Simbu has become the 10th province to formally join the National Youth Engagement Strategy (NYES) 2025–2029, with Sinasina-Yongomugl District selected to pilot the programme.
The programme is aimed at reconnecting out-of-school and disengaged youth with employment and empowerment opportunities.
The milestone was reached following a three-day NYES socialization programme held from August 3–5 at Mountain Hut Lodge in Kundiawa.
The programme brought together the Simbu Provincial Government, district representatives, community development officers, youth leaders, churches, NGOs and other stakeholders.
Deputy Provincial Administrator Kale Simai and the Provincial Management Team backed the initiative, supporting youth engagement as a shared development priority for the province.
Sinasina-Yongomugl District was selected as the pilot site, with the programme expected to be expanded to the province’s other districts after lessons are drawn from the pilot.
SSY District Administrator Jack K. Atte confirmed the district’s readiness to implement the programme.
“SSY is prepared to implement the NYES as a pilot project, and has allocated resource to support youth program,” he said.
The pilot will focus on identifying, registering and profiling disengaged youth and connecting them to available opportunities in agriculture, coffee, vegetables, livestock, tourism, arts and crafts, station cleaning, domestic labour mobility, technical and vocational education and training, sewing and tailoring.
The opportunities will be coordinated through the National Youth Development Authority’s Online Youth Registration Platform.
Provincial and district officers also received training on the online registration system during the socialization programme.
The system is intended to provide reliable data on disengaged youth, including their location, skills, interests and areas where they need support.
The province formalized its commitment through the signing of a Joint Inception Implementation Plan at the Simbu Provincial Government Administration Building in Kundiawa.
The plan was signed by Simbu Provincial Administrator John Punde, SSY District Administrator Jack K. Atte and NYDA Director General Joe Itaki.
Mr. Punde said the strategy aligned with Simbu’s development priorities and its focus on empowering communities from the grassroots.
“The NYES aligns well with Simbu Provincial Development Plan, a bottom-up approach to youth empowerment, and it sits well within our development aspirations,” he said.
The signing was witnessed by Simbu business leader Robert Nilkare OBE OL, Chairman of the Oil Palm Producers Association of PNG and newly appointed Independent Director of Hargy Oil Palm Limited.
Mr. Nilkare pledged private-sector support for the programme, particularly in agriculture and oil palm, where young people could access employment and business opportunities.
He said Simbu’s history as a major contributor to the country’s plantation workforce provided an opportunity to create new pathways for school leavers.
“We must collaborate to create pathways that absorb school leavers meaningfully, so they don’t hang loose and become problematic for our communities,” Mr. Nilkare said.
He also welcomed the Online Youth Registration System, saying reliable youth data was essential for businesses to identify and engage young people meaningfully.
NYDA Director General Joe Itaki said the Simbu rollout was intended to demonstrate how the strategy could operate at district and community level by connecting youth registration with skills development, employment, agriculture, entrepreneurship, labour mobility, SME finance and market access.
Through the registration system, disengaged youth will be profiled according to their interests, location and skills needs before being connected with relevant service providers and opportunities.
Mr. Itaki said the approach was designed to move away from fragmented youth interventions towards a coordinated, data-driven national system.
The SSY pilot is expected to provide lessons for the wider rollout of NYES across Simbu and strengthen the province’s efforts to use agriculture and other sectors to create opportunities for young people.