International aid agencies prefer granting joint requests for funds
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).