UNDP/UNOPS SOLOMON ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PROGRAMME (SIDAPP)
TERMINAL REPORT
Prepared
for Presentation to the:
3rd
and Final Tripartite Review Meeting
19
November 2001
Rural Development Division
Ministry of Provincial
Government and Rural Development
Honiara, Solomon Islands
5th Floor, Anthony Saru Bldg.
Tel (677) 26560/61 Fax (677) 26458 Email: sidapp@pipolfastaem.gov.sb
Website: www.pipolfastaem.net.sb
TERMINAL
REPORT
UNDP/UNOPS
Solomon Islands Development Administration
and
Participatory Planning Programme (SIDAPP)
Prepared
for Presentation to the:
3rd
and Final Tripartite Review Meeting
19
November 2001
Programme/Project Title:
SOLOMON ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION AND
PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PROGRAMME FOR PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS AND RURAL/OUTER
ISLAND COMMUNITIES
(SIDAPP)
Project Short Title:
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME
Project Number:
SOI/96004/A/01/31
SOI/96004/A/03/31
Project starting date:
Originally planned: August 1997
Actual : November
1997
Project completion date:
Originally planned: August 1999
New : December 2001
Total budget:
USD998,000.00
Latest signed revision:
USD471,905
Additional amounts given:
USD50,000 for expansion in Malaita (TPR Sep 00)
USD85,000 for final phase (Oct – Dec 01)
Period covered by the Report:
November 1997 to November 2001
Implementation Status of
Approved Recommendations from the Previous Tripartite Review Meeting and
Suggested Follow up Actions After SIDAPP Phase-out by End of Year 2001
Approved Recommendations from
the Second Tripartite Review
(29 January 2001)
Recommendation #1:
Assist in the
formulation of the National Integrated Rural Development Programme to address
the root cause of the recent social unrest, the lack of balanced and equitable
development amongst the country’s provinces and regions
|
Implementation
Status as of November
2001 |
Recommended
Follow up Actions in Post-SIDAPP
Situation |
|
|
It is recommended that: A TWO-YEAR PREPARATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT BE
IMPLEMENTED TO FORMULATE THE DETAILED INDICATIVE PLAN FOR THE NATIONAL
INTEGRATED RURAL AND PROVINCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (NIRPDP) Based on the Programme
Framework, the specific outputs to be produced during this preparatory
project assistance phase can include the
following:
village communities ·
Assessment of existing institutions to identify
their mutually reinforcing roles in implementing the national programme It is proposed that the
Technical Secretariat for this preparatory assistance phase of NIRPDP be established at the
Ministry of National Planning and Human Resources Development to ensure -close collaboration in the implementation of the revised two-year Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) designed to address key concerns related to
|
Establish
the People First Network as a rural based information and communication system
to help facilitate increased access to development information and services by
remote village communities and contribute to achieving national unity
|
Implementation Statusas of November 2001 |
Recommended
Follow up Actions in Post-SIDAPP Situation |
|
-The country’s first and only rural development website www.peoplefirst.net.sb launched and maintained, and seen to date by almost 50,000 people all over the world -The country’s first Internet Café established and it continues to nurture a rapidly growing online community with access to email and Internet services; designed to serve as central electronic post office to the proposed rural based information and communication system -The country’s first rural email station established with British High Commission funding in the remote village of Sasamungga, Choiseul -A base station established also through British funding to serve rural email stations -Agreement signed with Embassy of Japan for installation of solar power and email stations in Ulawa, Makira and in Temotu -Funding provided by Taiwan to ensure technical assistance for start-up activities of the People First Network -Five (5) more stations on the pipeline with private sector funding, part of more than 30 organisations and projects that have signed up as part of the PFnet. -Project documentation completed after validation of low-cost and appropriate technologies to be used for the targeted initial 25 email stations to link the country’s remotest islands and villages |
It is recommended that: THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CONSIDER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RURAL BASED INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM TOP PRIORITY DURING THE TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF RECONSTRUCTION AND THUS BOOST EFFORTS AT ACHIEVING NATIONAL UNITY AND FACILITATING THE FLOW OF DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION AND SERVICES TO MOST OF THE COUNTRY’S VILLAGE COMMUNITIES It is proposed that a
two-year pilot project be undertaken as a vital component of NIRPDP to
complement the objectives of the preparatory assistance phase. The proposed project
has been submitted for funding to UN Human Security Fund donated by the
Government of Japan; and to UNDP for consideration in their next Programming
Cycle. The Technical Secretariat for the NIRPDP Preparatory Assistance Phase can address the digital divide through this project and facilitate its implementation beyond the pilot phase by:
|
Implementation Status |
Recommended Follow up Actions |
|
-The Provincial Government Development Unit was reorganized in June this year as the Rural Development Division. Its key role will be to serve as focal point in implementing the proposed national programme on rural development. -In August, the new Division signed an agreement with the Japan-funded Grassroots Development Initiative for the extension of technical assistance to village communities and to monitor projects under this scheme. -A Memorandum of Understanding has been drafted to define the role of the RDD in the EU-funded Micro Projects Programme. -The RDD has been designated as implementing agency for the Schools Rehabilitation Programme in cooperation with the Ministry of Education under the UN Human Security Fund. -The Government has recently created the post of Webmaster in addition to the current project post in recognition of the Division’s role in the implementation of the proposed rural based information and communication system. |
Implementation Status |
Recommended Follow up Actions |
|
-The Project and SICHE signed an agreement regarding the implementation of a rural development volunteers project which will assign student volunteers during semestral breaks to communities to assist in monitoring projects and other tasks. -SIDAPP renovated the former Distance Education Centre to serve as project office. -The Rural Development Volunteers Association (RDVA) was subsequently formed. The RDVA Constitution and By-laws were prepared and the organisation was registered as an NGO in August. An Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees were elected during the first Annual General Meeting. More than 40 individuals signed up as members. -The Association is now in the process of recruiting and
training members in each of the 50 Constituencies. -The RDVA has become the partner agency of the Division in implementing the start-up activities of the People First Network. It has signed an agreement with the government of Taiwan for the provision of technical assistance to enable the project to implement the initial activities. |
|
-A Project Implementation and Monitoring Adviser (PIMA) was hired for three (3) months (Mar – May 00) to oversee the organization and training of Local Development Core Teams (LDCTs). A total of 28 volunteers were recruited and formed into LDCTs in three pilot Constituencies in Malaita: Aoke/Langalanga, Central Kwara’ae, and West Kwara’ae. -Training was conducted for all the LDCTs and a work plan for each team prepared. Similar activities were planned for the other SIDAPP provinces, Isabel and Rennell and Bellona. The ethnic conflict, however, intensified culminating in the civil coup of 05 June 00. - In the interim, a Manual on CBMS was prepared. It has to be evaluated prior to being used as a guide for the recruitment, training and supervision of LDCTs as community monitoring officers. |
(To be submitted separately)
Part II:
TEXTUAL ASSESSMENT
1.
What
are the major achievements of the programme or project vis-ŕ-vis the expected
results? Please explain them in detail
in terms of potential impact, sustainability of results and contribution to
capacity development.
Achievement #1:
Completion of constituency profiling, action planning and
project preparation amongst disadvantaged villages and groups in a total of 15
Constituencies in the pilot provinces of Malaita, Isabel and Rennell and
Bellona.
|
Potential Impact
|
Bringing the
planning process to the village and family level will result in programmes
and projects more pertinent to the needs of the people. It will make local
communities and government units more active participants in the development
process. Hence, more local resources can be generated and greater opportunities
created to enable activities to be sustained at community level. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
The results are
two documents: Book 1 consisting of the Constituency Profile and Action Plan,
and Book 2 which is a compilation of projects identified and proposed by the
people for funding and implementation. Members of Parliament, government
officers and political leaders, as well as community volunteers, have been
provided with a common basis for deciding on priority projects and allocating
both local and external resources to these projects. The community has
identified the disadvantaged villages and families which need to be reached
with development information and services. Sustainability will depend on the
support given this process by all the sectors involved, and the actual
benefits reaching rural villages and families. |
|
Capacity Development
|
A manual on
participatory profiling, action planning and project development has been
prepared, field-tested and validated during the pilot phase. Ad hoc structures (National Core Team of
Trainers, Provincial Core Team of Trainers, Local Development Core Team) have
been organized and trained how to use the manual and carry out the process of
re-planning, project monitoring and providing training support to project
implementers. In Constituencies such
as Vella La Vella in Western Province, East Choiseul, etc., the SIDAPP
process was used to generate community participation in local planning and
project identification. |
Achievement #2:
Preparation
of guidelines and procedures for the Community Development Component of the
Rural Community Development Fund (RCDF) administered through Members of
Parliament
|
Potential Impact
|
Community grants
worth millions of dollars channeled through Members of Parliament can be used
to support projects identified by the people themselves. MPs and technical officers can work
together in ensuring that only feasible projects get implemented. Disadvantaged villages and groups will
benefit first from these grants. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
During the
Aug-Oct 98 period, a total of USD1.3 million was released by the Government
for RCDF-funded projects based on guidelines prepared by SIDAPP which favour
support to disadvantaged communities and groups. Due to political
interventions, the guidelines were not strictly followed after this period.
The Government reverted to the practice of releasing funds for projects or
activities unilaterally decided by the MPs. A number of MPs, however, adhered to the guidelines
recommended by SIDAPP. But this
number is too small compared to the majority who reverted to treating the
funds as “pork barrel.” The
Government exerted efforts to enforce the guidelines, but the social unrest
intensified and these efforts were overtaken by more serious events. |
|
Capacity Development
|
The project
conducted a three-day Seminar for Parliamentarians on the new guidelines in
April,1998. The following were
produced and distributed to all MPs to help them implement these guidelines: -Primer on the
Community Development Grant component of the RCDF; -Application
forms, project document formats and project appraisal checklist; -Constituency
Action Planning and Project Development Manual; -Basic
Readings on Constituency Action Planning and Project Development These guidelines
were integrated in the Orientation and Training Programme conducted in 1998
by SIDAPP for: -206 Ministry
staff at national and provincial levels; -52 provincial
executive members; -66 heads of
provincial divisions; -290 leaders of
NGOs, churches, women and youth groups, business houses; -116 chiefs and
traditional leaders; -480 members of
village communities. |
Achievement #3:
Field-testing
and validation of a proposed Community-based Monitoring System (CBMS) linked to
provincial substations.
|
Potential Impact
|
As designed by
SIDAPP, the CBMS will ensure that local communities themselves are active
participants in monitoring their own progress in implementing projects. Community volunteers will be recruited and
trained to be monitoring officers.
They will be grouped into teams and provided training, supervision and
basic allowance to enable them to move around regularly in their assigned
Constituency. Each team will be linked to the nearest provincial substation
as its first contact with the technical agencies that can help provide inputs
to local projects. The systematic
deployment of these local monitoring officers can expand the coverage of
government agencies in monitoring the status of sectoral projects implemented
in a specific village, ward or Constituency. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
To sustain this
network of local volunteers doing monitoring tasks, government agencies,
provincial governments and donors must see the benefits of CBMS to their
respective operations. Initially, their support is needed to encourage the
projects that they support to utilize the services of the volunteers, known
in SIDAPP areas as Local Development Core Teams (LDCTs). These development volunteers will start as
monitoring officers, but they will be progressively trained as community
motivators and trainers to ensure active community participation in
development planning and implementation.
These additional tasks will further enhance the sustainability of the
Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS). The Japan-funded
Grassroots Development Initiative has signed an agreement with SIDAPP to
continue the monitoring of community projects using the latter’s network of
government substation officers and local volunteers. |
|
Capacity Development
|
A Project
Implementation and Monitoring Adviser (PIMA) was hired for three (3) months
(Mar – May 00) to oversee the organization and training of LDCTs. A total of 28 volunteers were recruited
and formed into LDCTs in three pilot Constituencies in Malaita:
Aoke/Langalanga, Central Kwara’ae, and West Kwara’ae. Training was conducted
for all the LDCTs and a work plan for each team prepared. Similar activities
were planned for the other SIDAPP provinces, Isabel and Rennell and Bellona.
The ethnic conflict, however, intensified culminating in the civil coup of 05
June 00. In the interim, a Manual on
CBMS was prepared. It has to be evaluated prior to being used as a guide for
the recruitment, training and supervision of LDCTs as community monitoring
officers. |
Achievement #4:
Establishment of a rural development website
www.peoplefirst.net.sb primarily
as
advocacy tool to generate policy and
programme support to community-identified
projects
|
Potential Impact
|
The web site www.peoplefirst.net.sb was
originally designed as advocacy tool to generate policy and funding support
to micro projects generated by the SIDAPP process. It profiled some 300 of such projects in a bid to get noticed
by Ministries, donors and international NGOs. Since its launching in Oct 00,
it has developed as a full-blown rural development website, a source of
village development-related information useful to all development partners in
the country. It has the potential to further develop as an interactive medium
to facilitate the flow of information amongst rural people, planners,
policymakers and project implementers involved in building village
communities in Solomon Islands. Its core content
materials can provide a formidable data base on rural and provincial
development in the country: 12 Constituency Development Profiles; 9
Provincial Profiles; a Projects Database of 347 projects in the Book 2 series
of SIDAPP; a digital library with 726 digital photographs and 130 GIS map
images on all aspects of the country’s rural life. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
All these
features of the website have been researched, launched and handed over to
local staff for maintenance: News – updated daily with national
and international development news; Donors – for all
active aid organizations in the country; Forums – discussions
on set topics; Message Board – used as open forum; Reports
– articles, data and opinion; Downloads – profiles,
reports, brochures, articles; Updates – projects; Links page –
to development-related websites; Guest book – feedbacks from
visitors. Since its formal launching
in January 01, the website has been visited by more than 40,000 people from
all over the globe, an average of more than 130 hits a day. |
|
Capacity Development
|
|
|
Potential Impact
|
The People First
Internet Café was launched in Feb 01 to allow Honiara residents to access the
Internet for sending and receiving emails and to access information from the
global Internet. It has enjoyed very
high rates of use, sound expansion, adequate maintenance and an overall
effective learning process for the staff.
As part of the proposed PF Net, it has been designed to serve
eventually as the hub of a rural based information and communication system
linking 25 email stations all over the country. The Café has
increased public awareness about Internet tools in general, and email in
particular. It has provided basic
computer and Internet use training to a broad range of clientele and
generated income to help maintain operations. Ordinary people, most of them first-time users, are
increasingly being brought across the digital divide into contact with email
and Internet services through the Internet Café. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
The Café has been
operating at about 70% capacity averaged over a 10-hour period. A customer survey carried out over a
three-day period showed that women are significant users (34%); most users
are professionals (39%); followed by students (23%). Priority uses are: email friends and
relatives (52%); research for educational information (16%); business
contacts overseas (14%); and school assignments (12%). The customers
want the Café to diversify its services: scanning (43%); photocopying (36%);
digital photos (29%); fax (29%); training – searching web (26%); CD copying
(26%); training – Office applications (21%); web search services (19%); and
training – Web publishing (17%). It is expected
that even without subsidies from SIDAPP, the Café can be financially viable
when it introduces its diversified services, including a hands-on training
programme for beginners. |
|
Capacity Development
|
The Café has not
only trained its staff, but also resulted in the growth of the online
community in Honiara. Its role in
also improving public awareness and use of global Internet services has been
considered remarkable by academics and development practitioners in the
country. |
|
Potential Impact
|
The use of
low-cost technologies for the setting up of Rural Email Stations has been
field-tested by the project. This has been in response to the need for an
information and communication system to link provinces and regions in a
cost-effective, efficient and secure way.
The system will basically consist of a network of email stations based
around a hub (base station) with a permanent Internet connection and an
Internet Café to serve as the central, Honiara office. The simple technologies identified for the
system were HF radio, VHF radio and the use of non-profit LEO satellite
services, a number of which were identified. The system can
facilitate the smooth flow of information and services and thus enable rural
communities to participate in the overall development process and share its
benefits. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
A rural email
station has been set up in Sasamungga, a remote island village in the
country’s northernmost province. Based in a hospital, a volunteer has been trained to operate it
under the management of a local committee. Now it is used by an increasing
number of people in the area. The British High Commission funded this
facility in addition to an HF base station, which will enable the project to
grow and respond to partner organizations or members, some of whom are in a
position to procure their equipment. Taiwan has donated funds for technical
assistance to the volunteers association that will run the system. The Japanese Embassy has signed agreement
with two remote communities in Ulawa and Temotu for the setting up of rural
email stations. A second email
station will be established near Sigana island, Isabel, in the premises of
the Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group (SITAG), using the LEO
satellite system developed by the Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA).
In collaboration with the Rural Training Centre and other self-funding
organizations, other rural email stations will be set up in Otelo, Reef
Islands; Vanga, Kolombangara in Western Province; Tingoa, Rennell and Malu’u,
North Malaita. More than 30 organisations and projects have signified their
willingness to provide for the standard equipment and installation costs
(around USD5,000 per station) and be part of the rapidly evolving People
First Network. |
|
Capacity Development
|
The PFnet
programme can supply the equipment and expertise for deployment, training and
maintenance of the rural email stations. The operations will be managed
eventually by volunteers trained by RDD.
|
|
Potential Impact
|
The eventual
preparation of the NIRPDP will address the root cause of the recent social
unrest, the lack of balanced and equitable development amongst the country’s
provinces and regions. Through the Profiles, it will be possible to formulate
strategies specific to each of the provinces and, hence, evolve in the
process mutually reinforcing approaches to enhance the social and economic
growth of provinces as part of the overall national development plan. Through the
NIRPDP, it will be possible to address more systematically the specific needs
of the country’s disadvantaged communities and groups. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
The new programme
can build on the gains achieved by SIDAPP as a pilot project, namely: -the three-week
modular participatory process fielded-tested and validated by SIDAPP for
Constituency profiling, action planning and project development with focus on
the involvement of disadvantaged communities and groups; -the orientation
and skills training of specific sectors involved in rural and provincial
development, including policymakers, planners and project implementers; -the partnership
with Government and donor agencies in the provision of technical assistance
and support to micro projects identified by village communities themselves; -the initial
activities undertaken to establish a rural based information and
communication system; -the
institutional framework adopted to facilitate both policy and programme
support to rural development initiatives. |
|
Capacity Development
|
SIDAPP has
developed training modules, systems and procedures and structures for policy
formulation (National Rural Development Task Force); programme support (Rural
Development Division); and complementary structures (RDVA; NCTT; PCTT; LDCT) |
|
Potential Impact
|
With the eventual
preparation of NIRPDP, a focal point is needed for the detailed planning and
monitoring of projects, as well as for the provision of policy, training,
technical assistance and other programme support to the programme. Its key task will be to plan,
implement and monitor the national programme on rural development with the
active involvement of provincial governments and local communities.
Hence, the
Provincial Government Development Unit (PGDU) has been restructured to become
the Rural Development Division (RDD). |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
Initial
discussions were undertaken between SIDAPP and the Public Service Division on
the concept paper, structure and staffing of the proposed division. The PGDU was eventually reorganized in
June 01 to function as the Rural Development Division of the Ministry. In August this
year, the new Division signed an agreement with the Japan-funded Grassroots
Development Initiative for the extension of technical assistance to village
communities and to monitor projects under this scheme. A Memorandum of
Understanding has been drafted to define the role of the RDD in the EU-funded
Micro Projects Programme. The RDD has been
designated as implementing agency for the Schools Rehabilitation Programme in
cooperation with the Ministry of Education under the UN Human Security
Fund. The Government
has recently created the post of Webmaster in addition to the current project
post in recognition of the Division’s role in the implementation of the
proposed rural based information and communication system. |
|
Capacity Development
|
The RDD staff are
basically composed of those who initiated, implemented and monitored SIDAPP
activities during the past four (4) years. They have been the beneficiary of
hands-on training programmes provided by the project. |
|
Potential Impact
|
Based on lessons
learnt from SIDAPP, the RDD organized the National Rural Development Task
Force as key activity towards the formulation of the National Integrated
Rural and Provincial Development Programme. It is composed of
15 members from the Ministry of National Planning and key sectoral agencies,
as well as the NGO community. Its task is to give policy advice to the
Division on the formulation of the national programme. This is also to make
sure that the programme is within the overall policy framework of Government,
specifically within the revised Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS).
Equally important, the projects that will later be prepared as part of the
programme should be within the budgetary allocation mechanism of Government. The
Government-NGO collaboration in NIRPDP formulation has been widely perceived
as reflection of the political will to respond to the long-standing demand
for balanced and equitable development amongst the country’s provinces and
regions. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
For the formulation
of the NIRPDP, the Task Force members produced a total of 9 basic papers as
basis for the preparation of the Programme Framework. The Framework, in turn, will be used by
the new Government in producing a detailed 5-year Indicative Plan for NIRPDP. These papers include: -Concept and
Policy Framework for NIRDP -Creating a
Vision Statement -Insights on
Rural Development for Solomon Islands -Macro
Economic Issues and How they Impact on Marginal Rural Communities -Land: Solomon
Islands Frustration or Hope -Government
Financial Management for Balanced and Equitable Development -Credit and
Financial Issues in SI Rural Development -Infrastructure
Development in Rural Areas of Solomon Islands -Federal/State
Government System and Its Impact on Rural Development |
|
Capacity Development
|
The Task Force
will continue to be mobilized in post-TPR activities towards the formulation
of the detailed Plan and to recommend policies that will ensure the effective
implementation of such plan. SIDAPP
will propose the participation of Task Force members in NIRPDP formulation. |
|
Potential Impact
|
Based on the
experience in the recruitment, training and deployment of peace and
development volunteers to all Constituencies during the recent social unrest,
SIDAPP saw the potential of forming the Rural Development Volunteers
Association (RDVA). Through the
Association, volunteers from amongst the young people can be systematically
recruited, trained and assigned to provincial substations to do work related
to village development. |
|
Sustainability
of Results |
The Ministry of
Provincial Government and Rural Development
and SICHE signed an agreement early this year that will make possible
the systematic involvement of students in village work during semestral
breaks. SICHE has made available its former Distance Education Centre as the
office for a rural development volunteers programme. The RDVA
Constitution and By-laws were prepared and the organisation was registered as
an NGO in August. An Executive
Committee and the Board of Trustees were elected during the first Annual
General Meeting. More than 40 individuals signed up as members. The Association
is now in the process of recruiting and training members in each of the 50
Constituencies. |
|
Capacity Development
|
Starting this
year, the RDVA has become the partner agency of the Division in implementing
the start-up activities of the People First Network. It has signed an
agreement with the government of Taiwan for the provision of technical
assistance to enable the project to implement the initial activities. The
RDVA was recently given a SBD240,000 grant to conduct election awareness
campaigns in the provinces. It has been chosen as the implementing agency to
implement a USD300,000 schools rehabilitation project under the UN Human
Security Fund. |
2.
What factors
affected the achievement of the programme or project results?
The
project enjoys bipartisan support.
Political leaders from both the Government and the Opposition support
the project. Prepared and signed by the
government in power in1996, the project was implemented under a newly elected
government. Then when that government was itself overthrown days after a
civilian coup, the next regime favourably endorsed the project. A high-profile
project, SIDAPP was discussed in Parliament at least thrice, focusing mostly on
its role in grassroots development.
The
social unrest affected project operations. The civilian coup of 05 Jun 00
prevented the project from pursuing its work plan. The project responded to the
crisis by being flexible in revising targets and, in some cases, modifying the
activities to suit local conditions. For example, the project recruited and
trained peace and development volunteers from amongst students who could not go
back to their classes in SICHE and USP Suva. The PDVs, who numbered around 100,
were fielded in teams and assigned to all constituencies to survey the
situation of families and students displaced by the conflict.
3.
What lessons (both
positive and negative) can be drawn from the experience of the programme or
project?
All the learnings can be summed up in this general
lesson:
§
Constraints
related to politics and governance more often than not hinder the
implementation of development programmes and projects, but they are not
insurmountable.
The
specific lessons learnt in overcoming these constraints are as follows:
a. Political leaders can be mobilized around local
development issues if given enough orientation on their role in helping
communities assume greater responsibility towards their own development.
b. Government officers, often perceived as lazy and
inefficient, can be as dedicated as their NGO counterparts in working with
local
communities, if given motivational and skills training, as well as funding and
logistic support.
c. Team building requires intensive assaults on values
and habits acquired in a bureaucratic culture characterized by self-centred
opportunity seeking, indifference to rural people and general inefficiency in
the discharge of supposedly routine tasks.
d. The strategy to build core teams at various levels
will work only if each team is trained intensively not only on the technical
aspect of its work, but also on its role as a core group with a development
mission. Through this training process, based on reflection-action-reflection
methodology, the group can be transformed as a mini laboratory for leadership
training in the service of the people.
Needless to say, each field team needs full funding and logistical
support to be able to reach a great number of people in remote villages.
e. Villages generally respond favourably to training
inputs designed to encourage involvement and participation in local
development, but a comprehensive social preparation process is needed to
remould attitudes conditioned by the pernicious influence of the “cargo cult”
mentality, the built-in handout orientation of projects and programmes
implemented in rural communities for more than two decades since
Independence.
f.
Micro projects remain a
popular vehicle in reaching remote village communities with development
information and services; they can be utilized more effectively to bring
disadvantaged communities and groups into the mainstream of community
decision-making.
g. Participatory approaches in project identification
and preparation at community level need to be linked to a responsive and
flexible budgetary mechanism, either with sectoral agencies or provincial
structures, to ensure funding support to community-identified projects.
h. Provincial substations, on account of their strategic
locations in each province, remain a
potential vital resource in improving service delivery to most rural
communities.
i.
Most provinces feel
they have been neglected by the national government in terms of having timely
provision of grants and technical staff to be able to run basic services.
j.
Provinces need
intensive assistance to be able to define their own comparative advantage
vis-ŕ-vis other provinces and formulate their own strategies to spur economic
growth and enhance delivery of social services to village communities.
k. A comprehensive policy and programme framework is
required to address standard and perennial constraints to the formulation and
implementation of an integrated programme involving all nine (9) provinces.
4.
What are the
views of the target groups with regard to the programme or project? Please note any significant gender-based
differences in their views.
|
TARGET GROUP |
VIEWS ABOUT SIDAPP |
GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES |
|
|
-Generally favour having
Constituency profiles and plans -Most joined the team in
conducting surveys, workshops -A few used their RCDF in
funding Book 2 projects -Other political leaders
(Premier; Members of Provincial Assemblies, etc. provided transport and other
support |
Very few women
politicians; only 1 MP Lone MP wants SIDAPP in
her Constituency |
|
Ministry staff at
national, provincial and substation levels |
-Many got involved as part
of project teams -They could better relate
their government functions through their exposure to project activities in
remote communities -Regard the project as
vital tool in informing the people about Ministry programmes |
-Both male and female
staff expressed support and joined project teams |
|
Development volunteers
from government agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, churches, youth and
women groups |
-Consider the project as
imparting specialized skills on local planning and helps facilitate
implementation of projects with disadvantaged sectors |
-Not much difference in
this view according to gender |
|
Community residents,
incl. those in disadvantaged villages; traditional chiefs, religious leaders |
-Have contributed data and
information on the local situation -Regard the project as
reaching those in the periphery, e.g. “artificial islands,” bush communities,
animists, disabled, etc. -Have identified priority
micro projects perceived as important to improve their situation |
Not much difference in
views amongst females and males |
5.
If the programme
or project has been evaluated, what is the implementation status of the
recommendations made by the evaluators?
In
May, 1999, two (2) consultants from Ateneo de Davao University in Southern
Philippines evaluated the training modules (Provincial Orientation Seminar for
Heads of Agencies and NGOs; Community Profiling and Action Planning Workshops;
Participatory Project Planning Workshops; Seminar on Community-Based
Monitoring).
Their
findings and recommendations guided the revision of the manuals and training
designs used by the project.
In
late 1999 to 2000, UNDP Suva included SIDAPP as one of the country projects to
be reviewed and assessed. One of their recommendations was that the project
should establish closer relationship (or should be combined as one) with the
monitoring of vulnerable groups project assisted by UNDP at the Ministry of
National Planning and Human Resources Development. This was implemented on an
ad hoc basis amongst project staff. At programme level, this is still to
materialize.
Tripartite
Review meetings served as in-house assessment tools to review project
operations and recommend revisions in existing work plans. The first Tripartite
Review Meeting of the project was held on
22
September 1999, whilst the second project review was held on 29 January 2001.
The
three parties involved were: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the focal point
of UN assistance in the country; the UN agencies involved, the UNDP Subregional
Office in Suva, Fiji and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
Asia Office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and the project with its host agency,
the Ministry of Provincial Government and Rural Development, as well as
representatives of various agencies and organizations involved in the project.
The
recommendations from each of these TPR meetings became the basis for the Work
Plans during the interim period.
The
status of key activities undertaken on account of the recommendations from
these TPR meetings is contained in Annex A of the proposed Programme Framework
for National Integrated Rural and Provincial Development Programme (NIRPDP):
A Report on Current Development Initiatives and Their Bearing on Future
Policy Directions
6.
What activities
or steps do you recommend as follow-up to the project?
(See
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS).