UNCRD has launched a new series of training courses for the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at the end of 2003. The first course, entitled "Capacity Building of Regional Development Management," was conducted from 2 to 26 December 2003 with the participation of sixteen officials from the Indonesian central and provincial governments engaged in promotion of regional development and transfer of planning technology.

Background

In developing countries, decentralization is a growing trend that strongly influences regional development administration. Indonesia is no exception and the central government of Indonesia, since January 2001, has transferred much of it authority to local governments at the provincial, prefectural, and municipal levels, excluding the areas of diplomacy, national defense, judicial administration, fiscal and monetary functions, religion, and various macroeconomic policies, based on two newly-enacted decentralization-related laws. Consequently, development, which used to be promoted by the central government, is now gradually being handled by regional or local officials so that each area's natural, social, and economic characteristics will be more effectively reflected in planning and during project implementation. With such a shift to decentralization, the central government's role is being limited to coordination and guideline-making as well as facilitation of regional development policy at the national level. Provincial governments will have a similar role to play though they will continue to have their own projects in limited fields. For effective promotion of decentralization, it is necessary to upgrade local and regional government officials' capacities and skills to plan and manage development projects including planning, coordination, and monitoring. Against this background, UNDRD, in collaboration with JICA, has launched a two-year series of training courses for Indonesia on "Capacity Building of Regional Development Management.

Course Programme and Module

The contents of the December training consisted of lectures, field visits, group discussions, and preparation and presentation of action plans, while the course curriculum was structured around the following three modules: (1) local administration system; (2) regional development and management; and (3) participatory development. The lectures covered the following topics and themes: new public management; training system of Aichi Prefectural Government; "one village-one product" movement; and jimoto-gaku (local area study). During field visits, participants observed the seaside resort complex of Laguna Gamagori, Central Japan International Airport under construction, a PFI Project of Chowa Elementary School in Tokyo, Kurokabe's local revitalization efforts in Nagahama City and Meiho Ladies Co., Ltd. in Gifu Prefecture where they learned about managerial techniques and know-how for consensus-building, coordination, and collaboration between private and public sectors facing common problems as well as how to facilitate citizens' participation.

Achievements of the Course

Through the above process, participants were able to improve their management capabilities in regional development. Through lectures using case studies and field visits, they deepened their understanding about regional development management in Japan. Group discussions enabled them to compare Japan's regional development management with that of Indonesia, including advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility, and to explore appropriate means of management in regional development.

Theoretically, participants were keen to study planning-related topics such as the Japanese land planning system and the regional plan of Aichi Prefecture. Having studied both advantages and disadvantages of Japan's centralized planning system, participants realized that decentralization without central and local partnership would not lead to balanced nation-building or sustainable development and that coordinated partnership among central and regional governments, private firms, and citizens is far more important as a result of decentralization.

As for field visits, participants showed great interest in both infrastructure-oriented development projects such as Central Japan International Airport and Minato Mirai 21 in Yokohama City and also community-driven development projects in Kurokabe and Meiho Village. However, perhaps due to their financial feasibility, participants seemed to be more eager to learn about theoretical approaches to participatory development as well as actual case studies. In particular, through a lecture on local area study (Jimoto-gaku) and another on participatory development, participants realized the significance of citizen participation in the process of planning and implementation. There is as yet no clear definition of Jimoto-gaku, but it is a participatory academic approach for citizens to study their local area in order to rediscover precious resources therein and to make full use of them for local development. By doing so, citizens can play a key role in local development planning and management. Participants obtained useful insight into a participatory workshop in which citizens can increase their regional and local pride through the Jimoto-gaku learning process. One of the groups formulated an action plan entitled "Model-making of Local Planning with Community Initiatives - Let's Learn about our Town!" which adopted Jimoto-gaku as an approach to facilitating citizens' participation in local planning. Another group action plan was entitled "Regional Development for Self-reliance - How to Increase Provincial Governments' own Revenues." Financing has become an inevitable, but quite difficult challenge for provincial governments as they are no longer solely dependent on central funding sources.

In the evaluation meeting held at the end of the training course, participants' responses concerning the course programme ranged from good to excellent. There were also some suggestions for achieving better outcomes by adding more programme inputs concerning macroeconomic policy measures as well as financial and budgetary issues. In continuing this two-year training series, UNCRD intends to reassess the training needs and review such proposed items for the next training course.

Decentralization has just started in Indonesia, and the road ahead will be bumpy. Participants are expected to make efforts to share what they learn from the training as well as their action plans with local citizens and their colleagues at their respective work places. This will assist in improved management of regional development in their respective province.