BY LYNTON AARON FILIA
THE Rapid Employment Project (REP) touches the heart of communities in Honiara through infrastructure projects which benefit many.
As of today REP has already completed 49 community access infrastructure subprojects consisting of 41 Jacob’s ladders and eight stream crossings/footbridges around Honiara.
Few communities in Guadalcanal are part of the infrastructure development.
REP Project Manager, Mr Salvador Jiao said, “The project’s Rapid Employment Scheme (RES) now generated nearly 800,000 paid labour days (over half are women) and provided short-term employment to 13,000 people (including 6,900 women) in Honiara since the project began in 2010.”
The Pre-Employment Training (PET) has trained about 12,000 participants, and provided one on one coaching services to about 1,700 persons, he adds.
Jiao said REP which is supported by the World Bank and shall close by the end of 2018, but preparations to commence with its successor project called Community Access and Urban Services Enhancement (CAUSE) Project are now well underway.
Building on the original parent project (REP), CAUSE will cover Honiara and additional urban and peri-urban locations in Guadalcanal, Malaita, and Western provinces, Jiao said.
He adds, the project has been designed building on REP’s proven track record and the experience of the implementing agencies, HCC and MID, in partnership with GPA, MPA and WPA.
He reveals the World Bank-IDA has initially committed US$15 million in grant funds to finance CAUSE.
