17 years on after the current Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare took to the podium of the United Nations to call for donor support for the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) initiative; people are now benefiting from small infrastructure projects, thanks to the PCDF.
The PCDF is responsible for over 294 small infrastructure projects across all nine Provinces in the country, ranging from water supplies, community halls to classrooms.
Some of the notable PCDF projects by provinces are as follows; Temotu Province– Mana Primary School, Lipe Kindy building, Central Province– Yandina CHS Library, Yandina Market House, Tulagi kindy, Tulagi community hall, Western Province– Munda community market, Gizo solar charge station, water supplies, classrooms.
Other notable PCDF projects by provinces also include Isabel Province– 8 water supplies, 9 community halls and schools as well. Malaita Province– 15 water supplies, 3 clinic staff houses, community halls, classrooms, rain water catchments, Guadalcanal Province– 26 water supplies, community halls, classrooms.
Others yet of the PCDF projects include Renbel Province– 8 solar charge stations, Niupani Internet and Training Centre, youth resource center and 2 clinics, Makira Province– 5 nurse aid posts, classrooms, water supplies.
And Choiseul Province where the PCDF is responsible for a number of Community Halls as well as water supplies.
The PCDF is administered by the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS).
Following the huge success of the PCDF and given the recognition to it by the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA), the funding allocation for PCDF has increased from $30 million to $40 million in this year’s national budget.
Increasing of the funding comes as no surprise because it was Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare who trumpeted the call for financial support for the initiative at the UN in 2006.
The PM also strongly advocated for the increase in budget allocation for the PCDF given the success of the initiative.
With the help of bilateral and multilateral partners plus financial input from the Solomon Islands Government (SIG), the PCDF funded projects will continue to roll out this year and onward.
One of the many positive attributes of the PCDF projects is that it promotes the sense of ownership where host communities are responsible for implementing the projects.
Lately, donors have shown keen interest in the mechanisms of the PCDF and many of them have indicated financial support for it.
