Mary G and Celia

Before taking up her Australia Award, Mary was the Acting Pricing and Tariffs Manager at Papua New Guinea’s national airline, Air Niugini. She is passionate about encouraging more women to participate in decision-making in their homes, communities and workplaces – and changing stereotypes about traditional leadership roles.

Upon returning home, Mary hopes to use newfound technical and leadership skills to negotiate better commercial agreements, and strengthen Papua New Guinea’s tourism sector by collaborating with tourism operators and authorities on behalf of the airline.

Celia is the CEO of the Kyeema Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes cost-efficient, sustainable improvements to village poultry production. Beginning her career in the early 1980s as an agronomist with an Honours degree in Agricultural Science, Celia has worked with the Australian Aid program in Zimbabwe, and managed aid and development programs in Asia-Pacific and Southern Africa for Palladium. 

Through her work at Kyeema, Celia is working to improve the living standards of vulnerable communities in rural and peri-urban areas through poverty-alleviation activities. These include chicken vaccination, rearing, and technology. And in 2018, Celia worked with local colleagues to establish a program focused on increasing the production and availability of local chickens.