Gender workshop organised for Tina Hydropower Project stakeholders

Attendees of the workshop from the Porject Office, HEC, THL, ABD and commuities. The Tina River Hydropower Project (TRHDP) Office hosted a one-day Gender Action Plan (GAP) workshop in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to continue to raise awareness about gender equality and women’s empowerment. The workshop aimed to highlight the importance of mainstreaming gender equality for the Project as it progresses with construction activities, while familiarising participants with ADB’s approach and GAP implementation and reporting requirements.  The event combined stakeholders fromTina Hydropower Limited (THL), Hyundai Engineering Company (HEC) and the TRHDP Office (PO) while some joined online from other …

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Agricultural training to reap benefits for Belaha Community

In the rural setting of Lungga, members of the Belaha Community are currently attending a series of Agriculture Short Training courses as part of the Community Benefit Sharing Project’s (CBSP) Technical and Vocational Education and Training Component. The tailored courses, which will run over 3 days, are designed to upskill locals in the Tina catchment with a focus in the agriculture sector to be job ready for any future opportunities to earn income from farming. The workshops, which are open to all benefit share communities and will eventually train all eligible members, will cover topics such as nursery production, compost training, …

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SIG supports landowner partnership on Tina Project as a new way forward for local business

The Buhugaro Tribe, one of the five landowning groups of the Tina Core Land Owning Company (TCLC), have purchased a new vehicle for commercial use as part of a partnership agreement with the Solomon Islands Government’s Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) and the Tina River Hydro Project Office’s Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP). The vehicle, which costs more than $400,000 SBD, is currently being leased to the CBSP team for 14 months and is a great example of the Project taking community ideas on-board following consultations with landowning tribes during the Project’s preparation phase back in 2010. During …

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Team work on the Water Supply Project makes a dream come true

Traveling long distances to fetch clean water will soon be a thing of the past for the people of Marava, Ngongoti and Valele communities in Central Guadalcanal with the installation of the first water supply system now underway. The system, which is funded and coordinated by the Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP) for the Tina River Hydro Development Project (TRHDP), comprises a network of distribution pipes carrying water from a determined natural water source to storage tanks and then onto communities. In a first of its kind for the region, the system is powered by solar energy to move water …

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Health and Hygiene Awareness for Tina Communities

A three-day community Health and Hygiene awareness program has been completed in communities in the Mbahomea region of Central Guadalcanal.  The session were a part of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) initiative for the Tina River Hydro Development Project which has been running for the past 2 years alongside the preparation phase of the larger Project. GAP is in place to promote equal opportunities for both women and men to participate and receive projects benefits and continues to provide opportunities for women, in particular, to be involved with and be positively impacted by this nation-building project. Women and young girls in …

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CBSP’s WASH Project will start soon

A one-day pre-construction consultation for a new Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP)water delivery system was held yesterday for community members of Ngongoti, Marava andValele in the Bahomea district of Central Guadalcanal. The construction and installation of the community water infrastructure, officially known asthe Water Supply and Sanitation Project (WASH), is a subcomponent of the Community BenefitSharing Program (CBSP) to provide water supply to eligible villages in the Tina catchmentcommunities. Construction will include a network of pipes to carry the water from the source anddistributed to communities. The objective of the consultation was to help participants understandhow the water system will work. …

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Signing Ceremony will light up Bahomea Communities

The Tina River Hydropower Development Project is delivering more power to the people in Central Guadalcanal after the official green light was given today for a 11lkV high voltage (HV) extension and 415V low voltage (LV) distribution network at a signing ceremony in Honiara. Communities will soon see their homes light up thanks to the much- anticipated Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP) which sees construction of a HV extension and LV distribution network running along the 9km road from Black Post leading up to the Tina community in the Bahomea Region. The signing of the formal collaboration agreement between the …

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CBSP supports 15 young people from the Tina River Communities to further education at SINU

The Tina River Hydropower Development Project has partnered with the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) to enroll 15 students from the Tina River communities to upskill and train locals under the Community Benefit Sharing Program (CBSP). Starting next week and continuing into 2022/23, the students will be trained in certificate and diploma courses in fields such as Electrical, Plumbing, Business, Survey, Carpentry and Joinery, Environmental, Automotive Engineering and Secretarial studies. In a first-of-its-kind extension program, the students were identified and selected after attending the CBSP’s Pre-Employment Training which was made available to eligible members of the Tina communities. PET training …

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Tina Hydro PET training hits a new milestone

Attending the Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP) Pre-Employment Training (PET) has given 40-year-old Salome Matesaia from Tina Village an opportunity to become employed. Mrs. Matesaia is one of the early participants who joined the first PET training in April this year. Currently, 152 eligible individuals from the Tina River catchment communities have taken part in this program and have trained to be job-ready for the Project construction phase. She described the training as an opportunity to assist people in the community to find ways to earn money for themselves. “I am employed, by Hyundai Engineering Co. Limited (HEC) on the Tina River Hydro …

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Pre employment training commences for communities in the Tina River Catchment

Last Monday morning after months of preparations, the first group of 30 participants joined the Community Benefit Sharing team from the Tina River Hydropower Development Project Office and facilitators from Pasifiki HR for a weeklong Pre Employment Training (PET) program. The Human Resource initiative is a component of the Community Benefit Sharing Project designed to support the members of communities in the project area in accessing employment opportunities to be created by Tina River Hydropower Development Project. The inaugural group, made up of 15 men and 15 women, were selected from a database of 700 plus people identified in the …

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Community water supply soon to be flowing from Tina

The Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP) team are out in the community this week initiating preparations for the construction of water supply systems under component 2a of the program. It is the final preparation work required before actual construction begins on this element of the Community Benefit Sharing Project worth an estimated SBD $6 million. This month several days will be spent in the communities updating residents on the agreed water designs and discussing any final community input. The team, including the CBSP community water engineer, a water consultant from the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) specialising …

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Tina River Hydropower Project promoting and mainstreaming gender in the Energy and Construction sectors

International Women’s Day was honoured on Monday March 8, with members of the Project Office, Tina Hydro Limited and women leaders from the Tina River Hydropower Project catchment areas participating in a celebratory parade through the streets of Honiara. While International Women’s Day is day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, this year’s focus is on the theme #ChooseToChallenge – a theme that promotes “Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity and this year particularly, bringing a feeling of …

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Community Benefit Sharing Focus – History in the making

The Community Benefit Sharing Program (CBSP) is gearing up to roll out three significant programs in the first half of 2021. With its dedicated team working within the Tina River Hydropower Project, preparations have already started for a number of initiatives to provide early benefits to affected community members and to prepare for the main project benefit sharing components in later project stages. The first phase, which is happening now to coincide with the pre-construction stage, include pre-employment training, construction of a 11Kva transmission line and rural water sanitation system. With the support of global experts guiding the team, the CBSP …

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Tina River Hydropower Project recognizes the contribution of local women on International Rural Women’s Day

“As a woman, life in a rural community in the Solomon Islands can be hard. For me, I wake up early in the morning and walk for a long time and far distance to get to my farm. I need to get up that early in order to do my gardening work because it’s then that the heat is not as harsh from the sun.”   These are the words uttered by Christina Tony, a rural female farmer, as she stands in the middle of her garden in Areatakiki, a village in the Mbahomea Region, Central Guadalcanal. Her farm is located in …

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Tina River Project appoints HR firm to train locals ready for Project employment

The Community Benefit Sharing Project (CBSP) is designed to enhance the positive impacts of the Project to the communities in the area by investing in basic services and infrastructure and to foster support and cooperation from the communities. Benefit-sharing is an approach adopted by the Project to promoting sustainable development for affected communities which extends beyond the life of the actual project. Under the Human Resource Development component of the CBSP, Pasifiki HR, who are a well-established and reputable firm based in Honiara, will meet this objective by helping members of communities in the Project area access training and employment opportunities created by TRHDP.

Community Benefit Sharing Water Supply and Sanitation Program on track to assist 5000 people in communities in Central Guadalcanal.

RATE School in the Tina Catchment to benefit from the WASH programThe Water Supply and Sanitation Program is set to positively impact approximately 5000 people through improving access to safe potable water, better sanitation and hygiene in schools, clinics and communities through the Central Guadalcanal province.  Work on the WASH program is underway as one of the key initiatives being funded by the Japanese Social Development Fund under the Community Benefit Sharing Program (CBSP) for the Tina river Hydropower Development Project.   Programs like these are not uncommon in the wider Pacific region but it is a first of its kind for the Solomon …

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Tina Hydro delivers employing 31 locals in the first quarter of 2020

Workers in action at the Tina River site.There are now 31 new members of the Tina Hydropower Development Project construction team as locals fill both skilled and unskilled labour positions. Supporting local communities in the Guadalcanal region with employment opportunities is a priority for the Solomon Island Government as preparations on the Hydropower Project continue with certainty in these unprecedentedly challenging times. Since Christmas, project construction partners Hyundai Engineering Company (HEC), have worked with the Project Office under the guidance of the Community Benefit Sharing Program (CBSP) team, to reach out to communities with employment opportunities. Positions are being filled by …

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