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.