In 2016, Lautrec forged a relationship with Oxfam Aotearoa to work on projects that are important to us as an Organisation and in line with our vision which is to ‘apply our knowledge and skills to create a better, fairer and more sustainable planet, both individually and collectively.
In 2019, our relationship reached a new milestone where we entered into a partnership to work on a project called FLOW which is a five-year project with support from Lautrec and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
What is FLOW?
FLOW stands for Fostering Lasting Opportunities for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. The objective is to improve the health, resilience and quality of life for remote and vulnerable communities, particularly women and children in the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.
FLOW seeks to impact 30,000 lives in partnership with schools, rural communities and health centres.
Lautrec’s involvement
Towards the end of 2019, Lautrec sent two staff members to the Eastern Highlands where they met local partners and visited some of the education centres and hospitals and participated in a planning workshop.
The impact of Covid has meant that a field trip for our staff planned for 2020 has been postponed and we are looking at ways to support the project remotely as it continues to be rolled out by local Oxfam staff.
Our goal is to work with Oxfam New Zealand, Oxfam in Papua New Guinea (OiPNG) and local partners to provide engineering (structural and water) where it is needed.