Both NGOs have strengthened and upgraded the existing learning institutions to serve as the CLCs of the community. The activities of the CLCs are focused on various kinds of skills training combined with literacy programmes and savings and credit schemes. The PNG Government has proposed to implement the project in Ularina village, Wewak District, in East Sepik Province. The village is located in the foothills where villagers rely on subsistence agriculture. Most children go to the community school, but more than half the adults, particularly women, are illiterate.
Health is also another serious problem in the village.
There have been development programmes in the village initiated by Christian missionaries since the late 1980s. The proposed CLC project will be implemented by local NGOs based on the resources developed under the ongoing programmes in the community. The District Education Office will provide technical support for the project from the existing basic education programmes for adults and children. According to discussions during the orientation seminar for the project held in Ularina in March 1999, the CLC building is currently under construction by the village under the supervision of the project co-ordinating committee. The Government has decentralized funds and authority to the TAOs, which along with the village committees are promoting CLCs in Thailand.