Communities in Kia and Havulei wards in Isabel Province has commended the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) for an informative awareness on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) programme.
This was after two officers who are part of the MRD monitoring team that toured the Hograno-Kia-Havulei Constituency (HKHC) conducted a series of awareness talks on CDF and the mandates of the ministry to communities there fortnight ago.
The tour was to monitor and verify 2021-2022 CDF-funded projects in the constituency.
Kia and Havulei are two wards that form part of the Hograno-Kia-Havulei constituency in Isabel Province.
The awareness meetings focused mainly on the following areas;
The team also used the opportunity and informed the communities that monitoring of CDF projects is one of the key mandates of MRD under the CDF program to;
The awareness meetings also provided an opportunity for the communities to share their judgements and views on the current management and implementation practices of CDF and at the same time share ideas and suggestions for a way forward to guarantee the CDF program equitably benefit everyone (constituents).
The team also informed the constituents on the reforms that the ministry is undertaking to improve and strengthen the delivery mechanisms of the CDF program and its governance.
Work on reforming CDF has commenced in August last year by MRD with the formulation of the first ever Solomon Islands Constituency Development (SICD) Policy, and the current formulation of the new CDF Act 2023 is part of the CDF reformation process.
Cabinet has approved the policy (SICD) in March this year and that sets a bedrock for the ministry to go ahead with the review work on the CDF legislation 2023.
Most of the communities that participated in the awareness sessions have expressed profound gratitude to MRD for taking the initiative to reform the CDF program.
They also commended the DCGA government for supporting MRD on these important reforms and acknowledged the Permanent Secretary of MRD Dr Samson Viulu for his leadership and vision in leading his team in the important reforms.
Chiefs, community elders and women reps in Allardyce, Kia and Baolo have also shared recommendations which will be captured in the M&E report for Hograno-Kia-Havulei.
Meanwhile, team leader and Principal Monitoring & Evaluation Officer Agnes Bopi. Tanihorara thanked the communities for their time and for all the constructive contributions made during the awareness meetings.
She said the awareness programs would not be possible have it not for the cooperation and support of the communities.
She then encouraged the constituents to continue to work closely with their MP and constituency office towards the implementation of their development programmes.
Honourable Jeremiah Manele who is the current Minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAET) is the Member of Parliament for HKHC.
CDF is a programme of the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) and is implemented by the 50 constituencies in the country through MRD purposely to improve the social and economic livelihoods of all Solomon Islanders.
– MRD Press