Ministry of iTaukei Affairs’ submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs on its 2022–2023 Annual Report, Permanent Secretary Jone Navakamocea says the move follows extensive discussions with the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development.
Navakamocea says the initiative forms part of the review of the Integrated Rural Development Framework (IRDF), which aims to improve coordination, collaboration and alignment across ministries when addressing development opportunities in the provinces.
He says the Ministry intends to appoint 14 officers, one for each province, to carry out detailed scoping and socio-economic profiling of villages.
He says this will include identifying resource endowments and opportunities for small income-generating projects, SMEs, MSMEs and large-scale investments.
The submission also included a recommendation from Standing Committee member and Acting Minister for Youth and Sports Aliki Bia, who proposed that the Ministry of Economy conduct economic growth analysis for every province.
Bia says this would help ministries, including iTaukei Affairs, identify provincial development needs and support more targeted interventions.
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