Lighting New Pathways in Kainake: Rebuilding Trust and Opportunity After Isolation
In 2025, the Collective Empowerment Foundation (CEF) will undertake one of its most challenging and deeply significant missions yet—an initiative designed to support and empower the remote and resilient community of Kainake, located in the Siwai District of Bougainville.
For decades, the people of Kainake have lived with the legacies of geographical isolation and the wounds of civil conflict. They have preserved their identity, culture, and autonomy against enormous odds. But isolation, while protecting traditions, has also limited access to life-saving services and modern communication tools that could enhance health, safety, and educational opportunities.
Working closely with the Kainake Project—a respected local initiative led by Bougainvilleans themselves—CEF is moving forward carefully, respectfully, and collaboratively to introduce sustainable infrastructure designed by the community’s invitation and consent.
This is not about changing Kainake’s culture. It’s about providing tools that the community has asked for, tools that will allow them to access greater security, knowledge, and opportunity without sacrificing who they are.
Kainake: A Region Defined by Beauty, Remoteness, and Strength
The Kainake region sits at the heart of Bougainville’s mountainous interior. It is a place of dense forests, steep ridges, fast-flowing rivers, and incredible biodiversity. Nature rules here—lush, untamed, and breathtaking.
Yet this beauty comes at a cost. Infrastructure development is nearly impossible. Roads are washed away in heavy rains. Communications are limited. Access to healthcare and education has long been sporadic or absent.
Worse still, Kainake was deeply affected by the Bougainville Civil War (1988–1998), a decade-long conflict that devastated communities, displaced families, and shattered trust in external actors. The war left a physical and emotional scar that remains present to this day.
In many ways, Kainake’s isolation has been both a shield and a barrier: protecting culture, but also locking out access to tools that could save lives, expand choices, and enable future generations to thrive.
Responding to a History of Trauma: Why CEF Moves Carefully
In Bougainville, and particularly in places like Kainake, development cannot happen without deep respect for history.
The people here remember the conflict. They remember promises made and broken. They remember interventions that served others’ interests, not theirs.
CEF recognises this painful history. We do not presume welcome. We do not rush in with solutions. We listen first, always.
Before any project planning began, CEF engaged in extensive consultations with:
• Village elders and chiefs
• Youth leaders and women’s groups
• Representatives of the Kainake Project
These meetings focused on understanding needs, respecting concerns, and building relationships of trust. The people of Kainake clearly voiced what they wanted:
• Basic lighting for safety.
• Reliable means to communicate in emergencies.
• Educational tools for children to learn both their traditions and broader knowledge.
• Respect for cultural practices and autonomy.
Only with full, free, and informed consent did CEF proceed to develop a plan—and that plan remains flexible, evolving with the community’s ongoing input.
Partnering with the Kainake Project: Empowerment Through Local Leadership
The Kainake Project is a community-led initiative working to promote sustainable development, cultural preservation, and education in Siwai District.
CEF is proud to work under the guidance and leadership of the Kainake Project. This partnership ensures that:
• Every intervention aligns with local priorities.
• Development proceeds at the community’s pace.
• Skills transfer happens locally, building capacity within Kainake rather than dependency on outsiders.
CEF’s role is supportive. We bring logistical capacity, infrastructure expertise, and resource mobilisation—but the vision, the leadership, and the direction remain entirely with the people of Kainake.
Energy and Communication: Tools, Not Transformation
At the core of the initiative are two community-requested tools: solar-powered electricity and Starlink satellite internet.
These are not being introduced to “modernise” Kainake. They are being introduced because the community identified specific, practical needs these tools can address.
Solar Electricity
Today, without electricity, life in Kainake is governed by the sun. As soon as darkness falls, productive activities end. Cooking, reading, meeting, and studying must all stop or proceed by firelight—a practice that carries risks of burns and respiratory illness.
The introduction of solar lighting systems will allow:
• Children to study safely after dark.
• Community members to hold meetings at night.
• Basic health procedures to be conducted after sunset.
• Emergency gatherings to happen safely in lit spaces.
The solar systems are maintenance-free for up to 10 years, and all technical training will be provided in Tok Pisin, ensuring that the community has complete ownership and management.
Starlink Satellite Internet
The internet system will be introduced carefully, consensually, and with clear boundaries.
Its purpose is:
• To allow emergency communication with government health and security services.
• To provide access to educational resources for teachers and children.
• To facilitate information sharing during critical times (weather alerts, public health announcements).
There will be no pressure for internet usage beyond what the community wants. All access will be managed by local leaders, and usage policies will be determined by the village council.
This is not digital colonisation. It is empowerment through communication, introduced with care, patience, and respect.
Overcoming Challenges: Logistics and Safety
Deploying infrastructure in Kainake is no easy task. CEF’s team faces real risks:
• Flooded rivers cutting off supply lines.
• Mountainous terrain complicating equipment transport.
• Lingering tensions from past conflicts requiring sensitive navigation.
But with detailed planning, strong local partnerships, and an unwavering commitment to transparency, CEF is prepared to meet these challenges.
Beyond Technology: Health, Education, and Livelihood Support
Energy and internet are only the beginning.
In collaboration with Kainake’s leaders, CEF will also deliver:
• Medical kits and first-aid training to improve local emergency response.
• Water filtration systems to provide clean, safe drinking water.
• School supplies, including textbooks, exercise books, and learning materials.
• Offline educational content designed for use in remote classrooms.
• Agricultural tools to support traditional gardening and food security.
• Fishing gear to strengthen food access sustainably.
Every intervention is designed to strengthen existing practices, not replace them.
Cultural Resilience: A Strength to Protect
Throughout all planning and consultations, one theme emerged repeatedly: the importance of protecting Kainake’s culture.
CEF understands that introducing tools should never mean erasing traditions. Instead, new technologies must exist alongside traditional practices, supporting rather than supplanting.
For example:
• Educational resources will include materials on Bougainvillean history, language, and culture.
• Health workshops will incorporate traditional knowledge wherever possible.
• Community gatherings will remain the central organising force, with technology only serving as a support tool.
Ethical Development: Transparency, Consent, Respect
CEF’s model of development is built on three non-negotiable principles:
1. Informed Consent: Nothing happens without clear, voluntary agreement.
2. Radical Transparency: Budgets, timelines, impacts, and challenges are publicly reported.
3. Cultural Respect: Every intervention honours and preserves local identity.
📍 A full satellite pin of Kainake, a detailed expenditure breakdown, and a post-deployment impact report will be published after the 2025 expedition.
CEF’s goal is not to lead Kainake’s future—but to stand beside the community as they shape it themselves.
Real Change, Real Stories
Already, excitement is building in Kainake. Elders talk about how light at night will allow longer storytelling sessions. Teachers imagine children reading in safe, quiet spaces. Mothers speak of the relief of clean water and basic first aid close to home.
These dreams are not about modernisation. They are about dignity, safety, and choice.
And CEF is honoured to walk this journey with Kainake’s people, at their pace, on their terms.
Looking Forward: Lighting the Way for Bougainville
The Kainake initiative is more than a project—it is a statement.
It says that ethical development is possible. That respectful partnerships work. That even after isolation and conflict, communities can rebuild their futures with pride.
For Kainake, this is the beginning of a new chapter. One that honours the past, strengthens the present, and opens the door to a future determined by the people themselves.
🌍 To learn more about CEF’s work in Kainake or to partner with us on ethical, community-led development, contact our team or view the full project infographic below.
