Australian Ecosystems director Brendan Condon has had a long association with the people of Bougainville Island reaching back to environmental projects he undertook in the region in 1989.

Brendan travelled to Bougainville in 2002, and lived in villages in Central Bougainville that were recovering from a decade of war.

Upon consultation with local people Brendan ascertained that the priority initiatives to assist with the recovery of these communities included communications, education and trade. Australian Ecosystems has provided significant finance to a number of projects on the island including:

Dantanai Open Learning Centre

Critical to the recovery effort is the reintegration of young people who missed 10 years of formal education as they fled to the jungle during the crisis. Many of whom are now illiterate, under-skilled and have special needs. Education and training of these young people is a top priority in
attempting to rebuild a cohesive society. The dislocation of the young people is already manifesting in law and order problems in some areas of Bougainville and if their needs are not addressed in the medium term this will create many problems in the future.

One of the major projects Australian Ecosystems has supported over the past several years is the construction of the Dantanai Open Learning Centre in Central Bougainville. This centre is aimed at training and educating excombatants and young people who missed out on education during the conflict. Australian Ecosystems provided budgets for hiring a portable sustainable sawmill to produce timbers, as well as the building supplies needed to complete the project. This centre was completed in 2004 and is now operational. Australian Ecosystems provided a budget of between $25 - $30,000 for the project. Stage 2 of the Open Learning Centre will be constructed over the next 12 - 18 months and will involve several more buildings and more resources.

Communications- Yumi Yet Radio Co-operative

Bougainville is a mountainous and rugged country that is very difficult to traverse, thousands of people live in remote areas accessible only by narrow walking tracks. Most Bougainvillians do not have access to any kind of modern communications making collaboration on important projects to rebuild the country extraordinarily difficult and very slow.

In 2002 Australian Ecosystems staff: Mathew Davis and Andrew Taylor travelled to Bougainville with a laptop computer, solar panels and radio modems to establish the first of what is to become a network of autonomous Radio Email stations on the Island. Australian Ecosystems donated the equipment. The station allows users to send and receive email via radio through the Firefly station in Sydney, Australia. In addition users may communicate with other high frequency (HF) radio operators and to listen to news broadcasts via the ABC, BBC and other international broadcasters. The system is powered by a 24 volt solar power set up.