Kokopo hosts AusAID PPII meet

PROVINCES under Australian aid agency AusAID’s provincial performance improvement initiative (PPII) will meet in Kokopo for two days to share success stories and learn from each other.
The peer review, which starts today, involves provincial administrators from 17 provinces and their senior staff and senior officers from national departments.
Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc and Inter-Government Relations Minister Job Pomat are expected to give opening remarks.
East New Britain administrator Akuila Tubal said PPII is the PNG Government’s initiative to improve the flow of basic services at the provincial, district, LLG and ward levels.
It aims to improve the capacity of the provincial, district and LLG administrations by improving its systems and processes and supported by the Australian government through AusAID.
In 2004, East New Britain, Central and Eastern Highlands were selected as pilot provinces for the programme.
Tubal said, to date, PPII had extended to all provinces in the country, providing technical assistance and funding from AusAID and coordinating and monitoring support form the Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs.
He said ENB had seen many improvements in its administration and delivery of services.
“We have seen improvements in the way we plan and budget towards achieving our objectives which has enabled us to shift focus to the districts and LLGs. This is complemented by our recent restructure and further affirmed by our budgeting processes in terms of allocating resources at the LLG and service facility for service delivery activities,” Tubal said.
Presentations on PPII projects in Milne Bay, New Ireland and West New Britain provinces are expected ro be given tomorrow  by respective representatives.