(L-R) Ms Grace Litisie Varea, EU’s Finance, Contracts and Audits Officer (in charge of LoCAL), Alfy Davy, IEDCR Honiara Based Engineer, Ms Anja Vroegop, Snr Advisor, Climate Change, NZ High Comm, Ms Olivia Bento
A team comprised of officers from the European Union, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the New Zealand Government, the Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilience (IEDCR) Project Management Unit, the Provincial Governance Strengthening Program (PGSP), and the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) visited a few completed Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) projects in Guadalcanal Province.
The visit on May 22nd, 2024, took the team to Tenaru School to see the boy’s dormitory, Rate School Hall, Chichinge Rural Health Centre, and Guadalcanal Women’s Resources Center at Henderson. The projects are in the Malango Ward of Central Guadalcanal.
The visit enabled the donor officials to see firsthand the completed projects. The PGSP, with its development and governance-funding vehicle, the PCDF, is a testament to the unwavering support from the Solomon Islands Government and donors. The program spent SBD1, 670,149.32 on the Tenaru School Boys Dormitory, SBD605, 466.75 on Rate School Hall, and SBD 1,487,758 for Chichinge Rural Health Centre, and SBD759, 231 for Guadalcanal Women Resources Center. It may be recalled that in phase I of PGSP (2008 – 2014), RAMSI, the EU, UNCDF, UNDP, and SIG funded the programme to the tune of USD 18.1m.
From 2015 – 2021, the SIG sustained the PCDF until PGSP Phase II proper, began in 2022 with the inclusion of the World Bank-funded Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilience (IEDCR). UNDP and UNICEF through the EU, UNCDF that focuses on Local Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) with support from the New Zealand Government and the European Union, and UNDP in Fiji’s Governance for Resilience, also fund the IEDCR.
For LoCAL, a UNCDF-funded program supporting the PCDF, the visit was a look to see how their forthcoming projects will be implemented now that their funded program is about to roll out. While at Tenaru School boy’s dormitory, the caretaker school principal Mr. Sixtus Winduo took time and explained the impact of climate change during intense flooding and the school’s lack of ability to do anything about it. He informed the delegation that during most flooding events, most of the classrooms are inundated and students had to be moved to second floor classrooms and dormitories until water receded.
LoCAL, the new funding stream for the nine provinces will use all the principles from the PCDF in terms of planning, budgeting, procurement, flow of funds, and the minimum access conditions. LoCAL will provide top-up funding for adaptation aspects of resilient infrastructure and fund climate-change-adaptation projects. Funding from LoCAL through UNCDF shall be available to provinces for the first time in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
LoCAL will support the SIG and the Provincial Governments (PGs) to strengthen and mainstream climate change adaptation considerations in all phases of the project implementation cycle. These grants will support activities that contribute directly to building climate resilience and developing climate change adaptation capacity at both community and PG levels.
Importantly, prior to the visit, on May 21, the team made a courtesy call to the office of the Premier of Guadalcanal Province, Hon. Willie Atu.
(L-R) Tenaru School Acting Principal, Sixtus Winduo, EU Program Manager Civil Society, Gender, Human Right and Health, Mr. Francesco Ponzoni, and UNCDF Fiji LoCAL Manager, Ms. Melissa Tipping at Tenaru School.
Delegates being met by the Principal of the Rate CHS. The PCDF funded Rate CHS Assembly Hall is at the left background
Principal of Rate CHS at Tina-Konga, talking with Melissa Tipping, LoCAL Program Manager of UNCDF in Fiji, and Chairlady of Malango Ward Development Committee, Mrs. Noelyn Biliki with Dirk Homann, Head of Section
(L-R) Ms Grace Litisie Varea, EU’s Finance, Contracts and Audits Officer (in charge of LoCAL), Alfy Davy, IEDCR Honiara Based Engineer, Ms Anja Vroegop, Snr Advisor, Climate Change, NZ High Comm, Ms Olivia Bento
Chichinge Rural Health Centre at Malango funded by PCDF
Selina, one of the executives of the Guadalcanal Council of Women talking with Melissa Tipping, LoCAL Program Manager for UNCDF Fiji during a visit to PCDF funded GP Women Resource Centre on May 22, 2024
The visiting team at PCDF funded GP Women Resource Centre at Henderson on May 22, 2024. The PCDF funded the ground floor, top and bottom extension, and the permanent fence securing the property
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