The Solomon Islands Government’s flagship “Provincial Capacity Development Fund” (PCDF) is continuing to touch lives in rural communities across the country, ten years after its inception in 2008.

The scheme is a component of the Provincial Governance strengthening Programme (PGSP) which is administered by the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS).

The PGSP was initiated by the Solomon Island Government with the support of donors including the UNDP, UCDF, the EU and RAMSI) in July 2008 to strengthen the capacities of the nine provincial governments in Solomon Islands. Its focus was initially on public expenditure management systems that would enable provinces to plan, procure and implement small scale infrastructure projects in needed areas.

Initially, from 2008 to 2011, the scheme has been allocated a total funding of SBD10.8m per annum. And as the national Government eventually gained confidence in the performance-based grant and the accountability conditions of the fund, it up-scaled the fund from 2012 onwards resulting in the Government now funding 100 percent of the scheme.

Since its inception, the programme has implemented more than 1,000 solid infrastructure projects and created more than 5,000 jobs nationwide.

In Malaita province alone, for example, more than 106 quality projects were delivered through the PCDF over this ten-year period. From the 106 completed projects, 72 of them are health and education infrastructures which facilitated service delivery for people.

With a total funding of $27.17 million over this period, these projects covered various sectors including in Administration, Agriculture, Education, Health, Income Generation, Roads & Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Fisheries & Marine, Women Development, Environment and Conservation spread among 14 wards throughout the province.
An additional 9 other projects totaling $6.4 million are ongoing in the Education, Health, Fisheries & Marine and Water & Sanitation sectors.

All these projects have generated 639 jobs and have directly benefitted at least 120,000 people in Malaita Province alone.

With these results, Prime Minister Rick Hou during celebrations marking the Malaita Second Appointed Day at Afio this week pledged the Governments continuous support towards this programme in coming years.

“In spite of the current shortcomings in funding resources, we will continue to maintain Government commitments in support of the PCDF to sustain effective service delivery to our people,” Prime Minister Hou said.

Mr Hou extended his gratitude and confidence in Premier Peter Ramohia and his provincial workers for their leadership and commitment in ensuring that Malaita Province is qualified for this year’s assessment and to maintain this position in the years ahead.

To sustain these results, the MPGIS continues to commit itself in ensuring all Provincial executives, Provincial members and working staff are properly equipped through training programmes.

These programmes are implement through planning workshops, policy training and skills enhancement programs in finance, project management, reporting, and policy-implementation initiatives.

 

Source: Press Release, Government Communications Unit