Minister for Community Government outlines 2023 focus
ABG Minister for Community Government Hon. Theonila Matbob delivered her maiden ministerial statement today in the first session of the Bougainville House of Representatives.
Minister Matbob said her Ministry and Department’s plans for this year are aligned to the Toroama-Nisira government’s Six Point Strategy.
Key legislations that are a priority for the Ministry include the establishment of Nissan and Atolls as the fourth region in Bougainville, the development of the Municipal Authority Bill and collaboration with the Bougainville National MPs to improve Ward Leaders Remuneration packages.
Minister Matbob also announced in parliament today an alignment partnership with the National Regional Member’s office to ensure greater visibility of development at the ward level.
“For a long time, the dual system of service delivery that runs parallel between National and ABG has created blurred lines where political leadership has been used for one’s self interest, rather than achieving the common good. As a result, it has created stagnancy in development,” she said.
Minister Matbob also called on all community governments in Bougainville to ensure all their annual budgets are submitted together with implementation plans and monitoring and evaluation plans so that resources are allocated accordingly, further noting that these plans are to be made accessible to the people to rebuild public trust.
Minister Matbob reported to parliament that through its partnership programs with development partners, a series of training and capacity development programs were rolled out in 2022 for Community Governments.
“In 2022, DCG rolled out community government training targeting chairs, deputy chairs and ward members in three separate phases (Phase 1, 2 & 3). The Australian Government supported Phases 1 and 2 of this training which targeted chairs and deputy chairs.”
“The Community Government Institutional Strengthening Project (CGISP) which is a new modality under the Bougainville Partnership, includes the Community Government Capacity Development (CGCD) and the Ward Development Projects (WDP).
“It is through Phase 3 of the DCG training, that we hope to include the community government and ward level training for CGISP program with two further levels of training: (i) for all ward members in a CG selected for the CGISP pilot and (ii) for only the ward members of wards which are then selected for WDPs.”
Infrastructure support is also ongoing under an Australian Government funded program involving the construction of 19 community government offices and community halls providing Community Governments and wards with functional spaces for elected women and men to exercise leadership and administrative duties and other local activities.
Minister Matbob acknowledged the challenges that exist in the Ministry and Department and committed to working proactively to address them.
“As the current Minister for Community Government, I will work closely with my administration to empower the existing workforce right down to the ward levels and village assemblies, because, regardless of our efforts to change the system, it will not work if the organizational culture is not addressed. So, the priority should not necessarily be systemic reform but the behavioral change of the administration,” she said.
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