Community Grants Programme
What is Steamships Community Grants Programme?
For over 100 years Steamships Trading Company has invested and partnered with the people of Papua New Guinea.
The Steamships Community Grants Program supports Papua New Guinean registered (IPA) charities and NGOs that provide development and community advancement in health, education, social welfare, and environment.
The Steamships Community Grants Program was formally established in 2016 with ten committee members, including several divisional General Managers, two external experts, the Managing Director as Chairman, and the Chief Operating Officer.
Steamships community investment and partnership dates as far back as 1941 when the company constructed a two-storey building school for the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Port Moresby. The cost at that time was £1,624.
The grants program supports projects which fall into four pillars of the Steamships Sustainable Development: Our People, Our Community and Our Environment.
The focus is on Health, Education, Social Welfare and Environment
Our Focus
Health activities that focus on combatting communicable diseases (those that can be spread from person to person such as TB, measles, or malaria) and non-communicable diseases (those that cannot be spread such as cancer or diabetes) These diseases represent the top ten causes of death in Papua New Guinea. From a Company’s point of view, they also impact the wellbeing and productivity of the Steamships Group’s workforce. The Community Grants Program will also support organisations that offer innovative approaches to responding to preventable illnesses and injury because this far too tragic outcome is an area of concern for Steamship’s employees.
Education activities with a focus on a) increasing literacy and b) improving the quality of education. These areas are major challenges in PNG and are of high priority for communities and the government. Literacy and access to quality education are also essential in improving every aspect of a person’s or communities well-being from Health, Education, Social Welfare, women’s empowerment, and law and order to income generation. They are also important because Steamships depends on an educated and literate Papua New Guinean workforce across all its operations.
Social Welfare with a focus on a) women’s empowerment and b) supporting the most marginalized people in PNG, especially the disabled and children. The focus on women recognises the fact that when women and girls are safe, healthy, educated, employed, and empowered to contribute to all aspects of life, communities, and nations flourish. For Steamships, supporting women builds a larger and more diverse pool of talent and strengthens the productivity of the workforce. Ensuring a focus on the most vulnerable demonstrates that Steamships is a proud member of the PNG community and is committed to assisting those who would otherwise fall between the cracks. This is an area of high priority to employees and as such generates high staff morale.
Environment focusing on community awareness, conservation and education to enhance community understanding of environmental issues and management. Encouraging efforts to protect the environment and change attitudes towards creating clean, healthy and sustainable environments.
Applications for the Steamships Community Grants Programme are open on the 15th January 2024, and close on the 23rd February 2024. Please submit your application to community@steamships.com.pg. Only emailed submissions will be accepted.
Download Files
- Information Pack (pdf)
- Eligibility Check List (pdf)
- FAQs (pdf)
- Application Form (pdf)
Please look for our announcements in the papers and our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Applications for computer equipment donations
Steamships is pleased to donate second-hand computer equipment to worthy community causes and NGOs, subject to availability. To register your interest, please complete the application form which will be submitted to our team for review.