No limits for natural born leader Agnes Sumareke
PNG forest scientist Agnes Mone Sumareke (aka Aggie) has always looked far beyond her immediate horizon. A born leader, the Meryl Williams Fellow's willingness to embrace new opportunities is now paying dividends, for Agnes, her family and her community.
In the little village of Kerenda in Upper Mendi, back in 1994, the simple life of school student Agnes Sumareke changed irrevocably. She'd grown up in a very liberal household, the eldest of six children, with a teacher father who defied cultural norms by encouraging his daughters to attend university.
"My Dad used to tell me I had to think like a man and work like a man; he always pushed me to work harder and to believe I could do anything I wanted to," Agnes says. "He encouraged me to go to university at a time when it was very unusual for girls in my area, and few fathers were encouraging their daughters to do so. Ours is a very patrilineal society that sees men as leaders, not women, and my strength was my Dad."
Which is why, in 1995, 17-year-old Agnes found herself on a plane bound for Australia and a Catholic school in Queensland, courtesy of an AusAID scholarship. She would spend the next three years living in Charters Towers completing her secondary education at St Mary and Mount Carmel College.
"It was a dream come true," says Agnes, looking back. "I was an ambassador for my family, the community and even PNG. My father's brother could not understand why he was sending me to school in Australia. He thought I should get married or go to teacher's college or a school of nursing. My Dad told him that it was my choice."
"Working with men has never been a problem for me, but I wanted to lead them. Now I see myself as a leader of men and women.
The Meryl Williams Fellowship has put me in that space. It has convinced me that I want to be in the leadership team, that I can think about work more strategically. Now I am always thinking what and where next?"
When Agnes returned home to PNG there was little doubt of what would come next.
"I really needed to make it at university, because if I didn't it would reflect badly on everyone in my community," she says.
She need not have worried. An undergraduate degree in science and forestry parlayed into another trip abroad, in 2014 to complete her Masters in the Netherlands at the ITC Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation at the University of Twente. This time, however, the stakes were even higher.
"This was thanks to a Joint Japan/World Bank scholarship, but it meant leaving my two young children behind with my parents for 18 months," Agnes says. "It was very hard, but I had to do it for their sake. If I developed my career, maybe I could move on in life and provide more for them."
By then, Agnes was also driven by a passion for forestry and a dedication to making landscape-wide change that might improve the lives of the many who drew their livelihoods from PNG's forests.
"I really loved forestry, but at that stage in PNG it was seen as either planting trees or cutting them down," she says. "I saw forestry as everything - the soil, the insects, the plants, the trees, climate ... everything. In 2005 I had been fortunate to go to Japan to do a three-month course on remote sensing for forest management and that developed my interest in GIS (geographic information system). That's what inspired me to do my Masters.
"Each of those international trips, it was like I was building on a foundation. There was so much talk about PNG's forests (which cover some 80% of the country) and sustainable management and deforestation, but we were not even monitoring our forests. I thought I could integrate remote sensing techniques with forestry to bring some changes and make a difference, especially in research and development. My mind was opened up; there were so many ideas in me that I wanted to implement."
Agnes poses with landowners during a fieldwork trip to Situm village in Morobe Province
Further inspiration came again in Australia, in 2020, when Agnes was named a prestigious Meryl Williams Fellow by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and travelled to the University of New England to take part in leadership training.
"I had my Masters, but I applied for the fellowship because I wanted to develop the leadership and management skills that I needed to apply for the management positions I knew I was capable of," she says. "I am a born leader, but I needed something to back me up. The fellowship has been a real push; a wonderful boost to my confidence.
"I have also gained skills, know-how and networks. It has taught me how to be a leader at any level, that you can make a difference wherever you are. I now believe in myself and I am positive that I can be a good leader or manager.”
Lead MWF trainer Dr Rebecca Spence immediately recognised Agnes’s potential. "Her sense of humour, warmth and keen intelligence meant that she began to lead the minute she stepped into our ten-day introductory workshop," Rebecca says. "Ágnes encouraged her team, reflected deeply on her own leadership journey, and had herself and most of the rest of us in tears. She charmed everyone with her wit and ability to make people feel valued. It has been delightful but not surprising to see her grow and thrive while leading this really significant research."
Before becoming a fellow, Agnes had been conducting research to explore the potential of new technologies to improve natural resource management, as a forestry and remote sensing specialist with the PNG Forest Research Institute in Lae. When she returned from Australia, eager to pursue new career development opportunities, she began a survey to support the emerging galip nut industry. Indigenous to PNG, this nutritious nut has the potential to become a significant agroforestry commodity, sustaining livelihoods across the Pacific, however vital data was needed for successful commercialisation.
But then the world dramatically turned on its axis again, with the outbreak of COVID-19, and it appeared that Agnes’s research (using GIS and remote sensing techniques) would be suspended indefinitely. When ACIAR announced an Alumni Research Support Facility (ARSF) to enable its alumnus to respond to vulnerabilities in agricultural systems exposed by the pandemic, Ágnes promptly applied for one of 40 grants, and was successful.
By spatially assessing the distribution and abundance of galip nut trees in the PNG lowlands, she has since produced models that could be used to help more local farmers establish galip as a cash crop tree, generate income and boost the nation's food security. It supports vital ACIAR and International Food Industry (IFAD) efforts to commercialise galip and build resilience in local economies, as well as future land-use planning and management.
Project collaborator and mentor Dr Craig Nitschke, Associate Professor on Forest and Landscape Dynamics at the University of Melbourne, says Agnes impressed him with her preparedness to take charge of the project. "Agnes has demonstrated independence and drive to keep going with the project, collect data and develop models under very difficult circumstances," he says. "Her results and willingness to work with others show just how much people trust her and demonstrate her determination."
The true value of this research became apparent in July 2021, when Agnes received further good news. IFAD, under the Market for Village Farmers Project, announced it would provide a US$136,000 grant to allow her to continue the work, bringing together the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Forest Research Institute and the Fresh Produce Development Agency in a major capacity-building effort. Further galip resource surveys will now be conducted in the New Guinea Island Provinces (East and West New Britain, New Ireland and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville) and in the Morobe and Madang provinces, using Agnes's ACIAR funded project results as baseline information. Her natural leadership abilities will also be brought to the fore, coordinating a team of scientific and research officers, technical assistants and botanists.
"It's the first time I will lead such a big team, but I am very excited," Agnes says. "I want to improve the livelihoods of others and protect the natural environment. NARI has been working on the galip nut for some years with ACIAR funding but there was an information gap regarding how many galip trees grow and where, and how many nuts are being produced. That's where I came in - using remote sensing to study the distribution and abundance of trees to help develop the value chain. There is potential to domesticate the trees where they are abundant, and to supply new markets, but also to rehabilitate grasslands, so we provide income for people and look after the environment. I also want to collect galip seeds and do provenance trials to improve the varieties grown. This is just the beginning."
Agnes records the GPS location of where galip nut is occuring while villagers look on
Every opportunity, every international experience, Agnes believes, has taken her further down the path of self-discovery and career development.
"Each has moved me a step forward; each one has been a stepping stone," she says. "Because in PNG there are all kinds of limitations that can bog you down. Indirectly, people can try to suppress you, even though you are trying your best. For me, it's slowly building, and I have recently applied for two middle manager roles.
"Working with men has never been a problem for me, but I wanted to lead them. Now I see myself as a leader of men and women. The Meryl Williams Fellowship has put me in that space. It has convinced me that I want to be in the leadership team, that I can think about work more strategically. Now I am always thinking what and where next?"
Meryl Williams Fellows Dr Janet Pandi (left) and Agnes Sumareke (right) catch up with their mentor Dr Birte Komolong (center) in Lae, PNG.