PaCSIA’s signature peacebuilding program, the Bougainville Transition Dialogues (BTD), is in its second year of the latest three-year program cycle. The focus for 2024 is on supporting the work of the Bougainville Constitutional Planning Commission (BCPC) which is currently undertaking consultations in Bougainville and outside on the first draft of the Constitution of the Republic of Bougainville. In March 2024 PaCSIA’s Dr Serge Loode and Dr Erica Rose Jeffrey met with the BTD coordinators of all constituencies in Bougainivlle to plan the activities for 2024.
The coordinators discussed recent political events in Bougainville and PNG and were given updates on Bougainville’s engagement with the national government, the establishment of the new ABG External Relations Directorate, the international prong of the ABG’s independence mission strategy, the role of the churches in the peace process and the support of the international community and the UN – in particular the proposal for an international moderator to support both governments. Professor Anthony Regan, the legal advisor to the BCPC, briefed them on the work of the Commission with regards to the constitution-making process. The first draft of the Independence Constitution was officially released in May 2024. It was agreed that a major task of the BTD for 2024 is to prepare communities for this consultation process so that as many Bougainvilleans as possible participate in the consultation and constitution-making process. The BTD does not pre-empt the work of the BCPC, it simply raises awareness of the upcoming consultations and encourages Bougainvilleans to attend the BCPC process. The Department of Independence Mission Implementation (DIMI) of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the ABG Media Directorate then engaged the BTD team in feedback for a new awareness document for members of the National Parliament and for communities in Bougainville and sought in-depth feedback on the draft from the BTD coordinators.
Bishop Dariusz Kaluza of the Catholic Diocese of Bougainville held a special mass for the BTD team at Tsiroge, and stayed for a question and answer session afterwards. He pointed out how important the work of the BTD is and how much the information helps the Catholic Diocese to better engage with communities and become aware of needs, concerns and aspirations of Bougainvilleans. He congratulated the BTD facilitators for their tireless work. This commendation was echoed by all other speakers, in particular DIMI, James Tanis (the President’s Legate for International Relations), Anthony Regan and Stephen Liston from the UN. They all raised that the BTD had significantly contributed to the success of the 2019 referendum on Bougainville’s future political status by preparing communities through information and dialogue and by creating ownership of the political process by Bougainvilleans in the villages. Anthony Regan pointed out that the BTD provides the best data on community sentiments, aspirations and concerns currently available from Bougainville. Our work has always been greatly valued by our project partners and stakeholders, but never before have we received such positive feedback and for it to be shared directly with the BTD team. This gave the team even more energy and commitment for the 2024 work.
The BTD teams are now out in all constituencies of Bougainville, and are engaging the population in dialogues about the transition process. So far more than 5000 Bougainvilleans have participated in the program in 2024, with slightly more participation by women than by men. The teams will continue the work until October this year.
