Community participation vital in regional autonomy
Community participation vital in regional autonomy
Peter de Young, Public Relations Consultant, Jakarta
The informative summary of the potential problems associated
with the planned introduction of regional autonomy by Gustaf Tamo
Mbapa (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 21) touches on two very important
points: The need for people in communities to become involved in
decision-making that affects their areas; and any attempt to
introduce regional autonomy without community involvement could
engender frustration and perhaps, future conflict.
With the advent of regional autonomy, administrators will have
greater authority over development within their areas but the
potential increase in power also carries a commensurate increase
in responsibility towards local communities.
Renovating schools, health centers and other community
facilities are vitally important developments offering a better
quality of life for any local community and impact directly on
national efforts towards alleviating poverty in Indonesia.
These developments provide administrators with a major
opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog with local
stakeholders and assist in nurturing a sense of ownership and
empowerment within the community.
Administrators should also realize that local communities
invariably have a better appreciation of needs and problems
within their own communities and therefore should be involved
directly in the decision-making processes that require inventive,
local solutions.
Allowing stakeholders to actively participate in local
decision-making processes is an important element towards
building local capacity for good governance.
But the key to developing community participation requires
administrators and planners to provide local communities with
information on proposed developments, to establish a reasonable
level of public awareness about the objectives of the planned
project activity.
Supplying information on planned developments to stakeholders
will precipitate discussion and allow opinions and concerns to be
aired within the community.
Details of the proposed projects should be presented at a
public meeting in the targeted area after all sections of the
affected community have been encouraged to attend and actively
participate in the discussions.
Potential contractors should also be invited to attend any
public presentation to allow the community to obtain some
indication as to their capacity to successfully implement the
proposed project.
A contractor, after being confronted with an activated and
informed community in a public forum, is less likely to engage in
practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism, especially
through the realization of the potential social and economic
backlash that could be aimed at the contractor's company by the
community.
Administrators in provincial areas need to develop working
coalitions with communities to attract the support of these
primary stakeholders and to encourage more local input in the
policy-making processes. Developing communications and gaining
support of local communities are integral elements in any public
awareness campaign.
Several government bodies have successfully employed public
awareness strategies to reach out to communities and attract
support for national campaigns.
For instance, the Ministry of Health has utilized social
marketing and public awareness techniques to attract the
involvement of targeted groups towards supporting national
vaccination programs for TB and Polio diseases.
Public awareness and social marketing techniques depend on
harnessing the interest and participation of individuals and
groups within a community. Again, dissemination of transparent
information to stakeholders is crucial to allow them to express
their real needs.
A proposal for road rehabilitation may be deemed a priority
amongst local administrators and planners but the renovation of a
run-down school facility may be the real need for the community.
Once consensus is reached on the priority for the community,
planners can move with confidence to the design stage of a
proposed development carrying the assurance that the project has
broad community support.
The alternative would be for the development project to be
imposed on the community using a non-participatory, "top-down"
approach that has only marginal support of the affected
community.
Working with local communities, as opposed to imposing non-
participatory systems for implementing projects, will enhance the
existing cohesion and solidarity in most communities.
A partnership or coalition involving a participatory approach,
will reinforce and extend the emerging sense of local ownership
and empowerment that is continually being emphasized by national
leaders as a necessary element of community behavior in the
reformasi era.
While administrators and planners may find the initial stages
of a public awareness campaign daunting and a little tiresome,
consulting local stakeholders will tend to build a higher level
of confidence and trust, if not real appreciation, within the
community.
Establishing a transparent, working relationship with the
community should also ease the passage of agreement for local
developments through regional administrative systems and
representative councils, particularly with reliance on the public
support of the community.
Another key component in achieving success in a public
awareness strategy hinges on enlisting the support of local
media. Some administrators have good working relationships with
local media but there is a need for those relationships to extend
to community groups to allow for balanced discussion of any
proposed development.
A few community groups have already demonstrated that they are
adept in making successful approaches to national and local media
outlets to promote their views about planned developments.
Failure by administrators to implement an effective public
awareness strategy and obtain general support for proposed
developments could activate affected communities to mobilize
sympathetic media to publicly air their contrary views and
concerns about the intended project. But public confrontation
through the use of media erodes the positive growth of a working
coalition between administrators and stakeholders and damages the
internal cohesion and solidarity of the community.
The most effective public awareness strategy usually involves
several of the media vehicles combined in an integrated campaign,
including radio, newspapers, television as well as public forums.
Through an integrated campaign, information on proposed
developments can be channeled to targeted communities to initiate
discussion and attract support, but also to erode any doubts and
uncertainties that may be lingering amongst stakeholders.
Unless administrators and planners recognize the need to
provide communities with information on proposed developments and
are prepared to receive and evaluate reasonable feedback from
stakeholders, meaningful participation might not continue to
develop within local communities.
Without the necessary participation of stakeholders in
decision-making processes that affect the quality of life in
their communities, frustration and negativity will begin to grow.
Nurturing participation does require administrators and
planners to change their decision-making style towards a greater
involvement of local stakeholders. Embracing change often
produces conflicting pressures but through an effective public
awareness strategy, these pressures can be guided towards
providing creative and constructive solutions to local problems.
From recent experience, participation is alive and well in
many local communities in Indonesia, but it remains the
responsibility of local administrators and planners to ensure
that the prevailing spirit of participation is preserved and
maintained for the future.
Peter de Young, Public Relations Consultant, Jakarta
The informative summary of the potential problems associated
with the planned introduction of regional autonomy by Gustaf Tamo
Mbapa (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 21) touches on two very important
points: The need for people in communities to become involved in
decision-making that affects their areas; and any attempt to
introduce regional autonomy without community involvement could
engender frustration and perhaps, future conflict.
With the advent of regional autonomy, administrators will have
greater authority over development within their areas but the
potential increase in power also carries a commensurate increase
in responsibility towards local communities.
Renovating schools, health centers and other community
facilities are vitally important developments offering a better
quality of life for any local community and impact directly on
national efforts towards alleviating poverty in Indonesia.
These developments provide administrators with a major
opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog with local
stakeholders and assist in nurturing a sense of ownership and
empowerment within the community.
Administrators should also realize that local communities
invariably have a better appreciation of needs and problems
within their own communities and therefore should be involved
directly in the decision-making processes that require inventive,
local solutions.
Allowing stakeholders to actively participate in local
decision-making processes is an important element towards
building local capacity for good governance.
But the key to developing community participation requires
administrators and planners to provide local communities with
information on proposed developments, to establish a reasonable
level of public awareness about the objectives of the planned
project activity.
Supplying information on planned developments to stakeholders
will precipitate discussion and allow opinions and concerns to be
aired within the community.
Details of the proposed projects should be presented at a
public meeting in the targeted area after all sections of the
affected community have been encouraged to attend and actively
participate in the discussions.
Potential contractors should also be invited to attend any
public presentation to allow the community to obtain some
indication as to their capacity to successfully implement the
proposed project.
A contractor, after being confronted with an activated and
informed community in a public forum, is less likely to engage in
practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism, especially
through the realization of the potential social and economic
backlash that could be aimed at the contractor's company by the
community.
Administrators in provincial areas need to develop working
coalitions with communities to attract the support of these
primary stakeholders and to encourage more local input in the
policy-making processes. Developing communications and gaining
support of local communities are integral elements in any public
awareness campaign.
Several government bodies have successfully employed public
awareness strategies to reach out to communities and attract
support for national campaigns.
For instance, the Ministry of Health has utilized social
marketing and public awareness techniques to attract the
involvement of targeted groups towards supporting national
vaccination programs for TB and Polio diseases.
Public awareness and social marketing techniques depend on
harnessing the interest and participation of individuals and
groups within a community. Again, dissemination of transparent
information to stakeholders is crucial to allow them to express
their real needs.
A proposal for road rehabilitation may be deemed a priority
amongst local administrators and planners but the renovation of a
run-down school facility may be the real need for the community.
Once consensus is reached on the priority for the community,
planners can move with confidence to the design stage of a
proposed development carrying the assurance that the project has
broad community support.
The alternative would be for the development project to be
imposed on the community using a non-participatory, "top-down"
approach that has only marginal support of the affected
community.
Working with local communities, as opposed to imposing non-
participatory systems for implementing projects, will enhance the
existing cohesion and solidarity in most communities.
A partnership or coalition involving a participatory approach,
will reinforce and extend the emerging sense of local ownership
and empowerment that is continually being emphasized by national
leaders as a necessary element of community behavior in the
reformasi era.
While administrators and planners may find the initial stages
of a public awareness campaign daunting and a little tiresome,
consulting local stakeholders will tend to build a higher level
of confidence and trust, if not real appreciation, within the
community.
Establishing a transparent, working relationship with the
community should also ease the passage of agreement for local
developments through regional administrative systems and
representative councils, particularly with reliance on the public
support of the community.
Another key component in achieving success in a public
awareness strategy hinges on enlisting the support of local
media. Some administrators have good working relationships with
local media but there is a need for those relationships to extend
to community groups to allow for balanced discussion of any
proposed development.
A few community groups have already demonstrated that they are
adept in making successful approaches to national and local media
outlets to promote their views about planned developments.
Failure by administrators to implement an effective public
awareness strategy and obtain general support for proposed
developments could activate affected communities to mobilize
sympathetic media to publicly air their contrary views and
concerns about the intended project. But public confrontation
through the use of media erodes the positive growth of a working
coalition between administrators and stakeholders and damages the
internal cohesion and solidarity of the community.
The most effective public awareness strategy usually involves
several of the media vehicles combined in an integrated campaign,
including radio, newspapers, television as well as public forums.
Through an integrated campaign, information on proposed
developments can be channeled to targeted communities to initiate
discussion and attract support, but also to erode any doubts and
uncertainties that may be lingering amongst stakeholders.
Unless administrators and planners recognize the need to
provide communities with information on proposed developments and
are prepared to receive and evaluate reasonable feedback from
stakeholders, meaningful participation might not continue to
develop within local communities.
Without the necessary participation of stakeholders in
decision-making processes that affect the quality of life in
their communities, frustration and negativity will begin to grow.
Nurturing participation does require administrators and
planners to change their decision-making style towards a greater
involvement of local stakeholders. Embracing change often
produces conflicting pressures but through an effective public
awareness strategy, these pressures can be guided towards
providing creative and constructive solutions to local problems.
From recent experience, participation is alive and well in
many local communities in Indonesia, but it remains the
responsibility of local administrators and planners to ensure
that the prevailing spirit of participation is preserved and
maintained for the future.