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Context

Despite large fund transfers from the national government, including the Special Autonomy (Otsus) Fund, Papua continues to score second lowest or lowest among Indonesian provinces in all development indicators, including government effectiveness and accountability. Weak local governance and lack of citizen participation, particularly by Papua Indigenous People (OAP), in local governance processes remain challenges. The United States and Indonesia are committed to improve the functioning and accountability of local governments in Papua.

Papua Collaborative Governance Initiative (USAID Kolaborasi)

The USAID Kolaborasi program assists Papua and West Papua to make better use of Otsus funding through training and technical assistance for officials in Papua, the national government, and students in such areas as planning, budgeting, and monitoring to improve efficient funds management and respond to the needs of Papuans through accountable and responsive basic public services.

USAID Kolaborasi improves the capacity of local governments to engage OAP in local governance processes while aligning development priorities and leveraging local resources that can benefit local residents.

In the next five years, USAID Kolaborasi will train and provide coaching on planning and budgeting to provincial planners and will establish a National Working Group (Pokja) to strengthen local governments’ management and public services and accelerate implementation of the Papua Development Master Plan (RIPPP). USAID Kolaborasi will develop modules and establish policy boot camps for OAPs. The policy boot camps will improve knowledge and skills of OAPs in planning and budgeting for Papua special autonomy implementation.

USAID Kolaborasi will partner with Cendrawasih University and University of Papua to establish learning centers to train local planners and policy makers in Papua to support implementation of the newly released RIPPP.

Results

During the first year of program implementation, USAID Kolaborasi has:

  • Established a capacity-building system for local governance consisting of two contextual modules and curriculums, 16 experts, 37 trainers, and 57 community champions to train local leaders on special autonomy planning and budgeting. 

  • Improved the knowledge and skills of 253 government planners from 20 local government technical units in Papua, about the three primary special autonomy sectors of health, education, and economy. 

  • Increased OAP participation in local development processes by 968 individuals, including 535 women and 7 people with disabilities, in 22 villages and four districts in Papua, enabling the community to better voice their aspirations and oversee and influence the policy making process.

USAID Kolaborasi expects to significantly expand successful initiatives to other areas, including new provinces recently established by the Government of Indonesia.

Contact

Luthfi Ashari, USAID at lashari@usaid.gov
Caroline Tupamahu, CoP Kolaborasi at caroline_tupamahu@wvi.org

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