Study on provincial govt functions .

THE Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening is carrying out a study to seek clarifications on the functional responsibilities of the provincial governments at the provincial level.



In response to debate in Parliament over the Buala communiqué, Minister Walter Folotalu said this study shall be intensified next year to determine who is responsible for what and who should pay for what.
“From the speech delivered by the Deputy Prime Minister in Taro last month, the Ministry is ensuring that the costing of service delivery is undertaken by the Ministry through provincial government strengthening program (PGSP) in 2012,” he said

PGSP is Provincial Government Strengthening Project undertaken in the ministry.

Mr Folotalu said this was a tedious exercise but the outcome of the exercise shall be critical to provincial government planning and budgeting process and even to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

“It will enable the National Government to determine the expenditure needs of the provincial governments and thus allocate resources accordingly to the needs of the provinces,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Folotalu said the Ministry is aware of the deficiencies in the current Provincial Government Act (PGA)1997 as it has been overtaken by modern day events.

“In this regard we are making efforts to review the PGA 1997 with the help of PGSP and the Centre for Democratic Institution in Canberra.

“Provisions for this are being made in the PGSP annual work plan of 2012,” the MP for Lau Baelelea said.

By EDDIE OSIFELO

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 14:23

SI in Busan for high level aid talks

The fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness officially started in the South Korean City of Busan yesterday.



Up to two-thousand people including Heads of Governments are attending the three-day forum, among them the U-S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U-N Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

The Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Peter Shanel Agovaka is leading the Solomon Islands six-man delegation to the Forum.

The Plenary sessions looked at the progress since the second High Level Forum held in Paris, France in 2005, and how far countries have come.

This mainly concentrated on a report conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD and aid recipient countries.

Tuesday’s plenary will be followed by the official opening of the Forum on Wednesday. Solomon Islands delegation being led by Foreign Minister Mr Agovaka also include the Under Secretary Ministry of National Planning Allan Daonga, Director Aid Coordination Ministry of Planning Cornelius Walegerea, Senior Foreign Affairs official Salana Kalu, representative of the Ministry of Finance Paul Wakio and a representative of the UNDP Honiara office.

Meanwhile, as the high level forum convenes, NGO’s and special interest groups are also meeting in the sidelines promoting their positions.

A statement from Aidwatch has said the Europe’s Relief and Development NGO confederation, Concord, has urged European leaders attending the Busan Forum to make its extensive aid programme more effective.

The European Union gives 53-billion dollars a year to developing countries as aid, making it the world’s largest donor.

The statement said EU could save 4-billion dollars a year if it implements better aid reforms. 84% of Europeans support development aid, despite the financial crisis and 62% of European citizens are in favour of increasing development aid to at least 0.7% of EU Gross National Income by 2015.

Another NGO, the Oxfam says Government negotiators are working through the night in a last ditch effort to reach a deal on the future of global aid.

Oxfam said new and emerging donors are trying to water down commitments to deliver aid that works better for poor countries and their citizens.

Talks were due to be concluded ahead of the meeting on aid effectiveness being hosted by the OECD and the South Korean government in Busan this week.

Oxfam spokesperson Gregory Adams said: "Donors are refusing to concede to calls for an agreement which would give poor countries and their people greater say in how aid is spent.

He said that by rejecting language that protects the rights of poor countries and their people, donors are trying to protect their own narrow interests.

In another statement today, Aid donors say they have made significant progress on increasing transparency of their spending. On the eve of the High Level Forum, Canada, the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Fund for Agriculture and Development have all signed up to the International Aid Transparency Initiatives (IATI) which provides for common standard for publishing aid information.

The Asian Development Bank has also published its data to the IATI registry on Monday. This means at least 40% of all global aid is now being reported to this standard. Thirteen out of the total 24 AITI signatories have now published aid information.

Today’s activities at the Busan forum were dominated by thematic sessions. The thematic sessions cover areas such as Ownership and Accountability, Country Systems, Aid Fragmentation, Aid predictability and Transparency, Results, Capacity development, Rights Based Approaches, Fragility, Conflict and vulnerability, South-South and Triangular co-operation and public-private cooperation.

The Solomon Islands delegation have split up to ensure the thematic sessions are all attended