Context
Despite large fund transfers from the central government, Papua continues to have the lowest scores among Indonesian provinces on all development indicators, particularly in government effectiveness and accountability. Weak local governance and limited citizen engagement, specifically among Papua Indigenous People (OAP), remain apparent in local governance processes. The United States and Indonesia are committed to improving the functioning and accountability of local governments in Papua.
Papua Collaborative Governance Initiative (USAID Kolaborasi)
USAID Kolaborasi improves the capacity of subnational governments and communities in Papua to effectively implement their Special Autonomy Funds (Otsus). USAID Kolaborasi is a five-year (2022–2027), $10 million program funded by the U.S. Government to improve Otsus utilization in order to better address the needs of local communities. The activity supports the Indonesian government’s efforts to implement the Papua Development Strategy to achieve Papua Sehat (Healthy Papua), Papua Cerdas (Smart Papua), and Papua Produktif (Productive Papua).
USAID Kolaborasi provides a range of capacity development—such as training in planning and budgeting, coaching and mentoring on various technical skills for local government planners, apprenticeship programs, and evidence-based policy development—to improve subnational governments’ planning and spending of public resources to deliver better public services. USAID Kolaborasi strengthens and creates the enabling environment for accountable government and actively fosters collaborative governance through multiple civic engagement platforms such as Citizen Voice and Action, the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, and the Media-Government Forum. The activity works in six provinces, 21 districts, and 58 villages across Papua.
Key Results
In the first two years of program implementation, USAID Kolaborasi has:
- Trained 906 subnational government officials to develop quality Otsus planning documents aligned with the GOI’s Papua Strategy and Otsus regulations.
- Engaged 144 community champions, empowering them to facilitate civic education to 3,654 community members and represent the community's collective voices in civic engagement platforms.
- Empowered local communities to jointly develop 421 action plans with subnational governments to improve public services. Ten plans have been successfully implemented, and 28 are in the process of being implemented.
- Provided two policy briefs and technical assistance to support the drafting of Local Action Plans, which outline the GOI’s strategy for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Papua.
- Facilitated 53 local journalists to cover Otsus implementation while strengthening the role of media oversight to hold the government accountable through the facilitation of a Media-Government Forum.
- Developed a social media campaign in collaboration with local content creators to raise community awareness on Otsus, which has been viewed more than 270,000 times.
CONTACT
Luthfi Ashari, USAID at lashari@usaid.gov
Caroline Tupamahu, CoP Kolaborasi at caroline_tupamahu@wvi.org
USAID Kolaborasi
