The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) has won the 2021 Duty of Care Award in the category for Innovation in the International SOS Foundation 2021 Duty of Care Awards. BPNG was also awarded an Honourable Mention in the Inclusion and Diversity category. The Awards, announced at the Duty of Care Summit on 21 and 22 September, honour organisations and individuals for their leadership, foresight and strategic innovation. The prestigious Duty of Care Award win pays tribute to BPNG’s development of a world-first digital identity technology, designed to increase financial and social inclusion across PNG. The Honourable Mention in the Inclusion and Diversity category acknowledges the Bank’s commitment to gender equity and inclusion practices as well as financial inclusion. Commenting on the Awards, Governor Loi M. Bakani CMG said receiving international recognition is very gratifying for the Bank’s work in the areas of social and financial inclusion that the Bank has been involved in for some years. “The shortlisted organisations in the Duty of Care Awards are amongst the who’s who of international best practice in employee health and safety and social justice. BPNG’s win in the Innovation category and our honourable mention in the Inclusion and Diversity category send a strong message, that even relatively small nations can make a positive difference to the well being of their citizens. In our case, coming up with a series of innovations that solve PNG challenges hit the mark,” said Governor Bakani. “I am very proud of the world-class outcomes that have been achieved and are now officially recognised through the Duty of Care Awards from the International SOS Foundation. I acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the BPNG project teams, led by Assistant Governor Corporate Affairs Group Elizabeth Genia, and the support provided by a range of partners over the course of the projects’ development,” he said. Governor Bakani mentioned that we did not achieve this on our own and that we were fortunate enough to find some funding partners who were willing to invest in a “maybe”, who also saw the potential for an enormous social return on investment and we were lucky enough to identify a team of young entrepreneurs who were not afraid of throwing away the old “do it the way we’ve always done it” handbook and were happy to push the boundaries of the technology of the day. So, this award is as much theirs as it is ours and I want to publicly recognise the very active support of Ms. Lotte Schou-Zibell and her amazing team at ADB, Dr. Chakriya Bowman and the people at the Australian DFAT and Dr. Jane Thomason formerly of Abt Associates who helped us get started on this journey by encouraging us to go to London Blockchain in 2017. Commenting on the Awards, Executive Director of the International SOS Foundation Kai Boschmann said, “with entries from technology giants to NGOs, educational institutions to mining conglomerates, this year’s esteemed panel of judges1 had a wealth of best practices to assess. The winners truly drive innovation in Duty of Care. The pandemic has brought Duty of Care deeper into the core of organisations and is firmly recognised as critical for sustainable and resilient businesses. We are keen to bring these examples to other organisations and drive forward standards in Duty of Care. Congratulations go out to all our winners, runners up, honourable mentions and all entrants, who are demonstrating a clear commitment to supporting their workforce.” Judges reviewed entries from 24 industries across 29 countries. The judging panel for the Duty of Care Awards included internationally recognised leaders in fields related to Duty of Care. For a full list of the judging panel, click here. For more information about the Duty of Care Summit and Awards, visit www.dutyofcareawards.com. The 2021 Duty of Care Summit and Awards were supported by the following organisations in order to make this event possible: Chubb as Gold sponsor with the supporting sponsorship of CWT, Marsh, Marsh & McLennan Agency MMA, Mintra and Workplace Options.