Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) helps alleviate poverty

Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) helps alleviate poverty

Within the extensive development cooperation program between the Netherlands and Indonesia, the Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) can be highlighted as a best-practice case.

This World Bank implemented program has been financed from the beginning with very substantial contributions from the Netherlands government.

The excellent results achieved by this program, are the main reason for the continued Dutch funding. Dutch funding over the period 2002-2004 amounted to US$40 million. With the Dutch grant component it has now become possible to reach one out of every four villages in Indonesia through the KDP, thereby enabling the villages to conduct small scale infrastructure, social and economic activities.

The KDP is a program of the government of Indonesia aimed at alleviating poverty in rural communities and improving local governance.

The KDP provides block grants of Rp 350 million to Rp 1 billion directly to kecamatans (sub districts) and villages for small-scale infrastructure, social and economic activities.

The program is targeted toward the poorest kecamatans in Indonesia and aims to foster more democratic and participatory forms of local governance by strengthening kecamatan and village capacities. Furthermore, the KDP also seeks to improve community participation in development -- especially for women and poor villagers -- transparency, competition for funds and sustainability.

The main objective of all KDP activities is to allow villagers to make their own choices about the projects that they need and want. The purpose of project support is to provide village men and women with enough information, opportunity, and freedom of choice to make informed, responsible decisions.

The KDP developed in 1998 in the midst of the country's political transition period and decentralization process. During this uncertain period of political and economic turmoil, the KDP was born, partially in response to the crisis, and to the perceived increase in poverty levels mostly in rural areas. The current governmental policy also promotes the KDP design as a foundation of its national poverty reduction strategy.

The KDP began in 501 kecamatans in 20 provinces throughout the country, 60 percent outside of Java and all with a high incidence of poverty. By the project's third year (2001-2002), it had scaled up two-fold to cover 986 kecamatans in 22 provinces reaching approximately 35 million Indonesians.

A strong poverty focus is maintained by the KDP. By the use of national statistics, kecamatans containing an average of 20 to 25 villages and as many as 100,000 people, are selected from a master poverty register. The lists are then reviewed and the selection refined by the provinces and districts, ranking the kecamatans by local perceptions of poverty.

The KDP project cycle starts with a four-to-six-month-long facilitated socialization and planning process at the sub- village, village and kecamatan levels. In open public meetings, villagers decide upon a maximum of two proposals for forwarding to the final round of kecamatan level decision making; of the two proposals, one must come from women. In the kecamatan meetings, elected representatives of all the villages select proposals for funding under the KDP fund allocation to the kecamatan.

Village implementation and monitoring teams, technical assistance, and kecamatan-level financial units are then chosen to implement the village projects of infrastructure, economic loans or social activities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Department of Community Development is the project executor. Government co-ordination teams, representing various ministries and a large team of consultants (in the program's third year, 1,660 consultants were providing technical assistance and facilitation to the KDP process), also provide technical support and training to the KDP program at the national, provincial and district levels.

Monitoring and evaluation are core components of the KDP. The program emphasizes internal monitoring, i.e. monitoring by KDP stakeholders involved with the program, and external monitoring and evaluation, conducted by outside parties such as non- governmental organizations, journalists and external evaluators.

In addition, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), the NMC and the World Bank perform regular financial audits and reviews. As part of the monitoring and evaluation system, the program has also emphasized the importance of documenting lessons learned and conducting research on relevant program issues.

The KDP has commissioned several studies and papers examining various themes or topics. This research has helped to inform and guide program design and developments.