Governance and Development

In an attempt to accelerate the pace of development in West Papua and to increase the opportunity for native Papuans to participate in development, the Indonesian Government issued a Law concerning Special Autonomy for Papua Province in 2001 known as Otonomi Khusus or OTSUS. More than simply providing the region with a bigger share of the revenues generated in the region OTSUS also sets out a framework for acknowledgement and promotion of local cultures and local peoples interests. This Law provided a great opportunity for Papuans to have a real role in their own governance and to mobilize development efforts towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Recent subdivision of Papua Province into Papua and Papua Barat Provinces as well as the subdivision of 14 regencies (kabupatens) of the region into 29 regencies and towns should present further opportunities for achieving the MDGs. However, according to the UNDP the MDG targets are not likely to be met in Papua Province or  Papua Barat Province, and are especially lacking in certain Districts (kecamatan) and remote areas.

The Laws 17/2003 on State Finance and 25/2004 on National Planning spell out new procedures for long-term, medium-term and annual planning and budgeting. In accordance with those Laws, district governments, in addition to the technical departments (Dinas) are expected to play a major role in development efforts. They are required to prepare integrated, cross-sectoral medium term and annual plans and budgets to support development in the communities in their administrative areas (UNDP).

However, despite the new policy framework, to date there is little change in the life of the average Papuan.  Due to local government's limited capacities, the additional funds from Special Autonomy and new planning laws have not yet produced the results expected for the benefit of the local population. There is very low capacity at all levels of government in West Papua for implementing long term effective development strategies and for joint working. Women, children and other vulnerable groups receive little priority in government policies and the provision of local services.

On the ground  - Yahukimo
Yahukimo is a new regency and a very challenging one. There are few roads and most transport is via air or river. The new government is based in Dekai in the southern lowlands and is currently building a town out of the jungle.

Five years after the establishment of the Regency and despite large amounts of money received by the local government there is very little improvement in the lives of the population. The majority of funds have been invested in government infrastructure and roads in Dekai and district government offices. Health and education situations have actually deteriorated and there has been no immunisation programs carried out for five years. Teachers and health workers are rarely present in their villages as they need to come to the town to collect their wages. It is very common to find schools in the districts without teachers and clinics without staff for the majority of the year. Some teachers have never gone to their assigned schools even once.

The technical departments have little power in driving forward appropriate development as the majority of programming and funding decisions are passed through the Regent (Bupati). Money is also handed out on an ad hoc basis to the general population and church without need for monitoring or reporting. This situation has significantly reduced the power of the regionally elected peoples representatives (DPRs) and is creating a situation where the population is becoming dependent on government welfare.

In order to enable progress towards the millennium development goals there is an urgent need for increased effort from the province level in the building of capacities at local government level in pro-poor policy development, operational planning and service delivery. Plans for people centered, participatory bottom up planning needs to become reality and local NGOs and churches need to be effectively engaged and resourced so that they can deliver services and build capacity in areas which are beyond the capacity of the government.

Building Capacity for Local Governance at a District and Village Level in Yahukimo
Through the Voice for the People Program run by Yasumat and Papua Partners in the Districts of Ninia and Dekai village leaders, women leaders and church leaders are gradually learning new skills on how to manage and lead development processes in their communities. Generally at a village level the government representative is rarely present and traditional leaders have begun to take back the role of leading and mobilising their communities. Within the first year of the capacity building program these leaders are learning about basic planning, budgeting and leadership skills which they then go back and share and implement in their communities. In each of ten villages they have initiated a small cooperative which will provide basic goods for the community and will provide a good way of implementing the new skills that they have learnt.

Papua Partners Limited is registered in England and Wales No, 05539947
Charity Registered No. 1117275