Rokrok meri’s

About the Project

We are very excited to announce that we have funding from Perth Zoo and TCA in Australia to build our Ranger workforce with a new group of female rangers known as ROKROK MERI’S. Rokrok is pidgin English for frog and meri means women. Women are traditionally hunters of frogs for food and we’d like to know a little bit more about PNG’s frogs so who better to ask then PNG women. All of that traditional knowledge and wisdom can be harnessed in our Protected Areas Monitoring phone application that we are currently using with our 86 male rangers. We will have 86 new female rokrok meri’s monitoring the frogs. The more funding we have the more we can engage women in forest monitoring activities, so please support us by making a donation. Who knows we may even discover a new species of frog unknown to science. Now that is worth investing in!

The project activities include:

1) Purchase of 43 mobile smart phones and upload the Protected Area Monitoring App. We have purchased 43 already and we need funding to purchase another 43 – 86 phones in total.  

2) Update the Protected Area Monitoring phone app to include new staff and more information about PNG frogs.

3) Build capacity for field management.

4) Deliver a short training program with the Rokrok Meri’s at TCA Base in Lumi. Training will take place in May and August.

This project has the potential to grow so we need more support in the following areas:

• Expansion of the project into other areas of PNG
• Development of a Chytrid Fungus prevention program
• Awareness and advocacy program for PNG’s frogs
• Engagement and collaboration with frog scientists within PNG and elsewhere
• Really cool rokrok meri uniforms especially designed and made by women for women

What we have achieved so far

This project has just started in December 2023 so stay tuned for updates as the project progresses and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.