Provincial Stakeholders’ Consultations on CC and DRR a Great Success
The National Advisory Board on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (NAB) through its Secretariat the Project Management Unit (PMU) has started the provincial stakeholders’ workshops in the provinces over three months beginning April 2 to June 30, 2013.
The purpose of the consultation is to engage with provincial authorities to undertake policy and communication consultations, and carry out stakeholder and climate finance mapping activities.
The overall objectives of the consultations are to determine best ways for provinces to participate in decisions relative to climate change (CC) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) projects and to assess communication lines between national government and communities to determine how people would like to be informed on CC/DRR initiatives and contribute to better CC/DRR information management. So that the NAB can better coordinate CC/DRR initiatives, the consultations will also help determine which stakeholders have DRR/CC in their program of activities, the funding routes to provinces, and practices of access and disbursement of funds for CC/DRR programs at the provincial level.
The NAB hopes that as an outcome of these consultations, linkages between national, provincial and community will be strengthened. Provincial authorities and communities will also be able to better communicate with the national government on CC/DRR issues and to provide feedback to the legislation and policy currently under development and help prioritize CC/DRR issues in provinces.
The consultation carried out is funded through the European Union Global Climate Change Alliance Vanuatu Project (GCCA-V) to support the government in its partner-dialogue and coordination on CC/DRR nationally. Funding is also allocated to develop a national policy on CC/DRR and a national Information and Communication Strategy to support the policy.
Participants from the provinces attending the workshops represents members of provincial councils, women leaders, chiefs, pastors, NGOs and heads of the different government departments within the province known as the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
The team comprised of PMU and NDMO staff has already completed week long consultations in the Sanma, Malampa and Penama provinces. The team will continue with Torba, Tafea and Shefa provinces in June to complete the rounds of provincial consultations.