Rural Service Delivery Project (RSDP)

The overall project development objective is to improve communities’ access to basic infrastructure and services in targeted rural areas using inclusive, participatory planning and implementation. Essential community ward development services in the form of sub projects such as; community health post, elementary classroom, water supply and footbridges etc, are prioritized and funded through the Ward Development Grant.

A specific grant (50% of the Australian Government Support for RSDP) targets women’s Group Development through the Women’s Group Development Grant where community women decides collectively and decisively as to what sub project(s) benefit their women folk in the same respective LLGs.

The Rural Service Delivery Project (RSDP) is a 5-year project being implemented by the Government of Papua New Guinea (GOPNG), financed by the World Bank through a US$23 million loan.  The project is the scaled-up version of the Rural Service Delivery and Local Governance Project (RSDLGP) which was pilot-tested by the GOPNG through the Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs (DPLGA) in two provinces (Western and Central Provinces) from July 2013 to February 2017.

The project would be financed as a World Bank Investment Project Financing (IPF) to be provided for an implementation period of five years from 2017 to 2022.  Counterpart financing is expected from local governments and communities, and as additional funds are committed and become available, the project may be scaled up in additional LLGs, districts, and provinces.  RSDP shall support the current directions of GOPNG with regard to improving service delivery at the local level and strengthening the role of the district authorities, consistent with priorities expressed in the Vision 2050 document, the Development Strategic Plan, and the District Development Authority Law.  RSDP shall actively seek the participation of other development partners during implementation.

Project Development Objective

• OVERALL OBJECTIVES:
  • Support the essential delivery of services to the communities and support the foundation for broad-based socio-economic growth.
• SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
  • To strengthen the functioning of lower levels of government in PNG with a focus on District Administration, Local-level Governments and Wards. Whereby the Community Driven Development (CDD) platform in PNG complements the LLGSIP, as another alternative means to         improve the access, quality and management of basic public services delivered in rural communities, particularly at the ward level.

The above two objectives under project development objective are purposely depended on the success of RSDLGP pilot phase,. In so           doing, the pilot project would directly help to address the low levels of access and desired development outcomes of a number of basic     services (health, education, water, access, etc.) in the target local level governments (LLGs) and wards of the two pilot provinces.

Project Components

The current RSDLGP has three main components:

1. Systems and financing of community service-delivery grants,
2. Capacity building of the national and sub-national government (or non-government) entities, and
3. Project management (including monitoring, evaluation and knowledge sharing).

Based on its success’ and the key lessons, it is being scaled up to 5 provinces namely; Central, East New Britain, Western Province West Sepik and Simbu with two funding cycles per new financing agreement approved by the National Government from a national perspective. The government is now more committed than ever before. DPLGA through its mandate is supporting the Government to develop and strengthen processes for empowering communities to identify their priorities, design projects and to implement projects on their own. This community-driven development approach is an important model to complement the decentralization of authority and finances put in place with the DDA Act.

The PNG Government acknowledges the partnership of the Word Bank, the Korean Trust Fund, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and our own PNG Sustainable Development Program for providing the resources, technical skills and knowledge to mentor the CDD program in PNG.

I am delighted to mention that given some of the large foreign aid funded infrastructure projects as the governments priority impact projects, DPLGA on the other hand, hosted the World Bank funded Rural Service Delivery and Local Governance Project (RSDLGP) introducing a Community Driven-Development (CDD) demonstration project, which was 80% successfully implemented following that of similar Programs in neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Solomon Islands as National Programs.

Both the Central and Western Provincial Administrations are pioneers of the CDD model approach over a period from 2013 to 2017 with a total of 73 Wards participating. This is about 42 Wards in Central Province and 31 Wards in Western Province. In the last 12 and half months, the Government’s sanction, we have to date opened cheque accounts and issued cheque books for 73 wards under the RSDLGP project. The great majority of these sub projects comprise the education and health sectors including Water Supply and Rainwater Catchment, which are the most essential needed in the rural areas. The joint effort with the World Bank sets the tone for rural community empowerment. DPLGA is committed to this partnership and RSDLGP is a success story especially for the rural communities of PNG, who now have an opportunity to realize their development goals. This is the beginning of great change and impact PNG communities will experience in our development.