Fund established for reform projects
Fund established for reform projects
JAKARTA (JP): In a bid to boost the process of economic and
social reforms in Indonesia, the government and several foreign
institutions have established an organization to help fund
various reform projects.
Some US$50 million in grants is eventually expected to be made
available.
The governing board of Partnership for Governance Reform held
its inaugural meeting here on Friday to appoint Minister of
Settlement and Regional Development Erna Witoelar and Muslim
scholar Nurcholish Madjid as co-chairs.
"The partnership was established to support this country's
efforts through the creation of a coherent framework within which
all development partners can contribute to reform," Erna said.
Erna said the board was established to disburse donated funds.
The founding members of the partnership are the United Nations
Development Program, the World Bank and the Asian Development
Bank.
The board has already raised some $30 million for the first
year from members of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI),
with an objective of gaining an additional $20 million to help
fund the first three years of the project.
According to Erna, the role of the board includes minimizing
practices of collusion, corruption and nepotism in the
disbursement of the funds.
The money will be allocated to various projects which focus on
major governance issues like reforming the justice sector,
developing a regional autonomy policy, empowering the
legislature, restructuring the electoral system, reforming the
civil service, encouraging corporate governance and strengthening
civil society.
Erna said submission of proposals were open to all -- the
government, the private sector, the media and non-governmental
organizations.
"The board will screen each proposal that comes to us. If the
proposal is logical we will supply the funding," she said without
elaborating on the specifics on funding for each proposal.
Nurcholish said one example project for legislative
empowerment could be providing various training programs or
seminars to enhance the awareness and knowledge of legislators in
the field. (10)