Happy 15th Birthday BbP!!
A year of celebrations planned for Buk bilong Pikinini’s 15th Anniversary
Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) today kick-started its 15th Anniversary celebrations with lots of cake and balloons for the children enrolled in the organisation’s Early Childhood Education Program across PNG.
Further events are planned throughout the year and a special event on the 25th of November 2022 to thank all donors and stakeholders.
BbP opened its first Library Learning Centre (LLC) on the 8th of April 2008 at Port Moresby General Hospital, approximately a year after the organisation was founded by Anne-Sophie Hermann (wife of the then Australian High Commissioner to PNG – Chris Moraitis) and friend Anna Mukerjee.
BbP’s mission is to help to increase literacy rates and improve education outcomes for PNG’s children. This mission is as important today as it was 15 years ago, given the daily challenges faced by schools and teachers in their efforts to teach the children without books, literacy materials, limited training and in overcrowded classrooms.
With the support of donor partners in both PNG and Australia, BbP is able to establish Library Learning Centres, which feature a comprehensive Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. In order to ensure the highest quality of service - BbP has developed its own in-house teacher training program and curriculum. This also includes literacy and numeracy games, toys, a digital learning program as well as more than 20 readers and picture books published by the organisation.
The Early Childhood Education program is delivered free of charge to 5-year-old children during a morning session every day for a year. In the afternoons the Library Learning Centres offer an After-School Literacy support program for school children of all ages.
BbP is able to work with corporate partners, provincial and local government and international organisations to build Library Learning Centres, deliver an ECE
program, provide teacher and community educator training, restore school library with book kits (including those published especially for PNG’s children) to support communities and schools to improve literacy rates and education outcomes.
BbP will look forward to sharing its milestone achievements throughout the year and will also be producing a documentary to share the impact the organisation has had to date thanks to the generous support provided by donors and partners.
More than 20 Library Learning Centres have been established across the country since the organisation was founded. The program has impacted thousands of children, who are now performing well above standard at school and are equipped with solid foundations allowing them to excel at school. However, much remains to be done to reach far flung corners of the country with programs and services such as those provided by BbP and its partners to ensure PNG children receive a good education which will allow them to reach their full potential.
As a 15th birthday present to itself, BbP will today launch a brand-new website www.bukbilongpikinini.org – which features information about all programs, partners, projects, book donations and education resources. The website will also be housing a web shop which will allow the organisation to sell published books and school library kits, which will then be donated to schools across PNG.
Anne-Sophie Hermann, BbP Founder and Chairperson said:
“As we are celebrating our 15 years of Buk bilong Pikinini’s operations this year – we are honored to have had the support of so many people, companies and organisations to generously support our mission with both funds, books, time and effort I would like to personally thank each and every individual past and present who have been with us on this journey since 2007.
A great thank you to our current board of directors which include; Amelia Minnopu – BSP, Allyson Young – Select PNG, Bronwyn Wright – Sir Brian Bell Foundation, Tamzin Wardley – independent Treasurer, Andrew Dare – Hastings Deering and Mihuyun Bray – Steamships representative as well as our current and past members of the Buk bilong Pikinini Association.
A thank you also to our team at the Head Office led by our Executive Officer Leanne Resson and our amazing Teacher-Librarians on the ground who give their all every day.
It is thanks to this extraordinary family of support that that we are able to have a transformative impact on the lives of the children in our programs, ensuring that they receive the best possible foundations upon which to build their education. We could not be more grateful.”
Leanne Resson, BbP Executive Officer said: “It has been a humbling and rewarding experience having started off packing books all those years ago and now leading such a passionate and powerful team. I would like to take this time to really thank and acknowledge our Founder and Chair, Anne-Sophie Hermann and Anna Mukerjee for such a beautiful initiative; our Board Directors past and present for their support and all our partners who have supported Buk bilong Pikinini in furthering our mission throughout PNG.”
