International Day of Girls feature – Georgina Hilei’l Kiele

Yesterday, October 11 was the international day of the girl and so let’s celebrate one of our own, Ms. Georgina Hilei’i Kiele who hails from Manus and New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea. She is working to bring up her younger sister and be a role model for her and teach her how to be strong, effective, and empower her to succeed and grow. So on this #InternationalDayoftheGirl let’s celebrate the power of girls and lift up their voices. 

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Georgina started her career in the ICT sector as a PC Support Analyst with Steamships Group of Companies in their Computer Services division before joining the Department of ICT within the PNG Government.  Little did she know that she would one day be part of a team ensuring that all Government data are kept safe, secure, and accessible when needed as well as ensuring that valid information on a pandemic is uploaded promptly for the benefit of those who have access to the Internet in the country.

When asked whether she has always dreamed of working in the ICT space, Georgina replied saying, “No, I had bigger dreams. I wanted to become a pilot when I was in high school”. However, like most graduates, she wanted to be able to find a job after she graduated and realized that IT was an essential part of most organizations and that having an IT background would mean that she would always have a job. 

She then took up Information Technology at the University of Southern Cross through the Institute of Business Studies where she obtained her Degree in IT. 

Georgina works for the Department of Information and Communications Technology as the Cyber Services Team Leader within the Government of PNG. With the establishment of the National Control Center, Georgina also plays an important role as the COVID-19 Website Administrator. 

Her role within the NCC is important as she is responsible for uploading and updating the contents of the COVID-19 website so that we all (those who have access to internet) to have access to the latest new surrounding COVID-19 in PNG.

For Georgina, marriage life is not in the near future. She is the proud guardian of her younger sister who is 17 years old and is doing grade 9 at St Charles Luwaga Secondary school. She definitely knows how to balance work and helping her younger sister with her homework and assignments, whenever she can. 

She jokingly said, “Nowadays, the internet seems to make research easier” which gives her some time to relax.When asked what she likes about her role with NCC, she responded;  “I like my job because I realized how important it is to disseminate information to our people. 

“Because of so much fake news on social media, the website has become the base of real news in regards to COVID-19 in PNG. “With the recent spike on the number of positive COVID-19 cases , the website has had over 5000 visitors in one day and over 400 000 visits since it was created. 

“It is my duty to upload content and ensure the very important notices, advisories, and documents such as the Pandemic measures are placed in a way that they are accessible and visible”. 

For this role,  Georgina works after her normal working hours, only if content is ready and approved for uploading on the website. 
Georgina plays different roles in different sections within the DICT by providing support to them apart from her daily role as the Team Leader – Cyber Services. 

She works closely with the Deputy Secretary – Ms. Alangit who provides and approves content/ information that needs to be uploaded on the COVID-19 national website. She also provides support to IGIS (Integrated Government Information System) on a needs basis where the Help Desk is a female. However, at the National Cyber Security Centre, 

Georgina is the only female working with two male colleagues who are based in Australia due to the Covid-19 restrictions. She works from Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. And if needed, she works overtime and on weekends too. She has earned the respect from her male colleagues and has developed good working relationships with her male colleagues. 

For her role in NCSC, she does the physical technical work while been guided by her colleagues who are still in Australia. Three of her memorable achievements are;

i. She received a Certificate of Dedication as a Coral Sea Cable System Repeater R1101 being named after her in December 2019.

ii. She was also part of the Cyber Security Team at NCSC during APEC meeting

iii. She received a Certificate of Appreciation from the PM in recognition for being part of the COVID-19 JATF NOC19 Team from March 23rd to June 16th 2020.

“It’s an honor to be able to serve my country and I thank God who has enabled me to do this work and I hope stories like mine inspires more girls to take up ICT-related career paths” Georgina says.