BSKDN synchronises central-regional policies to support President's programmes

The Domestic Policy Strategy Agency (BSKDN) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) has convened a strategic forum aimed at strengthening governance and synchronising central and regional policies, while evaluating the implementation of President Prabowo Subianto’s priority programmes at the local level. “National priority programmes must not run separately from regional planning and budgeting. Therefore, policy synchronisation is crucial to ensure national programmes are connected to the real needs of the community and regional capacity,” said BSKDN Head Yusharto Huntoyungo in a statement in Jakarta on Friday. The remarks were made during the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Coordination Meeting (Rakor) for the fourth batch of Presidential Directive Programmes in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday (18/6). These programmes cover various strategic issues that directly impact the public, ranging from economic growth and inflation control to Free Nutritious Meals (MBG), the construction of three million homes, the establishment of Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives, People’s Schools, food self-sufficiency, free health check-ups, Garuda Schools, and the eradication of extreme poverty. According to Yusharto, the success of these programmes requires strengthening three main pillars: central-regional policy synchronisation, good governance, and integrated, data-based monitoring and evaluation. He explained that monitoring and evaluation should not be seen merely as an administrative process or a search for errors. Instead, it must serve as a learning instrument and a tool for policy improvement, capable of identifying obstacles, risks, support needs, best practices, and the on-the-ground impact of policies. To support this, BSKDN continues to strengthen the function of the Policy Hub as a strategic policy node within the Ministry of Home Affairs. Through this mechanism, data, analysis, field issues, and policy recommendations are integrated to produce sharper, evidence-based, and operationally actionable recommendations. Meanwhile, East Java Regional Secretary Adhy Karyono noted that the province’s development performance is quite encouraging, with economic growth recorded at 5.96 percent, higher than the national average. “East Java is currently happy with 5.96 percent economic growth. However, we must not be complacent because we want to pursue the national target of growing more than 6 percent,” Adhy stated. He also affirmed the East Java Provincial Government’s commitment to supporting various presidential priority programmes, including the Free Nutritious Meals programme, which is continuously being expanded. According to data presented at the forum, East Java is one of the provinces with the largest number of MBG beneficiaries in Indonesia, with more than 9 million recipients and over 4,000 Nutritional Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) already operational. “We are truly safeguarding this. This excellent presidential programme must run according to standards so that the benefits can genuinely be felt by the community,” he said firmly. “I believe that if these achievements continue to improve, it is not impossible for East Java to become an example for other regions in implementing national priority programmes,” he added. Jusuf also emphasised that the success of public policy is determined not only by the scale of the programme but also by the quality of data used in the decision-making process. Therefore, an evidence-based policy approach must be the foundation for both policy formulation and evaluation. “Our decisions are data-based. If the data is wrong, that is dangerous. Therefore, data-based policy is very important so that programmes are truly targeted and able to address existing problems,” he said. Furthermore, Jusuf assessed that the successful implementation of national priority programmes is heavily influenced by bureaucratic capacity, resource availability, data-based supervision, inter-agency collaboration, and community involvement. Hence, synergy between the central government, regional governments, academics, and all stakeholders must be continuously strengthened.