THE comprehensive progress review of the Solomon Islands National Development Strategy (NDS) 2016-2035 is nearing its completion as the country nears a crucial point in its developmental trajectory.
Staff of the Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination (MNPDC), the custodian of the NDS, are now undertaking logistical and administrative arrangements to complete the four remaining provinces which have not been covered last year due to funding constraints.
A statement from MNPDC said teams will be deployed to Choiseul, Western, Temotu and Renbell provinces next month to complete the review exercise. A working draft review report based on literature review and Honiara based consultations is ready and awaits the findings from the remaining four provinces for finalisation.
MNPDC Permanent Secretary, Ms Susan Sulu said the results of the review should be ready by March this year and the Ministry is expected to officially launch the final NDS review report once it is completed.
“Our initial timeline was September last year; however, we were not able to finance the remaining provincial consultations. But we have mobilized some resources to be able to undertake provincial consultations and field work in the remaining provinces,” Ms Sulu said.
She reiterated that the review process is inclusive and involves development partners, non-government organisations, the private sector, provincial government and rural communities.
It involved a rigorous evaluation of the NDS key performance indicators, sectoral advancements, and the overall impact on the lives of Solomon Islanders.
The review is conducted to look at how the country has progressed the implementation of the National Development Strategy. In the same vein, it also looks at how Solomon Islands has progressed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The review is also intended to highlight the gaps and the challenges to progress development in Solomon Islands
The second part of the review process is tied to the country’s process to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category. The review serves as a pathway to informing Solomon Islands preparation of the LDC graduation Smooth Transition Strategy.
“Thirdly, Solomon Islands has committed to undertake its second Voluntary National Review of its implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2024. Thus, this review will also be a pathway towards informing our voluntary national reporting on the sustainable development goals,” Ms Sulu said.
MNPDC has completed two National Consultation workshops on the NDS draft base-line assessment report after completion of desktop review phase at national level, last year. The NDS review exercise is commissioned by the Solomon Islands Government and undertaken with funding support from Solomon Islands Government, the New Zealand Government through the New Zealand High Commission in Honiara and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the Governance for Resilient Development (Gov4Res) Project.
