Canadian Urban Institute

Canada-Indonesia Partnership Project in Support of Decentralization

With the financial support of Canadian International Development Agency, the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) launched the pilot phase of the Canada-Indonesia Partnership Project in Support of Decentralization. This project supported the implementation of Indonesia’s new regional autonomy laws. The project was implemented through a partnership between CUI and the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), with close involvement of the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs. During this pilot phase of the project, an emphasis was placed on strengthening the ITB – as one of Indonesia’s key academic institutions involved in urban planning and management issues – to become a key resource and training institute for local governments across the country. Using a train-the-trainer approach, the project helped to position ITB to effectively address the longer-term capacity development needs of selected regional and district governments in Indonesia to tackle local service delivery issues brought about by urbanization and the regional autonomy laws. This project included a strong South-South component, with the sharing of decentralization experiences from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Funding Agency
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canadian Partnership Branch, a component of the CUI’s International Partnership Program for Good Urban Governance (IPPGUG)

Project Partners
The main project partner was the Department of Regional and City Planning of the Institute of Technology Bandung, which conducts formal education and training on regional and city planning and government and conducts research on community services as an integral part of the academic program. The Ministry of Home Affairs is the principal central government agency that supports program coordination and implementation. The Ministry is the government agency responsible for supporting local governments to ensure a smooth implementation of the regional autonomy law. The Ministry provides coordinative links to selected regional and municipal governments.

Timeframe
2001-2004

Geographic Focus
Indonesia

Background
In May 1999, two new laws – Law No. 22 on Regional Governance and Law No. 25 on Fiscal Balance between Central Government and the Regions – were enacted to form the new foundation of local governance in Indonesia and to make a new thrust toward democratization and good governance. The two laws push forward the Indonesian Government’s agenda to decentralize functions and delegate authority on a number of matters to districts and provinces in order to make public administration more transparent and responsive to people and their needs. The Government set a timetable for implementation of the new laws on regional autonomy, organized conferences to iron out gray areas and formulated regulations to define specific procedures for adoption of the new laws by the local governments. But it fell short in the organization of capacity development programs for local governments and on-the-ground pilot initiatives. The biggest challenge for local governments lies in delivering services in the new environment of local autonomy with emphasis on customer orientation and community participation.

Project Description
In the pilot phase of this project, the aim was to strengthen one of Indonesia’s key local government capacity development institutions, the Institute of Technology Bandung, as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs, on issues related to good urban governance, local government strengthening, planning, decentralization and local service delivery.

Approach
Through a train-the-trainer approach, the project set the groundwork to address the longer-term capacity development needs of selected regional and district governments in Indonesia to address local service delivery issues brought about by urbanization and the regional autonomy law.

The project consisted of three activity components:
• Participatory strategy development by establishing a multi-stakeholder committee system, building working relations with CUI’s Indonesian partners and identifying target local authorities and civil society groups to participate in pilot phase capacity development activities.
• Capacity development and institutional strengthening to enhance the strategic coordination and capacity development roles of the Ministry of Home Affairs and ITB in local government strengthening. This involveed conducting baseline assessments of local governments and developing capacity development plans.
• Development of knowledge networking by sharing lessons learned in the project with selected Indonesian regional and municipal governments and other interested parties, as well as putting in place the mechanisms for transferring Philippines knowledge, experiences and best practices in decentralization, local government strengthening and local social service delivery.

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