Villagers to run projects

 CENTRAL has been chosen to try out a Government project that allows members of the local communities to run development programmes.

A partnership agreement was signed last Friday by the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs and the provincial administration at Kwikila, in Rigo district.

The rural delivery and local governance project is a new rural community-based development programme. 

It will be run by the 28 facilitators from Cloudy Bay, Abau district and the Rigo inland local level government who graduated after two weeks of intensive training by the department.

They have been trained to implement the aims, goals and objectives of the project in Central.

Cathy Deane, the project’s capacity building adviser, said 16 participants from Rigo and 12 from Cloudy Bay would drive development in their council wards and villages. Deane said it was the first time community members would manage development with funding from the national, provincial and local level governments.

“Two weeks ago, they didn’t know what their roles are in their communities and in  service delivery and projects,” she said.

The project is funded by the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program (K3.5 million) and the World Bank (K3.8m). 

Other donors include the Korean Trust Fund and AUSAID.

World Bank operations officer Allan Oliver said its priority was to help developing countries such as PNG prosper. 

National project director, Dickson Guina said the concept would naturally blend into the communities because their ancestors have always been community development driven people.