| GENERAL INFORMATION ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT |
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In December 1994 Vanuatu restructured its institutional divisions dividing the somewhat 80 islands into six provinces. The provincial councils are responsible for the administration and making government decisions for the more rural areas in Vanuatu. There also exist three municipal councils that hold responsibility over the towns Luganville, Lenakel and the capital of Port Vila. Provincial councils are elected every four years most recently in 2008 due again in 2012. The Provincial Councils handle operate through the creation of ad-hoc committees whose members are appointed by the Minister of Internal Affairs who selects committee members from the council and the local population for example traditional chiefs. The Municipal Councils are also elected, most recently the Luganville council was elected in June 2011. Councils are elected for a period of four years and elections are firstly due again in 2012 in the other two municipalities. Below the provincial level as is the case with many government structures in the pacific traditional chiefs play an important role in local government.
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Local government is enshrined in the Vanuatu Constitution with specific attention for the role of customary traditional chiefs in the local government structure that intends to ‘ enable people to fully participate in the government of their region’ . In 1994, the Decentralization and Local Government Regions Act restructured local government to make it more efficient and accountable to the people. The 1995 Municipalities Act amended the 1994 Act and provided three towns with self-government status. Local government institutions are allocated with responsibilities ranging from primary education and healthcare to the maintenance of infrastructure and the promotion of tourism.
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The 1994, 1995 local government reforms have not had the desired effects as of yet. A Decentralisation Review Committee evaluated the status of decentralization in 2001 and offered some recommendations such as giving localities more funds for development but also make the structure of local government more efficient by increasing overview capacities and improve the relationship between Provincial Councils and central government. The committee’s recommendations were not implemented but were revisited in 2008. Due to a lack of financial resources development projects are mostly funded by external actors in cooperation with parties on Vanuatu. Both the New Zealand and Australia government have initiated programs on themes such as governance and education thus increasing the capacity of future generations on Vanuatu enabling them to increase the results and effects of local government.
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Local Government Associations
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The Local Authorities Association of Vanuatu (no website)
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National Local Government Partners
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Ministry of Internal Affairs
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Regional Local Government Representation
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More information will follow.
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DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
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| Caribbean |
West Africa |
Central Africa |
Eastern Africa |
Southern Africa |
Pacific |
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