Report: Rabaul lacks capacity

 LACK of capacity is the biggest challenge faced in the Rabaul district to implement national grants, a report says.

The report, based on the status of the district services improvement programme (DSIP) funds and other national grants for the district, was presented recently at the joint district planning and budget priorities committee.

The report said the biggest challenge the district and LLGs faced in implementing these funds was the lack of capacity, as the frontline implementers were confronted with enormous funding with a high magnitude of projects to implement within restricted time frames.

The report said many LLGs and districts were hastily implementing without proper designs, scoping, supervision, monitoring and reporting and a sustainable plan.

Project planning and management were lacking and resulted in sub-standard projects that were not meeting the needs and aspirations of people concerned, the report said.

It said the current scenario confronting implementers was that they were implementing highly technical programmes completely outside their job descriptions.

Extension officers were preoccupied with project documentation and procurement processes rather than implementing their mandated tasks of basic service delivery.

It was suggested that the East New Britain provincial administration try to balance its institutional strengthening strategy with more focus now on individual capacities and capabilities rather than on organisational capacities alone.

Possible options to addressing this: mandate for a stand-alone district project management unit, revisit organisational structure, appropriate training and recruitment and performance improvement incentives.

The report highlighted that project planning and management were weak at districts and LLGs and needed to be strengthened and connected to current government policies.

The district has received only K2 million of its K10 million DSIP allocation for this year but has distributed to key areas, according to the K10 million budget for the district.