1.0 Vision for Rural Development:
Working Together to Build Communities in Solomon Islands
In Solomon Islands, Rural Development means Provincial
Development.
It means developing the country as a whole in a situation
where there are only very few relatively well developed urban enclaves, namely,
Honiara, Auki and Gizo. In this sense, the Mission of rural development is to
increase the capabilities of provinces in improving the quality of life in
village communities where majority of the people live.
Given the natural physical fragmentation of the country
and the relative weaknesses of government institutions, particularly in the
provinces, the goal will then be to bring information and services to as many
village people as possible so that they can participate in overall national
development and ultimately share its benefits.
1.2 Implementation
Strategy for a National Integrated Rural/Provincial Development Programme (NIRPDP)
1.2.1 The overall implementation strategy is to strengthen the
province as basic unit for the planning, implementation, management and
monitoring of development plans and programmes
Each province will require technical assistance and
funding support to produce the following outputs:
a.
a Provincial Development Profile
indicating the current situation, including the impact of the recent social
unrest on the delivery of basic services to communities; the existing resources
available; the status of projects (community self-help; provincial, national
and donor-executed projects, their present outreach to communities, and
projects identified as priority by constituencies and community groups);
assessment of provincial government administrative and financial operations;
b.
a Provincial Development
Framework Plan and Budget incorporating specific targets for a given period
per sector; priority areas for service coverage; investment opportunities for
private sector development; commitments
from the national government and donors for priority programmes, etc.);
c.
a
two-year Provincial Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Programme (PRRP) as part of the MDTS indicating
the specific impact of the social unrest to the province and priority areas for
assistance and investment to minimize or overcome such adverse effects of the
crisis;
d.
a Provincial Economic
Growth Strategy identifying a specific comparative advantage vis-à-vis
other provinces or based on an assessment of existing resources which could be
further developed for making available specific products and services to
domestic or overseas markets; and
e.
a Provincial Support Programme
to Develop the Subsistence Economy and its linkage to the formal economy as
part of the overall economic growth stimulus package during the period of
rehabilitation and reconstruction;
f.
a Provincial Support Programme
for Urban Development as part of the Provincial Development Plan indicating
specific linkage to rural-based initiatives, market opportunities, expansion of
current services and improvement in both outreach and quality; and
g.
a
Community-based Provincial Project
Monitoring System
to determine periodically the status of programmes and projects using existing
staff at provincial and substation level, combined with development volunteers
at constituency and village level.
1.3 The
National Development Plan, in
conjunction with the NIRPDP, will indicate required policy and programme support to assist provinces cope with
long-embedded and traditional constraints to developments.
These policy and programme support has to include the
following:
1.3.1
A
comprehensive policy and strategy framework for the provinces indicating a realistic and
multi-faceted development model to enable the provinces to see how their own
respective development relate to the overall national situation; how each
province can contribute to the country’s economic growth; and the specific
benefits to be derived by resource owners and local communities in the
sustainable exploitation of provincial resources.
Previous national development plans, including the Medium
Term Development Strategy (MDTS), lack regional or spatial dimension. They only
reflect the macro and sectoral aspects. As a result, provincial authorities and
local communities do not view the particular development of their province in
terms of the larger picture, in terms of an overall national plan.
1.3.2
A
review of the Government’s financial management system to achieve
cost-effectiveness and ensure balanced and equitable development
Questions recently raised by Provinces with regard to the
Government’s financial management include the following:
§
How
can we ensure that Provinces get a better share of the revenue from the
exploitation of their natural resources;
§
What
is the share of national revenue spent on the Provinces;
§
Why
does Government do not fully deliver its Provincial grant allocations;
§
How
can we better incorporate the aspirations and priorities of constituencies and
villages into the national and provincial budget systems;
§
What
is the capacity of Provincial Governments to operate a decentralized financial
management system.
1.3.3 A
comprehensive study of land issues and initiate vigorous and purposeful efforts
to involve all stakeholders in resolving them
The land-related issues which have been suggested to be
included are as follows –
Freedom of movement and freedom of settlement;
Issues arising from inter-island marriages or marriages
between matrilineal and matrilineal societies which pertain to conflicting
rules on owning land or inheriting land;
Multi-ethnic composition of the country and their
implications to variations in traditions and cultures defining land use and
ownership.
Current moves towards decentralization through a
State/Federal Government system will have to be complemented by measures such
as the decentralization of the functions of the Office of the Commissioner of
Lands; the Office of the Surveyor General; the Registrar of Titles; and the
Office of the Valuer General.
·
Prepare
a Strategic Plan for the Return of Alienated Land
It is proposed in the paper that alienated land should be
developed first prior to their return to original landowners or provincial
governments. Establishing the original landowners will require tedious
investigation, but this has to be done to avoid potential problems.
Given the differences in cultures, languages and customs
relating to land rights in the country, it may not be appropriate to have a
single legislation to cover customary land. It is recommended that provinces be
given the right to codify their own customary laws within a general legislation
on land.
·
Conduct
nation-wide consultations on land issues
In the aftermath of a devastating social conflict, a root
cause of which could be traced to land-related issues, it has been recommended
that nation-wide consultations be undertaken by the appropriate government
agency to clarify these issues and seek all possible suggestions and ideas on
how resolve them.
Without such resolution, any programme on rural and
provincial development will not be sustainable in the long run.
1.3.4
Establish
Sound Rural Financial Intermediaries and Market
Here are recommendations on how to improve the rural
financial markets:
·
The
concerned rural financial institution must charge the appropriate interest rate
that will cover the full financial, operational and loan risk costs.
With an adequate interest spread, the financial
institution can be profitable and sustainable and will continue to provide
financial services to its rural clientele and reduce its dependence on
government support and subsidy.
·
Mobilisation
of rural savings to ensure self-reliance and paying an appropriate real
interest rates on these deposits.
This can be possible if the lending rates are set high as
indicated above. Rural savings facility
is lacking the rural communities and, therefore, farmers and entrepreneurs are
not able to save part of their income for future use. Loan clients may have more discipline if they know they are
borrowing their neighbours’ savings.
·
The
financial institution must be committed to the rural communities.
Branch and sub-branch offices must be given some form of
autonomy and should be close to their clientele. They should be operated as profit centers.
·
Shifting
the focus from loan approval and disbursement to loan recovery and savings
mobilization.
Credit cannot be created on its own; its source is
savings. Rural communities must be encouraged to save.
·
Staff
retraining must be undertaken.
This
is important to enable the financial institution to perform its demanding task.
·
Providing
incentives to good paying clients.
Interest
rebate and promise of future loans are examples of incentives. It is also good to link staff incentives to
the performance of the loan portfolio.
·
Setting
in place appropriate legal and suitable external supervision framework.
This will deal with ceilings on lending rates, reserve
requirements on deposits, and the imposition of mandatory lending and
prudential banking standards.
The financial institution should be located in an
identified rural growth centre or an Integrated Area Development Project (IADP)
site in a province.
1.3.5
Formulate
a Long-term Plan for Rural Infrastructure Development
Rural
infrastructure can stimulate economic growth and extend the outreach of
services to the rural communities. It can make possible amenities and
facilities that can attract back to the province those who have left for
Honiara.
The
reference paper recommends the following:
·
For
the National Government to formulate a 20-Year Infrastructure Development Plan
for each of the Provinces
Previous experience has proven that 5-year plans do not
work when it comes to infrastructure. A
longer time frame is more realistic considering a number of problems that have
to be overcome, e.g. funding, resolving land issues, community consultations to
finalise locations, etc.
The National Government should be able to articulate a set
of policies that will govern the planning, implementation and management of
rural infrastructure. This will facilitate a well-coordinated approach to
building infrastructure in the provinces based on an overall national
development strategy.
The National Government should be able to define clearly
the roles of provincial governments, churches and NGOs, private sector, local
communities and family heads in the planning, building and maintenance of rural
infrastructure.
·
For
the landowners in each province to be oriented on the importance of building
the infrastructure on their own land.
This orientation should be part of a well-coordinated land
policy.
·
For
the Government to deal with misuse of public funds allocated for rural
infrastructure.
This is both an administrative and political problem that
both national and provincial governments should be able to deal with.
1.3.6
Assist
Provinces to Assume Greater Responsibilities and to Discharge their Tasks under
a more Decentralised Form of Governance
For
too long a time, the Provinces have pursued decentralisation, or devolution of
more political, administrative and other decision-making powers from the centre
to the periphery, as an objective.
The
National Integrated Rural/Provincial Development Programme can serve as a
vehicle to assist Provinces initiate a systematic capability-building process
and prepare for assuming greater responsibilities even before a more
decentralised form of governance is put in place.
The
following strategic activities can be pursued towards this end:
v
Clarification
of the respective roles of the public service employees and the political
leaders in the exercise of governance and administration of services within the
province;
v
Assessment
of the various indigenous institutions and community-based structures utilised
by sectoral agencies in the delivery of basic services, taking into account
their possible formal linkage to appropriate government bodies, such as the
provincial substations, for the purpose of project implementation and
monitoring;
v
Support
to a rural development volunteers scheme
to ensure the involvement of out-of-school youth in village development;
v
Preparation
of a Provincial Substation Improvement Project to be designed as key strategy
in extending the outreach of government programmes to relatively remote rural
villages;
v
Refocusing
the mission of Provincial Development Authorities towards providing support to
the possible expansion of the subsistence economy;
v
Improvement
of the existing communication system amongst villages, between the provincial
centre and the constituencies, and other entities through the use of simple
technologies, such as high frequency radio, solar power, etc.;
v
Identification
of project site/mobilization of resources towards the eventual implementation
of an Integrated Area Development Project (IADP) within the Province;
v
Strengthening
the mechanism for Constituency profiling, action planning and project
development with focus on the participation of disadvantaged villages and
groups.
30
October 2001
Honiara,
Solomon Islands