Posted By
Chase Palmeri
on 5/31/13 10:44 AM into
Asia
This item is visible by The World (e.g. Google) Display Date: 5/31/13
The Rural Development Project in the Solomon Islands, financed by the World Bank, AusAID, the EU and IFAD has included some 300 sub-projects where communities are responsible for procurement of materials and supervision of implementation of small scale infrastructure such as water supply systems, clinics and classrooms.
While this arrangement has been quite good from the standpoint of ownership and empowerment, the procurement aspect has been quite heavy for the communities. There have been difficulties in the monitoring delivery of materials and redressing mistakes in orders and specifications. Accessing financial resources and operating accounts in the name of the communities has also been problematic as banks are generally located quite far from the communities themselves. The project and the communities also face difficulties in dealing with cost-overruns, determining who bears the responsibilities for over-runs, and certification of satisfactory completion when works turn out to be more complex or otherwise different than foreseen.
We are about to design a second phase of the project and are interested in learning about how other projects have dealth with these or other problems.
Does anyone have any advice for us?