> FIRST COUNTRY COOPERATION FRAMEWORK FOR SOLOMON ISLANDS
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> INTRODUCTION
> DEVELOPMENT SITUATION FROM A SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE
> RESULTS AND LESSONS OF PAST COOPERATION
> PROPOSED STRATEGY AND THEMATIC AREAS
> MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS
> Annex Resource mobilisation target table for the Solomon Islands
> (1997-2001)
> INTRODUCTION
> 1. This Country Cooperation Framework (CCF) describes the strategy and
> areas of focus of UNDP-managed resources, as agreed by the Government
> and UNDP. The CCF has been developed through extensive consultation
> between the Government of Solomon Islands and UNDP. As the initial
> step to determining the scope and nature during the coming programming
> period, UNDP prepared two preliminary documents: (1) an Advisory Note
> with respect to the Country Programme; and (2) a Concept Paper with
> respect to the Sub-regional Programme. These documents summarised the
> global, regional and national frameworks for programming. In the
> Advisory Note in particular, UNDP provided the Government with its
> views on how its assistance might best support Solomon Islands
> development efforts. While the note presented the perspective of UNDP,
> it was informed by on-going discussions between UNDP and the
> Government, by the Government's current policy and programming
> documents, and by information on the activities of other development
> partners. It also took into consideration the results of recent
> studies, such as the recent series of Household Income and Expenditure
> Surveys, the National Literacy Survey, and the UNICEF Situation
> Analysis of Women and Children.
> 2. Following a seminar in Honiara entitled UNDP Sustainable Human
> Development, which was attended by officials of key government
> departments and NGOs involved with UNDP programmes, formal
> consultations were carried out between UNDP and the Government. After
> these consultations, the preliminary documents were reworked by UNDP
> to focus more tightly on the principal SHD concerns in Solomon
> Islands, in order to constitute the basis for this CCF.
> I. DEVELOPMENT SITUATION FROM A SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
> PERSPECTIVE
> A. Development Policies and Priorities
> 3. The main policy goals of the Solomon Islands Government are to
> maximise the use of the country's natural resources to improve
> financial stability, meet the growing demand for employment and cash
> incomes, provide social services to all the people and generally
> promote a more equitable distribution of the benefits of development;
> and foster a greater sense of national unity and national identity.
> These policies are aimed at overcoming the prevailing challenges to
> sustainable human development in Solomon Islands, which currently
> ranks as a Least Developed Country (LCD).
> 4. The Government's policy of foreign aid sets out priority areas for
> assistance. The focal areas for UNDP assistance coincide closely with
> these priority concerns:
> Government's foreign aid priorities UNDP's areas of focus
> 1. Improving living conditions of low income and disadvantaged groups.
> 1. Poverty elimination
> 2. Private sector development 3. Employment generation 2.
> Employment and sustainable livelihoods
> 4. Increasing the capacity of vulnerable groups, such as women
> 3. Promotion of women
> 5. Natural resource management 4. Environmental regeneration
> 5. Solomon Islands ranked 125th out of the 174 countries listed in
> UNDP's 1996 Human Development report. The Human Development Index
> (HDI) combines the weighted mean of life expectancy at birth (70.5
> years), adult literacy (24 per cent), and real GDP per capita
> (adjusted for purchasing price parity) of US $2,166. The Solomon
> Islands HDI is buoyed up by its GDP, its economic indicators being
> relatively stronger than the social indicators. This reflects the
> strong dualism in the Solomon Islands economy: the predominantly
> export-oriented commercial sector based on timber, tuna, and the
> plantation crops of palm oil, cocoa and copra, and, (in population
> rather than economic terms), the larger subsistence economy which
> involves over 80 per cent of the Solomon Island population in
> village-based production.
> 6. Poverty: This is demonstrated by high infant and child mortality
> rates, low primary and secondary enrolments, particularly for girls,
> and the limited opportunities many people have to improve their
> standard of living. Although infant and child mortality have declined
> markedly over the past decade, from 42/1000 in 1986 to 32/1000 in
> 1995, it is still high, with the main causes of death being
> respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases and malaria. Maternal mortality is
> also very high, at around 550 per 100,000 women. Both child and adult
> mortality reflect a need for more preventive health services and
> ante-natal care, especially in rural areas, and the lack of adequate
> clean water and sanitation in many communities. The high incidence of
> malaria has declined in recent years but still has a heavy national
> cost in terms of lost productivity and quality of life.
> 7. Even taking into account the considerable value of subsistence
> production and the importance of social and kin distribution of goods
> and wealth, there is marked inequality in income distribution in
> Solomon Islands. A recent series of Household Income and Expenditure
> Surveys show that average gross monthly household incomes range from
> approximately SI$460 in rural households to SI$3200 in Honiara
> households, around a 7-fold difference. More striking are the large
> inequalities in gross incomes within different geographic areas.
> Within rural areas, for example, 85 per cent of households had almost
> zero income from cash employment, while the top 10 per cent of
> households received almost 90 per cent from this source.
> 8. Poverty elimination in Solomon Islands is closely linked with:
> improving access to social and economic services, particularly for
> people in remote areas; increasing opportunities for employment and
> sustainable livelihoods; ensuring economic growth with equity;
> improved environmental management; and with resolving the national
> fiscal crisis.
> 9. Employment: Many people in Solomon Islands operate mostly outside
> the cash economy. Rural people support themselves primarily from
> subsistence production with occasional cash sales or periodic paid
> work, such as in logging camps, as commercial fishermen, or on local
> plantations. Paid employment in the formal sector is still scarce but
> has grown since the early 1980s due to the increase in economic
> activity principally in the towns and in public sector employment.
> Expanding employment and income generation opportunities, particularly
> in rural areas, are a major preoccupation of planners and policy
> makers. Economic activity, investments, and paid employment are
> heavily concentrated in Honiara and rural-urban migration is occurring
> faster than the growth in jobs.
> 10. This situation is exacerbated by rapid population growth that far
> outstrips economic growth: in 1994, it was estimated that an
> additional 7,400 people entered the labour force but only around 500
> new wage-paying jobs were created. Another concern is to increase the
> means of sustainable livelihoods in the informal and subsistence
> sectors. The education system needs to provide wider access to
> vocational skills and practical training, as the limited skills of the
> labour force limit Solomon Islands' capacity to respond to new
> opportunities for economic development. They also limit national
> capacity to absorb external assistance, further slowing the necessary
> response to changing economic and social conditions.
> 11. Gender: Women in Solomon Islands have quite limited opportunities
> to participate in political and economic life. Government acknowledges
> the need for youth and women to participate in the overall development
> of the country and recognises that Solomon Island women are
> disadvantaged in regard to education, training, and employment
> opportunities. Only 17 per cent of adult women are literate. Females
> are under-represented in all levels of education. Poor education
> restricts the entry of women into the cash economy and keeps them in
> subsistence production. Only 14 per cent of women work in the cash
> economy compared to 37 per cent of men. Women account for less than 20
> per cent of public sector employees and there are 2.5 times more men
> than women in professional and technical positions. The contribution
> of women to the monetary economy is nevertheless increasing and the
> number of self-employed women is growing faster than the number of
> self employed men.
> 12. Environment: Most people in Solomon Islands depend on the natural
> environment for their livelihood. Exploitation of the country's forest
> and marine resources is an issue of wide concern sometimes creating
> heated debate between the national government and local communities,
> and within communities themselves. In 1995, the natural log harvest
> (850,000 cubic metres) was three times the sustainable rate and a 15
> per cent increase over the 1994 harvest. High levels of transfer
> pricing and under-recording have led to an increased volume of log
> exports yet a decrease in the percentage of log value captured as tax.
> Fisheries exploitation is also growing quickly and similar concerns
> are held for the premature depletion of marine stocks. Fisheries
> provide almost half of all export earnings yet the government derives
> little revenue from the fisheries sector and as commercial
> exploitation increases, artisanal activity has declined.
> 13. Improving environmental management in Solomon Islands involves
> improving communication and coordination between the national and
> local governments and customary landowner groups. The important role
> of customary land tenure systems is essential in developing an
> effective legislative and regulatory framework in order to foster
> partnerships between government and communities to ensure sustainable
> resource use at the local level.
> 14. Governance: Weakness in government's efficiency and effectiveness
> is a major constraint to economic development. Problems identified are
> insufficient control over expenditure and inefficient public service
> management particularly in planning and managing the recurrent and
> development budgets. The public service is the largest employer in
> Solomon Islands and provides approximately one third of formal sector
> employment. In general the public service is characterised by inflated
> numbers, widespread duplication of functions and administrative
> structures, insufficiently-defined lines of authority and
> accountability, and inefficient use of manpower and financial
> resources. Some controls were announced in 1994 but effective reform
> requires improvement in the budgetary process and substantial
> reorganisation of the public service.
> II. RESULTS AND LESSONS OF PAST COOPERATION
> 15. The previous programming period (1992-1996) focused on three
> areas: vocational training and entrepreneurial development; health
> improvement for disadvantaged groups; and development administration.
> Implementation of these programmes emphasised increased national
> execution, more effective transfer of skills to local people, and a
> review of the roles of foreign experts and their counterparts.
> 16. The Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the previous programming period,
> which was conducted in May 1995, found the three core programme areas
> met with the priorities of the Government and that the current
> projects were effective and beneficial. Nevertheless, the major
> problem experienced has been that of getting project activities
> underway. The IPF for Solomon Islands in the Fifth Cycle was US$5.4
> million and by the end of 1996, $1.9 million or 35 per cent of the IPF
> remained uncommitted. In July 1996, the Government circulated its
> Policy on Foreign Aid which sets out clear guidelines as to the
> Government's priorities and its preferred modes of development
> cooperation. It is expected that this policy statement will more
> efficiently guide the formulation and implementation of Sixth Country
> Programme.
> III. PROPOSED STRATEGY AND THEMATIC AREAS
> 17. To facilitate coordination and monitoring of the proposed
> programme activities it was agreed to ensure that interventions in the
> country programme are reinforced and expanded through the Government's
> participation in the sub-regional programme. Given the number of
> donors who focus on sustainable human development themes for the
> design of their aid programmes, it was agreed that there will be close
> coordination with other donors during the programme formulation phases
> of the country and sub-regional programmes.
> 18. Given the experiences of the fifth country programme and the
> comparative advantage of UNDP, the Government proposes that the main
> objective for UNDP during the new programme cycle will be to assist
> Solomon Islands to promote sustainable livelihoods and job creation
> and assist disadvantaged groups.
> A. The Government's strategy for use of UNDP resources
> 19. While the Government enjoys considerable flexibility in
> determining the most appropriate use for the UNDP's resources, the
> UNDP Executive Board has established the following parameters to meet
> its mandate and improve the effectiveness and quality of its
> assistance:
> * Programming must support UNDP's mandate for strengthening
> sustainable human development with specific focus on (a) eradication
> of poverty; (b) creation of employment and sustainable livelihoods;
> (c) advancement of women; (d) protection and regeneration of the
> environment; and (e) governance as a cross-cutting element throughout
> these points of entry;
> * Taking a programmatic approach to enhance the development impact
> of the interventions;
> * Emphasis of "upstream" interventions on strategic policy issues
> of SHD whilst, at the same time, taking a selective approach for pilot
> activities downstream to demonstrate and validate the policy issues
> advocated;
> * Emphasis on impact and monitoring of that impact for the
> proposed interventions.
> The idea of contracting a local organisation to provide regular impact
> measurement from the beneficiaries' perspective was flagged.
> 20. Important considerations in designing the coming programming
> period are how the Government can get more from its UNDP assistance
> than in the past and how the elements of the programme can be put
> together in a cohesive way that builds on the particular advantages of
> UNDP assistance and exploits them to their fullest extent. The
> financial limitations of the next programming cycle are another
> consideration in defining this strategy, as are, more positively, the
> neutrality of UNDP assistance, the flexibility offered by the national
> execution modality, and the emphasis on achieving greater
> complementarity between the regional and country programme. The
> Government will use UNDP funds primarily as a catalyst around which to
> build and manage a comprehensive, integrated development effort.
> 21. The strategy for UNDP cooperation will continue to emphasise
> building institutional capacity to provide clear and consistent policy
> directives. Programme interventions will therefore address both
> 'up-stream' policy and macro-economic issues and 'down-stream'
> grassroot activities. Clearly, development at the grass-roots level
> can only occur if the necessary institutions are in place and
> operating properly. This will be complemented, where appropriate, by
> working through civil society organisations to implement innovative
> and catalytic projects.
> 22. The coming programming period will also place more emphasis on
> impact and on-going monitoring of that impact. This will require
> first, a greater investment at the front end of programme formulation
> to identify the desired impact, and benchmarks to track this progress;
> second, a more focused programme design with clearly defined outputs
> and impact; and third, a more determined effort to maintain this
> focus.
> 23. In that the programme needs to build on the special
> characteristics of UNDP assistance and exploit these comparative
> advantages systematically, UNDP can be visualised as providing a
> bridge:
> * between Government and civil society to find new ways of
> harnessing societies' energies to pursue national priorities;
> * between Solomon Islands and the region (through the sub-regional
> programme) and the rest of the world, bringing the experiences of
> other regions to bear on development challenges in Solomon Islands and
> helping efforts there to advance on global compacts, such as those
> signed in Copenhagen and Beijing; and
> * between Solomon Islands and the wider UN community, including
> specialist UN agencies that are not resident in the Pacific.
> B. Thematic areas
> 24. Promotion of employment and sustainable livelihoods: The critical
> SHD concern in Solomon Islands is that investments in human resources
> and productive capacity lay the foundation for a more diversified
> economy, to even out the distribution of economic activity and
> national development, to relieve the pressure on forest and marine
> resources, and to provide a more secure source of future livelihoods
> and earnings. This programme is to be the focus of activity in the
> next programming period of UNDP development assistance. Technical
> assistance will help to develop an enabling policy environment that
> will reduce disincentives to private sector expansion and informal
> employment, and help accelerate economic activities. This will involve
> actions to prevent the loss of existing livelihoods, enhancing
> existing livelihoods, and creating new sustainable livelihoods. For
> example, improved resource management for artisanal fishers and
> community forestry; improving distribution and marketing systems;
> assistance to food production; improving community food handling and
> preservation skills; leadership training; eco-labelling; better access
> to credit; experimental business entry schemes; literacy and numeracy
> training; and new product development. While the emphasis will be on
> informal sector development, a number of issues in the formal sector
> will also need to be addressed and incorporated, such as the progress
> of public sector reform.
> 25. This programme of assistance will be implemented by the
> Government, using both national and UNDP resources, with other donor
> assistance sought by UNDP. The programme modality will provide for a
> unified and integrated national approach to employment and livelihood
> development. A proposed initial activity will be to conduct a review
> of the overall national needs in this sector, of initiatives under way
> and of resources already committed to this issue. This study will
> provide the basis for strategy identification and programme
> formulation.
> 26. Indicators of programme success will be: (i) local government and
> community-level resource management plans being developed and
> implemented in all provinces; (ii) expanded opportunities for
> vocational training and entrepreneurial skills available through
> formal and informal education institutions and organisations in all
> provinces; (iii) a 20% increase in the number of students enrolled in
> vocational courses and a 30% increase in the number of women
> successfully completing vocational training programmes; (iv) a
> reduction in the extent of functional illiteracy by 50 per cent over
> the decade since 1990; (v) enabling policies formulated and
> legislation passed that free up opportunities for the private sector;
> (vi) an expansion of agricultural extension programmes to food
> producers in all provinces; (vii) mechanisms developed to facilitate
> market access for people in all provinces; (viii) direct access to
> micro-credit facilities available to people in all islands and a
> substantial increase in the number of women benefiting from these
> facilities.
> 27. Increase the capacity of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups,
> including women, to participate in national development: A more
> equitable distribution of the benefits of development will foster a
> greater sense of national unity and national identity and improve the
> situation of disadvantaged groups within the country. This thematic
> area for the Country Programme will provide UNDP and the Government
> with the possibility to selectively implement pilot projects at the
> community level and through coordinated activity with other donor
> organisations. The disadvantaged groups identified during the seminar
> included children, women, adolescent 'push-outs' from the school
> system, handicapped people, people in heavily populated areas,
> frustrated entrepreneurs, the jobless, the elderly, and some groups of
> migrants. The institutions which could be involved in assisting them
> include particular government departments and ministries, the
> churches, NGOs, the rural training centres, the SICHE community, town
> councils, area associations, and the media. The emphasis in the
> programme will be on achieving measurable, direct impact. This
> programme will involve 2 principal strands:
> * Promoting sustainable human development in least developed areas
> through improved education and health services and community
> development programmes;
> * Promoting the participation of women in national development and
> overcoming the various obstacles to this participation.
> Parts of this programme would be conducted through the sub-regional
> programme. Modality for programme implementation could include small
> grants and micro-credit schemes.
> 28. Indicators of programme success will be (i) increased enrolments
> in primary and secondary schools, especially of girls; (ii) revised
> primary and secondary curricula and school programmes that provide
> more livelihood skills; (iii) higher primary school attainment rates
> in literacy and numeracy skills; (iv) further reduction in child
> mortality; (v) improvements to village sanitation in least developed
> provinces; (vi) direct access to micro-credit facilities for people in
> least developed provinces; (viii) a substantial increase in the active
> members of these schemes, particularly women; (ix) evidence of
> investments in either viable enterprises or quality of life
> improvements enamating from these schemes; and (x) government
> providing supporting legislation and seed money for local development
> schemes to benefit disadvantaged groups.
> C. Sub-Regional Programme Resources
> 29. The country programme areas described in this CCF are
> complementary to the core theme of the proposed sixth Sub-regional
> programme for the Pacific which is Job Creation and Sustainable
> Livelihoods. The intention is to develop in a more integrated fashion
> priorities for the whole agenda of UNDP assistance in Solomon Islands
> for the coming programming period. Linking the national and regional
> programmes in the coming programming period should assist in the
> mobilisation of additional resources for specific project
> interventions.
> D. Service areas
> Aid Coordination and Management
> 30. Better information management can assist the Solomon Island
> Government to make more efficient use of development assistance.
> Scheduled activities include the extension of the Government's
> computerised communication system and the further development of a
> development assistance database.
> Advocacy and international conferences
> 31. A cross-cutting theme throughout the Country Programme will be
> governance issues. This could include, for example, sensitisation
> programmes for leaders on the needs of disadvantaged groups, and
> leadership programmes for community leaders in order to assist them
> take the lead in employment generation and resource management
> schemes. During the country consultations, the desirability of having
> a local professional UNDP support staff person who would also support
> aid coordination efforts, was recognised. This idea, and funding
> options for it, is to be further explored.
> 32. The need for improved data collection, analysis and dissemination,
> particularly with regard to identifying groups of disadvantaged and
> vulnerable people, was raised on several occasions. The possibility of
> addressing this need through one of UNDP's non-core funding windows
> was mentioned.
> IV. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS
> A. Execution and Implementation Arrangements
> 33. Government should be encouraged to enter into strategic
> partnerships with private companies, civil society, research
> institutions and so forth to build coordinated, truly nation-wide
> development efforts, and to exploit the comparative advantages of
> these partners. The management arrangements of this coming programme
> will reflect this important underlying objective; Government should
> exploit what these partners have to offer as much as possible in
> implementing the UNDP programme.
> B. Monitoring and Review
> 34. In addition to the regular monitoring activities (ie. TPRs, field
> visits, MTR etc), to ensure impact, performance indicators will be
> developed in the design of all projects. Initial baseline data and
> benchmarks against which results can be assessed, will be incorporated
> into the work plans. The programme will be monitored jointly by
> Government and UNDP through consultation and monitoring visits by UNDP
> staff at least once every quarter. A triennial review of the CCF will
> be held in mid-1999.
> C. Resource mobilisation Strategy and Targets
> 35. The Government will work with the UNDP to mobilise resources in
> priority programme areas identified in this framework. To this end,
> the Government and UNDP will seek partnerships with other donors for
> the funding of activities and will encourage bilateral and
> multilateral cost-sharing with UNDP to increase programme delivery.
> 36. Resource mobilisation targets for the Solomon Islands, projected
> over the next five years are shown in the table in Annex I.
> Annex I
> Resource Mobilisation Target Table for the Solomon Islands (1997-2001)
> (In thousands of United States Dollars)
> SOURCE AMOUNT COMMENTS
> UNDP CORE FUNDS
> IPF carry-over 3,048
> TRAC 1.1.1 1,984 Assigned immediately to country.
> TRAC 1.1.2 0 to 66.7 per cent of TRAC 1.1.1 This range of
> percentages is presented for initial planning purposes only. The
> actual assignment will depend on the availability of high-quality
> programmes. Any increase in the range of percentages would also be
> subject to availability of resources.
> SPPD/STS 138
> Subtotal 5,170a/
> NON-CORE FUNDS
> Government cost-sharing 595 Notional Target 50% of TRAC
> 1.1.1
> Sustainable development funds see note
> Third-party cost-sharing 992 Notional Target 50% of TRAC
> 1.1.1
> Funds, trust funds and other 30 PSI (30)
> Subtotal 1,617
> TOTAL 6,787 a/
> a/ Not inclusive of TRAC 1.1.2, which is allocated regionally for
> subsequent country application.
> Abbreviations: IPF = indicative planning figure; SPPD = support for
> policy and programme development; STS = support for technical
> services; TRAC = target for resource assignment from the core; PSI =
> Poverty Strategies Initiative
> http://www.undp.org.fj/soi/SOL_CCF.html
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