Tulagi, Solomon Islands – The Central Province of Solomon Islands will received an initial grant of SBD 1,220,500 (USD $149,260) under UNDP’s Provincial Governance and Service Delivery project.

The project - supported by the European Union - conducted a signing ceremony in Tulagi, Central Province, with Premier Hon. Polycarp Ghalaigu, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office Project Manager, Mozammel Haque.

With this grant it is expected that Central Province will undertake five interventions to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) through supporting four schools and one healthcare facility to uphold the right to clean water and sanitation. Out of 44 primary schools in the province, the grant will extend initial support to five schools where 657 students and 40 teachers will benefit directly. Furthermore, 519 community members, of whom 219 are women, will have access to improved sanitation and hygiene. I

In total, 1,234 beneficiaries will benefit with the improved education and healthcare services at the provincial level, one of the main objectives of the project.

Hon. Policarp Ghalagi, Premier of Central Province, thanked UNDP and the European Union for thinking of the Central Province with this project and to “help its people in areas where they are most needed.”

Mozammel Haque, UNDP Project Manager, highlighted that “it is the province to decide the priorities and how the grant will be spent.”

After the signing in Central Province, five additional provinces: Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Isabel, Temotu and Western Province, will follow.

Due to limited resource flow to the provincial level, weak capacity, and the lack of effective coordination among line Ministries and Provincial Governments (PGs), the project aims to improve service delivery to the community. 

The Government’s initiative towards decentralization and developing a unified provincial administration has not been without its challenges, with the delivery of services to rural and remote communities and essential component of sustainable development.