Sharing Knowledge on Community-Driven Development in Indonesia: An Assessment of the Neighborhood Upgrading and Shelter Sector Project

The purpose of the study on which this report is based was to identify lessons from implementation of the Neighborhood Upgrading Shelter Sector Project (NUSSP) that would allow the success of this community-driven urban development initiative in Indonesia to be replicated elsewhere. In general, the study examined the extent to which the project contributed to improvements in service delivery and governance in the beneficiary communities. More specifically, the study's objectives were to assess (1) the quality and sustainability of infrastructure services delivered, (2) the extent to which subproject investment decisions corresponded to beneficiary needs and expressed demand, (3) the extent to which study-area residents were able to influence the behavior of their leaders and exact accountability from them, and (4) whether or not participation in community-driven development (CDD) subprojects influenced the nature of institutional arrangements for local service delivery lying outside the scope of the project

A Baseline Study of Decentralization/Regional Autonomy: a Survey of Processes and Performance Indicators Across Twelve Kabupaten/kota

The central government of Indonesia is trying to accommodate demands for greater autonomy from the regions. As a result, provincial and kabupaten/kota level governments will soon have to cope with political, fiscal and administrative decentralization. Article 8 of Law 22/1999 states that decentralization must be accompanied with the hand-over and transfer of financing, facilities and infrastructure as well as resources in accordance with the authority delegated to a region. SMERU has outlined a four to five year study to monitor the process of decentralization and to test the impact of decentralization on the structure of the government and on the government\u27s ability to deliver services in 12 kabupaten/kota. From April 2000 to April 2001 SMERU proposes to monitor preparations and expectations in provincial, kabupaten/kota, kecamatan and village level administrations as well as prepare a survey instrument for evaluating decentralization in the future. The study will investigate how the sub-national governments are coping with the processes related to their new functions. In the second year of the study, starting may 2001, the affect of decentralization on the performance of kabupaten/kota governments in service delivery will be measured. In this study a different methodology will be needed to test performance because it will involve a broad household survey, a census of service delivery points and expert interviews at the local level. As previously stated, SMERU plans to develop the survey instruments for this 2001 study using input and key indicators generated from this year\u27s study. Twelve kabupaten/kota will be surveyed with two villages covered in each kabupaten. Government, universities, NGOs, print media and village level representatives will be surveyed. Reports will be produced on one kabupaten/kota per month for 12 months with working papers comparing results across kabupaten/kota being published in November 2000 and again in May 2001

The Specific Allocation Fund (DAK) : Mechanism and Uses

This study aims to analyze the management of the Specific Allocation Fund (DAK). The three largest DAK-recipient sectors are the focus of the study : education, health, and roads infrastructure. The study sample areas are four districts. This paper was compiled based on the results of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with various stakeholders as well as analysis of DAK policy and secondary data. The main objective of DAK is to reduce interregional inequalities in public services. We came across policies in dire need of national uniformity but that still allow variation on some aspects. Conversely, we found some enforced national uniformity in policies that should have provided rooms for variations to accommodate regional specific conditions. In practice, regional governments have become passive recipients of DAK grants. The attitudes of regional government towards the DAK allocation process indicate a general feeling that the central government is not transparent. Furthermore, it is evident that coordination and communication surrounding DAK management between agencies are still limited. Based on the above findings, we recommend a new paradigm where the central government is suggested to decentralize the authority for the allocation, coordination, and monitoring of district/city use of DAK to provincial governments.specific allocation fund, education, health, roads infrastructure, new paradigm

A Consolidation of Participatory Poverty Assessments in Indonesia Volume II: Participatory Poverty Assessment for the Regional Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

This book presents a proposed method for the implementation of the Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) within a framework of composing a regional Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), especially at the district level. To synergize poverty prevention strategies, programs and policies, the Indonesian goverment has stated its commitment to develop a national PRSP that will accommodate the formulation of a long term national poverty reduction strategy. Meanwhile, along with the implementation of regional autonomy that provides greater authority to the regions to create policy that is appropriate with regional conditions, a regional PRSP is needed, both on a provincial and a district level. The development of a regional PRSP needs to be done in a participatory fashion in order to produce a well-targeted poverty reduction strategy and policy, which is more accommodative in meeting the needs and local socio-cultural circumstances. This volume is intended to provide a practical guide for district government in implementing and developing regional PRSP in a participatory way