Malaita and Guadalcanal WSOs are trained to Roll out Participatory Planning and Social Accountability

The Ward Support Officers (WSOs) of Malaita and Guadalcanal Provinces have been trained and prepared to support the Ward Development Committees (WDCs) in ensuring that the government’s Policy Blueprint designed to promote participatory planning through the Ward Committees is fully implemented.

The training for the 27 Malaita WSOs was held at the provincial chamber in Auki from Tuesday, June 24th to the 26th, June, while for the Guadalcanal WSOs, the induction of 17 WSOs was held from July 1st to the 5th, 2024 at the Guadalcanal Provincial Chamber in Honiara.

The induction training was the first of its kind since the rolling out of participatory planning policy in 2020/21. The World Bank funded IEDCR project being implemented by MPGIS and MECDM financed the recruitment of the WSOs, who will be playing a vital role in the implementation of Component 2A and 2B of the Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilience (IEDCR) Project, which focuses on the participatory planning framework of the government’s policy blueprint. The officers shall also support the implementation of component 2 B on climate change adaptation and risk resilience. 173 WSOs shall be based on their respective communities.

During the three days training, the WSOs confirmed that they learned and appreciated their different roles in supporting the WDCs. The training conducted by the MPGIS, and the GP and MPG officers covered gender inclusion, social accountability, social and environmental frameworks, grievance mechanisms, communications, financial processes, project PDO and the use of project tablets for data collection. They also gained knowledge about the project team’s responsibilities and their connection to the duties of various project and provincial officers.
The training was an eye-opener that helped them better understand their roles and how they link to the different officers of the project and the provincial government officers. The officers also came to appreciate the greater responsibility they would play in supporting the WDCs in their various wards.

“I would say the training is timely. When we came on board, there were many doubts. But the training helped to clarify them for us, and also it helped us understand better our roles and the line of communication of our work, especially when we face issues in our work; we now know

the process and the people we would seek assistance from,” WSO for Ward 28, West Kwaio, Miss Julia Agofi, said in an interview.
Miss Julia said the knowledge learned from topics like gender and social inclusion and grievance mechanisms, policy blueprint and other modules would be beneficial to her during her work. “The knowledge would be useful to share with my WDC so that they would ensure every member of my ward is having their voices heard when coming to project determinations, including women, youth, and people with disabilities. When issues arise, I would be able to address them to ensure project implementation would run smoothly,” Miss Julia said.

Mary Tehekeni from Ward 21 said she is confident in carrying out her duties in supporting the WDC in her ward. “The knowledge from the training is beneficial, as I am now confident in my work, and I now better understand my roles and responsibilities,” she said.

The officers’ work was further boosted when they received 44 tablets. The officers will use the equipment for their reporting, baseline surveys, ward profiling, and other work relating to their responsibilities.
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A group photo of Guadalcanal WSOs training inside the Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly Chamber

Ms. Julia Agosi, WSO for Ward 28, posed for a shot with her tablet

Mrs. Mary Tehekeni, WSO for Ward 21 doing a presentation during group presentation of activities

One of the WSOs from Malaita doing a presentation

Some of the Malaita WSOs with Jefferey Willie (2nd from left) during the training at the Malaita Provincial Assembly Chamber

The IEDCR ICT Specialists, Bryan Thomas doing his presentation to the WSOs of Malaita on how to use the tablets