Northwest Choiseul Invests CDF Into Rural Livelihood Initiatives

Northwest Choiseul Constituency in Choiseul Province continue to invest most of its Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation into rural livelihood initiatives with the aim to improve livelihood and constituents living standard.

The constituency is one of the biggest constituencies in the country in terms of landform (geographical size) and population wise and also the largest amongst the other two constituencies in the province (Choiseul) as it embraces the maximum (highest) population.

Most of the villages are isolated especially at the northern coast of the constituency.

Despite the challenges in terms of the constituency size and population, the constituency office under the leadership of the Member of Parliament Honourable Harry Kuma continue to deliver and support meaningful and important livelihood projects in the constituency which was highly appreciated by the rural constituents.

Last week, the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) Principal Communication and Public Relations Officer Andrew Fanasia accompanied Northwest Constituency office team to the constituency and visited 2020-2022 projects and interviewed beneficiaries of the fund (CDF) in the constituency.

The weeklong visit which ran from 5th-10th June was a success as beneficiaries of projects supported by CDF attested how the CDF program transforming their lives.

It was obvious during the visit that most of the communities continue to receive the much-needed assistance under the CDF program with constituents expressing their appreciation to their MP for continuous support towards their social infrastructures and investing CDF into the development of the constituency’s human resource.

Constituency Project Officer (CPO) Billy Tavoto said the CDF allocation cannot really cater for everyone in the constituency, therefore the Constituency Office is putting more resources into social infrastructures, education, rural health projects, water, and sanitation.

“In terms of individual projects, like small business setups and transportation, the constituency office provides only 50-70 per cent while each individual meets the other 50 per cent.

“With our housing scheme, the constituency office only provides roofing iron and other hardware materials but strictly on the conditions set by our office. The same applies to our sea transportation program. We are taking this partnership approach to encourage our people to work hard than relying on CDF,” Mr Tavoto said.

Another breakthrough for the constituency in terms of rural development is their road project which was for many years overlooked by their former leadership.

The road project operations was fully funded by CDF.

Road project worker Gibson Vasarokana said the clearance work on the new 21km road started last year.

“The only delay is from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID). We are still waiting for MID to decide a contractor to come and do further work on our new road,” Mr Sasarokana said.

The new road connects from the old existing road built by Egon Company from Choiseul Bay to Ngalivoli on the northern side of the constituency.

Mr Vasarokana said this road will serve the people of Choiseul Bay, Poroporo, Subesube, Rabakela, Ngalivola and the rest of the villages along the northern coast of the constituency.

“Our people have risked their lives travelling the sea to Taro, our Headquarter. A lot of our sick people also lost their lives because they cannot travel to Taro Hospital due to bad weather.

“This new road is a blessing once properly completed, more local trade and economic activities will certainly improve,” Vasarokana said.

CPO Tavoto however, admitted that they still have huge challenges in some of the areas in terms of their development aspirations.

He added that despite these challenges they will continue to work together with their MP and his (MP) rural based committee to deliver and support development in the constituency.

MRD is very pleased with the level of CDF utilisation in the constituency and encourages the constituency office to keep up the good by supporting rural livelihood development.

CDF is a programme of the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) and is implemented by the 50 constituencies in the country through the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) purposely to improve the social and economic livelihoods of all Solomon Islanders.

Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is the only donor partner providing CDF support to the Solomon Islands Government since 2019 – 2022.

MRD’s vision is to ensure all rural Solomon Islanders become meaningfully participated in development activities to improve their social and economic livelihood.

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