International aid agencies prefer granting joint requests for funds
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
International donor agencies have asked the country's regency administrations to make collective proposals when requesting for cash or technical assistance.
Officials said that individual proposals would not likely be processed by the agencies because of the latter's need for a bulk request when deciding on assistance.
A senior project officer with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Sahrul Ludin said the Bank would require at least 30 or 40 regencies that collectively requested similar assistance in order to pass ADB screening.
"We need mass here; abundant beneficiaries who in the end can use the assistance collectively, not just (individual) proposals from regions making different requests for aid," he said.
Sahrul was speaking during a seminar on the role of international aid agencies in assisting regional development here on Wednesday.
The seminar, which was attended by around 60 regency officials from across the country, included speakers from United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Dinur Krismasari, a program officer with the JICA Indonesia Office, said that the regencies had to work together to produce proposals of a larger volume since requests for small quantity users usually ended up being cut from JICA's list.
Regency administrations have obtained greater power in managing their economic affairs following the introduction of regional autonomy in 1999. This has pushed regional governments to work on their own in searching for funding sources to help finance their greater administrative power.
Another issue raised in the seminar was the inadequate networks to directly connect local governments with the international aid agencies.
Many local officials expressed dissatisfaction with the complicated procedures to reach out to such international agencies and also complained about bogus mediators making promises to connect them with aid agencies for a fee.
"There were a couple of times when we met people at the capital (of the province) who promised to connect us with international agencies, or even claimed to work for them. But the promises never materialized," said Sagaf, a representative from Majene Regency in South Sulawesi.
Agency representatives acknowledged that the inadequate network was due to limited human resources to reach the approximately 400 regencies nationwide, and therefore warned officials to stay alert and trust only acknowledged institutional mediators from the government.
"It's also a problem for us, but we can't keep them from coming to your areas because it's their right. You must also screen them," Dinur told the seminar.
Among of the mediators are the Association of Regional Legislative Councils (ADEKSI) and the Association of Regency Councils (ADKASI).