Community advocacy organisation ACT NOW has launched a new website to promote transparency and accountability in how government funds are used across all 94 Districts in Papua New Guinea.
The website – www.ddawatch.org – aims to provide the general public, officials and academics with impartial and non-partisan information on the work of each District Development Authority, with the ultimate aim of helping to improve the quality of local infrastructure and service delivery.
ACT NOW says District Development Authorities (DDA) were created in 2014 and this year will be responsible for spending almost K2 billion in government grants.
ACT NOW says there is very little information available to the public on how those taxpayer monies are used.
ACT NOW says institutions like the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) and the Auditor General struggle to track and verify the spending because of the sheer number of Districts involved and the lack of easy access.
The website incorporates a unique scoring system that ranks each DDA according to the public availability of key documents like five-year plans and annual budgets, acquittal and monitoring reports and financial audits as well as basic contact information.
It also allows the public to add their own personal satisfaction rating and to upload comments and images.
The website is completely free to access and is funded through public donations.