PROGRAM REPRESENTASI (PROREP) MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
September 2013
S EPTEMBER H IGHLIGHTS Paramadina Researchers Present Findings at International Conference Researchers from Paramadina Public Policy Institute and other participants of the 3rd International Conference on Government Performance Management and Leadership held in Tokyo, Japan pose in front of the Masaru Ibuka Conference Hall. This international conference convened leading scholars and practitioners to explore ways to improve public sector performance.
2013 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Government of Indonesia’s shift from line–item or input-based budgeting to performance-based budgeting – a form of budgeting that determines spending based on results achieved, rather than actual costs of inputs (staff, equipment, supplies, etc.) This type of budgeting helps clarify government goals and priorities and how different programs contribute to them. ProRep is supporting Paramadina Public Policy Institute (PPPI) to study how Indonesia has implemented performancebased budgeting in six pilot ministries over the past ten years. They are working to identify what has been working well and what needs to be improved. They will give input to the executive branch on how they can improve implementation and propose recommendations to the Parliament regarding the proposed amendment to Law No. 17/2003 on State Finance. Although the study is not yet complete, in September PPPI researchers were invited to present their model and initial findings at the 3rd International Conference on Government Performance Management and Leadership in Tokyo, Japan. The conference was co-sponsored by Waseda University (Japan), Portland State University (USA), Lanzhou University (China), and Ho Chi Minh National Academy for Politics and Public Administration
(Vietnam). The theme of this year’s conference was “Governance, Leadership, and Performance: Accelerating Innovation in Government Performance through International Partnership.” The Indonesian researchers from PPPI were part of a panel entitled “Trans-boundary Issues on Performance Management” along with researchers from China. Participating in this conference was an opportunity for the Indonesian experience to inform academics from other countries and the researchers from PPPI also brought back with them an expanded network of international researchers and new ideas that can be applied in Indonesia. “I learned a lot from other countries’ terrific initiatives on performance management through citizen participation, enhancement of accountability and …the role of performance indicators to detect government failure,” said Muhamad Ikhsan, Senior Researcher from Paramadina Public Policy Institute. He also noted that good reform initiatives that we can learn from can come from any country or region. Ideas should not be defined as from the “West” or “East” – what is important is the way the idea is shared and adopted in the local setting. Lastly, the conference hit home the principle that researchers and academics have a moral obligation to share their policy recommendations with decision makers to reduce the likelihood of government failure.
“I learned a lot from other countries’ terrific initiatives on performance management through citizen participation, enhancement of accountability, and …the role of performance indicators to detect government failure.” Muhamad Ikhsan, Paramadina Public Policy Institute This newsletter is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this newsletter are the sole responsibility of Chemonics International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
PROGRAM REPRESENTASI (PROREP) MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
September 2013
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Connecting the Dots: Partners Working to Improve Representation Share Best Practices
Workshop participants discuss ways to sustainably improve relations between DPR Members and the constituents from their electoral districts. The participants included CSO representatives, DPR Members’ expert staff and the Constituent Relations Liaisons (CRLs) who are providing technical assistance to DPR Members and staff under ProRep’s constituency outreach program JABAT, conducted in partnership with Kemitraan.
ProRep is working “top-down” by assisting Members of Parliament (MPs) to get to know their constituents and make their recess visits more effective. The program is also working “bottom-up” by partnering with CSOs to raise DPR Members’ awareness of pressing policy issues and connect them with constituents from their electoral district. To take stock of what has been learned so far in this effort, ProRep bought together implementing partners that have been involved in strengthening constituent-MP relations, including expert staff of DPR Members, CSO representatives and the Constituent Relations Liaisons (CRLs) who, under ProRep’s constituency outreach program JABAT, are providing technical assistance to DPR Members and staff to improve their representation of the constituents from their electoral district. Two MPs, Hon. Dewi Coryati and Hon. Eva Kusuma Sundari, also participated in the event and shared their experiences in reaching out to their constituents. Hon. Coryati spoke about the challenges she faced in reaching young voters as new constituents and expressed her appreciation for the JABAT program and the CRL assigned to work with her. “With the support from the CRL, I have managed to develop a fruitful relationship with the students and establish volunteer networks in selected schools and universities,” she stated. Hon. Kusuma Sundari shared that “dialogue and public hearings are the healthiest way to get the message across and will reinforce representation.” She praised her assigned CRL for helping her to develop new outreach tools, including a radio program and website. When one of the participants asked her her strategy in dealing with issues presented by her constituents that were outside
“Dialogue and public hearings are the healthiest way to get the message across and will reinforce representation. “I have to learn about the issue [raised by my constituents], and it takes some passion to be able to fight for it.” Eva Kusuma Sundari, Member of Parliament
those dealt with by her Commission, she said, “I have to learn about the issue (raised by my constituents), and it takes some passion to be able to fight for it.”
Over the two day peer-learning workshop, MP staff, CRLs and CSOs developed stronger working relationships and shared lessons each has learned through their programs. As a result of the session, several recommendations were given to improve effective representation in Indonesia, such as reactivating constituency offices (House of Aspirations or Rumah Aspirasi); developing a hotline through which constituents can give feedback and raise issues; conducting a series of interest-based dialogues between MPs and constituents; formalizing a standardized official recess report prepared by the MP and made available to the public; and conducting more political education and capacity building for constituents and CSOs.
PROGRAM REPRESENTASI (PROREP) MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
September 2013
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Partners Learn Civic Journalism Techniques to Raise Awareness and Foster Civic Engagement
“Simply raising an alarm or spotlighting an injustice, which is traditional journalism, is not enough. Citizens these days need more help. They need to see some ways they play a role, have a voice, or make a difference -- some ways they can reclaim their participation in civic life.” Jan Schaffer, Pew Center for Civic Journalism, Washington DC
Media plays an important role in informing the public on political and social issues. Yet traditionally, the information flows in one direction – to the readers – who are viewed as recipients or spectators. The concept of civic journalism encourages the media to involve citizens in the dialogue and empowers communities to take an active role in discussing issues and working towards solutions. ProRep recognizes that citizen journalism can be a powerful tool for improved representation in Indonesia and partnered with the USAID–Kinerja program to train membership- and constituency based- civil society organizations (CSOs) on how to enhance civic engagement through media. 16 participants from the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and eight other CSOs learned how to incorporate civic journalism techniques into their advocacy platforms. The skills they learned will help CSOs develop media stories (for online and print media, TV and radio) which will inspire citizens and policy makers to get involved and take action. They also learned how to get their stories published or aired through mass media channels so that the issues they are working on – for example, for YSKK, education issues, or for HAPSARI, issues affecting women – can get broader coverage. “Writing is an important way to communicate issues of concern to the public so that people are made aware of and become interested in them. The information may give hope and new ideas to other community members, or
even to other writers,” says Ari Purjantati of the Associations of Indonesian Women Unions (HAPSARI). The session was held on September 26 to 29 in Bogor, West Java and was facilitated by Firmansyah MS, Media Specialist, from the USAIDKinerja Program and Mustam Arif, Direktur JURnal Celebes, a journalist network for environmental advocacy based in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The participants learned how to do real reporting by stepping out of the classroom to interview people at a school, a community health center (puskesmas) and a traditional market and then developing a media story from the information they gathered. Participants also analyzed how the internet has transformed journalism and gives the opportunity for anyone to become a journalist. Presenter Heru Margianto, News Assistant Managing Editor at Kompas.com gave the examples of the September 11th attacks in the U.S. and subway bombing in London. A large portion of the information for both events was reported by ordinary citizens. Through this training, the CSOs plan to maximize and promote civic journalism to strategically build awareness and support from the public and policy makers to fast-track their ongoing advocacy agendas.
Supadmi of YSKK partnered with a journalist and member of the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Kediri, to discuss how to communicate development issues while still respecting the ethics and standards of journalism.
PROGRAM REPRESENTASI (PROREP) MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
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Policy Research Network Members Establish Shared Vision and Plan The Policy Research Network established in early 2013 aims to facilitate the five members’ collective actions to promote evidence-based policy making in Indonesia. In September, ProRep supported a strategic planning workshop for members to develop a unified vision and objectives for the network and to determine priorities and next steps to advance the individual participating organizations and strengthen the network as a whole.
we can give a training on gender perspectives in public policy.” To further refine action plans, the PRN members will gather in a second workshop to be held in early October at Paramadina Public Policy Institute.
At the workshop, each organization shared challenges they face including difficulties in accessing policy makers, limited financial resources and networks, and lack of experience in communicating and disseminating research results widely so as to influence policy making. Members face common challenges and plan to tackle them through the network’s activities. Frisca of the Women Research Institute (WRI) affirmed, “Through the network, we can share resources and also knowledge, not only limited to the results of the research, but we can also the specific expertise and knowledge that each of us has. For example,
Vid Adrison of LPEM UI shared the organization’s expectation on networking with other think tanks. By joining forces through the network, members hope to pool resources and together address common challenges .
Improving Public Access to Information on Laws
“With this improved law, we hope that all can be more synchronized, especially in formulating legislation and in developing Indonesia’s national legal system.” Dimyati Natakusumah, Deputy Chair of BALEG
Most people are not aware of the many new policies, laws, and regulations made in Indonesia and how they may impact their lives. Every year, scores of new and modified laws and regulations are made by Parliament, or by the Government and its regulating bodies. The public, however, is not made aware of these new laws and regulations as there is not a systematic way to disseminate this information. In order to make progress and ensure continuous improvement in this area, the
Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) passed Law No. 12/2011—a new law on the Law and Regulation Making Process to replace a previous law passed in 2004. One change made by this law is that the responsibility to inform the public about new laws is no longer solely in the hands of the Government, but is also the responsibility of the DPR or in particular, the Commission which initiates and deliberates the law. ProRep is supporting the DPR’s Legislation Committee (Badan Legislasi or BALEG) to develop and pilot a law socialization model by conducting workshops in three cities, Bali, Medan, and Makassar, in September. Through these workshops, BALEG tested a system of sharing information on the new law with the public which it hopes will be adopted for other Laws in the future. “With this improved law, we hope that all can be more synchronized, especially in formulating legislation and developing Indonesia’s national legal system,” said Dimyati Natakusumah, Deputy Chair of BALEG, who opened the workshops. (Continued on next page. )
PROGRAM REPRESENTASI (PROREP) MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
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Improving Public Access to Information on Laws (Cont.) A total of 412 participants attended the three workshops including BALEG Members, Members of the working committee of the law, DPR’s Secretariat General staff, DPR expert staff, Members of DPRDs, staff of Legal Bureaus (from the province and regency levels), students, academics, CSO activists and journalists. During these events, participants presented and discussed the detailed contents of the law, the rationales behind the law, and the dissemination scheme of laws and regulations. Working in groups, the participants tried to foresee potential challenges associated with implementing this law and feasible solutions to overcome them.
Various actors come together during a workshop in Bali to discuss the new law on lawmaking No. 12/2011.
W HAT ’ S C OMING I N O CTOBER ?
Creative advocacy workshop, Oct. 28—Nov. 1 ProRep will introduce a range of new advocacy techniques to participants from ProRep’s recent grantees InProSuLa, Indonesian Budget Center (IBC), Indonesia Parliamentary Center (IPC) and Garut Governance Watch (GGW) through a creative advocacy workshop.
Short courses on budget transparency reporting for journalists, in Padang (Oct. 19), Yogyakarta (Oct. 5, 12, 26), and Surabaya (Oct. 5, 11, 19, 25). Facilitated by the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the short courses aim to increase the capacity of journalists to understand and report on budget issues.
Workshop on school operational fund (BOS) access assessment, Solo, Oct. 9—10. To kick start the second phase of their advocacy program on improved implementation of the publicly-funded BOS program, YSKK will meet with members of the CSO coalition on education to plan next steps and prepare for upcoming activities including an activity to access information on the BOS program from 100 schools across four provinces.
Public consultations on the proposed Bill on Corporate Social Responsibility, Kendari, North East Sulawesi, Oct. 28—Nov. 1. This series of meetings will convene different actors to share opinions on potential challenges in implementing the bill. The information will be used by the DPR to strengthen the proposed legislation.
Strategic Planning Workshop of the Association of Indonesian Women’s Unions (HAPSARI), Oct. 19—21 in Yogyakarta. This workshop will help HAPSARI and their member organizations refine their vision and plan for 2013—2015 and identify priority institutional capacity building programs.
Public Discussion to improve budget oversight at the local level, Oct. 10—11. ProRep is partnering with the DPR’s public accounts committee (BAKN) to encourage local level Parliaments and Inspectorates to take a greater role in overseeing central government transfers to local government agencies at a public discussion in Batam.
Focus Group Discussion to identify strategies for public participation in overseeing state finance, Oct. 23—25. ProRep and BAKN will hold an FGD in Serpong to develop ways to take advantage of evidence gathered by CSOs to improve oversight of public funds.
Capacity Building Initiative, Oct. 21—29 in Jakarta. Facilitated by ProRep in partnership with the Urban Institute, this consultancy and a workshop aims to help research institutions and CSOs explore ways to enhance their organizational performance. Program Representasi (ProRep) is a three to five year project on democracy and governance supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Its aim is to improve representation in Indonesia by increasing the inclusiveness and effectiveness of groups and institutions that seek to express people’s interests to government and by increasing the transparency and effectiveness of legislative processes. Program Representasi (ProRep) is implemented by Chemonics International in partnership with the Urban Institute, Social Impact and Kemitraan. For more information visit www.prorep.or.id or contact us at prorep@prorep.or.id.