Prime Minister Dr. Derek Sikua made the statement at the launch of the Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement Government (CNURA) Policy Statements yesterday.

Dr. Sikua said the bottom up approach seeks to ensure that the majority of the country's population that live in villages is given priority, and the standard of living in villages can be improved.

The Prime Minister added that the approach is focusing on the basic elements that affects the standard of living which are; food security, clean running piped water and sanitation, rural health services, schools and rural economic empowerment.

"We must be realistic about the great challenges facing us and the limited resources available to us to meet those challenges," said Dr. Sikua.

He said that he was recently told that there is an expectation that under the Bottom Up Approach, bags of cash will arrive in villages to be distributed, "this is not what the Bottom Up Approach is about".

Prime Minister Sikua said that cash alone is not the answer to the country's problems, and the hope of easy money is a disabling disease.

He said that a meaningful Bottom Up Approach will happen if there is a lot of working together by all in every levels of the society.

"We must reject the notion that we can get big amounts of money overnight with no hard work," said Dr. Sikua.

He stressed that this kind of self-deceit robs the country of the energy and creativity it needs to engage productivity in the villages, towns and in the economy.

"We must each take responsibility for our own lives and that of our families and work hard at it," said the Prime Minister.