacement management, and accountability

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Annex 4 – Papua New Guinea’s Eligibility for Access to the IDA21 Prevention and Resilience Allocation This note summarizes Papua New Guinea’s eligibility to access IDA21’s Prevention and Resilience Allocation (PRA). PNG faces elevated risks of conflict and violence—driven by urban insecurity and deadly communal violence in resource-rich areas—with ACLED reporting 354 fatalities in 2023 (3.5 per 100,000) and 335 in 2024 (3.2 per 100,000) . In response, the Government of PNG (GoPNG) has developed, endorsed, and publicly launched the National Prevention Strategy (NPS) 2025–2030: Building Peace and Boosting Resilience, which addresses the root causes of violence and conflict. Simultaneously, GoPNG has increased resources for the law and justice sector and pursued strategic policing and security partnerships with bilateral partners. The government has articulated a framework to monitor progress—central to the NPS vision and jointly committed with IDA—that sets out critical measures and timelines aligned with NPS objectives and milestones. To further support these efforts, the IDA portfolio has been recalibrated to reinforce the government’s prevention agenda, drawing on the strategies and activities of key partners (Australia, the Asian Development Bank, UN, and the United States) and the findings ofthe WBG Risk and Resilience Assessment (RRA) . PNG is seeking eligibility forthe PRAforthe first time. The policy dialogue and NPS-focused technical assistance draw on global lessons on PRA and PNG’s own peacebuilding experience, all of which underscore the need for strong political commitment, sustained capacity-building, improved inter-agency coordination, and close collaboration with development partners. The NPS and PRA monitoring framework are developed to address the key drivers of conflict and violence. Urban insecurity and recurring communal conflicts—particularly in resource-rich areas—are escalating risks and undermining poverty reduction, shared prosperity, and disaster resilience. Conflict-prone provinces face stagnant development and weak human-capital outcomes, with women disproportionately affected by violence that is both a consequence and trigger of further conflict. As outlined in theNPS and RRA, five main drivers sustain this vicious cycle: (i) unequal access to services and opportunities, which fuels youth exclusion and grievances; (ii) normalized violence and illicit activities stemming from chronic underinvestment in law-and-justice institutions; (iii) contested resource access, compounded by uneven benefit sharing and an underdeveloped non-resource private sector that delivers few tangible gains; (iv) weak disaster management capacity, heightening fragility amid displacement and land disputes; and (v) poor governance and a strained citizen-state compact, which deepen feelings of exclusion. These pressures—often intensified by natural disasters—are overwhelming the country’s traditional resilience mechanisms, including communal support networks, women’s movements, community-based and faith-based organizations, village courts, and local governance structures. GoPNG’s monitoring framework aims to enhance prevention capacity and governance while addressing persistent barriers to reaching vulnerable populations, especially in conflict-affected areas. Key initiatives focus on (i) improving access to services and opportunities for at-risk youth and women through job training and employment generation; (ii) expanding services for violence victims, including survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV); and (iii) developing community infrastructure that benefits more than 120,000 people in affected areas. The action plan also prioritizes early warning and violence-prevention systems, featuring tighter control of illicit small arms, a 7 percent annual funding increase for the law and justice sector, and conflict-se

FAQs

Why does Papua New Guinea seek eligibility for the IDA21 Prevention and Resilience Allocation (PRA)?

Papua New Guinea faces heightened conflict and violence risks, including urban insecurity and deadly communal violence in resource-rich areas. The PRA is intended to support the government’s prevention agenda under its National Prevention Strategy (NPS) 2025–2030.

What is the role of the NPS 2025–2030 in the PRA monitoring framework?

The NPS provides the root-cause prevention agenda, while the monitoring framework sets critical measures and timelines aligned to NPS objectives and PRA commitments. It structures how progress will be tracked and supported.

Which main drivers sustain the cycle of conflict and violence?

The note identifies five drivers: unequal access to services and opportunities; normalized violence from chronic underinvestment in law-and-justice institutions; contested resource access and uneven benefit sharing; weak disaster management capacity; and poor governance with a strained citizen–state compact.

What priority initiatives and systems does the action plan include?

Key measures include improving access to services and opportunities for at-risk youth and women, expanding support for violence victims including GBV and SARV-related violence, building community infrastructure for affected populations, strengthening early warning and violence-prevention systems, and promoting national nonviolence campaigns and women’s participation in peacebuilding.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Theodore