The purpose of this page is to provide results orientated narrative
information on implementation of projects recent and current, progress, expected
outcomes, problems encountered in the field, solutions sought and found,
and briefly introduce the main players and stakeholders who will provide
relevant information "from the field". See the
Gallery for a selection from the photo
documentation.
Current: 2019-2020
Currently, Pugajinou in
association with Inno International Consultants of the Philippines is
implementing the ADB funded Support to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations Economic Community - Labor Market Activation Program. The program
was piloted successfully in the Philippines and it is now Indonesia's turn to
boost the labor market with well-skilled youth where the skills taught are
aligned with the needs of the local labor market. The partners in Indonesia are
the Cooperating Ministry for Economic Affairs (CMEA), the Ministry of Labor, the
local offices in Makassar, Bandung Barat and Semarang of this ministry as well
as the local offices of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadinda) and the
private sector (the Association of Indonesian Entrepreneurs, Apindo amongst
others). Click here for a
general description of this project
A Recent Project: 2013-2017
Since December 2013 until December 2017 Pugajinou implemented the
European Union funded and ADB managed "Minimum Service Standards
Capacity Development Program" (ADB TA-8358 INO). Pugajinou was
contracted by ADB to manage Region III activities, comprising of 19
districts in Sulawesi and Maluku provinces.
The overall project is managed and
guided by a central management team based in Jakarta, while project work
in the field is done in 4 regions with a total of 108 districts, each
with its own team of consultants (District Advisory Team/ DAT): Region
I, Sumatra and Kalimantan, Region II, East Java, NTB and NTT, Region
III, Sulawesi and Maluku, and Region IV, Papua and West Papua.
Pugajinou's team of District Advisors
consists of the following persons:
Supriadi
Torro
Team
Leader, based in Donggala but responsible for activities in all 19
districts
Sagaf
Lamureke
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist, responsible
for Sigi, Donggala and Parigi Moutong
Hasanuddin
Education specialist, responsible for Parigi
Moutong, Donggala, Banggai and Banggai Kepulauan
La
Sunra Baharuddin
Education specialist, responsible for Donggala,
Banggai and Banggai Kepulauan
Syamsuddin
Awing
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist, responsible for Morowali, Banggai and Banggai Kepulauan
Hamdan
Hadenan
Education specialist, responsible for Gorontalo, Gorontalo
Utara, Pohuwato and Boalemo
Mus
Mualim
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist,
responsible for Gorontalo, Gorontalo Utara, Pohuwato and Boalemo
Slamet
Tachjar
Education specialist, responsible for Polewali
Mandar, Mamasa and Majene
Nasri
Nurdin
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist, responsible
for Majene, Mamasa and Polewali Mandar
Mustamin
Tewa
Education specialist, responsible for Mamasa, Polewali Mandar and Majene
Agunawan
Education specialist, responsible for
Maluku Tengah, Seram Bagian Timur and Buru
Samsir
Gamang
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist,
responsible for Tual, Maluku Barat Daya and Buru
Agustinus
Maniyeni
Education specialist,
responsible for Maluku Tenggara Barat and Maluku Barat Daya
Rustam
Borahim
Governance/ budgeting-planning specialist, responsible for Majene and
Morowali
The project maintains four project offices, in Gorontalo, Donggala,
Maluku Tenggara Barat (Tanimbar), and Masohi, all operated by Pugajinou
locally hired support staff; the offices are usually based within the
compounds of the District Education Offices.
Implementation
Under
the project, all participating districts will receive a European Union
grant of 2.5 billion rupiah. The recipient districts had to sign a
letter of agreement according to which the districts committed
themselves to pay up front 10% of the grant money from their local
budgets (APBD), in other words the districts pre-finance part of the
grant activities. It has been made clear to all stakeholders that the
funds of the European Union can only be used to fund activities that
deal with capacity building, training, workshops, surveys, etc. The
funds cannot be used in any way for physical items such as constructing
new schools, repairing leaking roofs of school buildings, buying
equipment for laboratories, furniture, books, etc. It took quite some
time to get the message through to the local stakeholders - they had
thought and hoped that physical items could be funded as well. The
European Union has a clear stance on this: "we, the European Union,
will pay for non-physical items while it is expected that you, the
district governments, through your commitment to the program pay for
physical items from your local budgets."
Of course, the issue is two-sided: it is very well to have capable
educators but what if there are no funds for buying the necessary school
books, laboratory equipment, repairing school buildings, building new
schools, and so on? Another issue is that In our opinion school/ madrasah teachers in view of the very important and crucial role as
educators of the future generation are underpaid.
Even though teaching is an idealist profession, a teacher, who
earns barely enough for subsistence may loose his/ her spirit for
teaching and improving the quality of education. It is therefore very
important that for the grant funded activities to have a lasting impact
the local governments turn their written commitment to the program into
real action by allocating sufficient funds for upgrading facilities,
salaries and infrastructure.
Socialization
The project started off with wide-spread initial socialization
activities about "what are minimum service standards in basic
education?" It appeared that only few people are aware of these
standards in spite of the fact that there is a multitude of government
regulations dealing with these standards. The first quarter of 2014 saw a
massive socialization campaign in all participating districts. The
following video is a sample of the opening of such a socialization event
in Sigi, Central Sulawesi (click
here). Achievement of the minimum service standards can be measured
by looking at the 27 indicators - how well did the schools do in respect
to each indicator (read the list of the 27 indicators by clicking
here or
download the full Regulation of the Minister of National Education
Number 15 of Year 2010).
Status Quo
Assessment
After the socialization phase a
status quo assessment was carried out in all 19 districts. This implied visiting
offices of education, schools and madrasah in selected sub-districts in each
district. Prior to this, the DAT consultants had trained note takers and staff
of the education offices on how to collect data following a questionnaire
system, enter and verify the data. All 27 indicators of the minimum service
standards were covered, and the data were analyzed. The scorecards for each
district thus obtained showed that overall the achievement of the indicators/
minimum service standards in basic education lies at around 50%, for a few
districts around 60% and in most Maluku districts far below 50%. Most educators
were surprised by the not so good achievements, and it became clear to all
parties involved that achievement of the minimum service standards must be
improved, and that is what the district education offices through EU grant
funded activities are working on. During data collection many discussions were
held with teachers, school and madrasah heads, school committees, etc. These
guided discussions brought some interesting opinions and concerns to the front
A few examples: cooperation between the local office of the Ministry of
Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs is not always
smooth; school committees are not always fully involved in school management; we
have not enough classified teachers; we do not have funds for purchase of books
and repairs of school buildings, we do not know what the minimum service
standards in basic education are, etc.
Proposals and
Activities
In order to begin training
activities to enhance the capabilities of local staff in education, the
districts put together proposals including budgets for implementation of these
activities. After the submitted proposals were reviewed and approved, the
districts started to implement a range of activities in the first quarter of
2015. These activities were in general facilitated and monitored by DAT
consultants while experienced national and local trainers served as resource
persons for these activities. Activities included socialization and later
training of stakeholders at the district and sub-district level, for local staff
of education offices, teachers, school and madrasah heads, school inspectors,
technical teams, the local business community. and the public. Up to the end of
2015 a total of 249 activities was carried out.
Problems encountered
A
major problem encountered in the field is transport. That holds not only for
consultants but also for school-going kids (see the video
The Road to School.
The video was posted by Tribunnews on Face Book). Many
sub-districts in Maluku province are located on outlying islands that are hard
to reach - dependent on the goodwill and benevolence of winds and seas. In
mountain areas there is the problem of bad roads and the danger of landslides is
real. The human side also often shows shortcomings: too much bureaucracy, too
much time (and money) is spent on coordination meetings, and inexperience in
dealing with budgets and financial administration. An additional problem is that
there are only 14 consultants available for 19 districts so that some
consultants are responsible for more than one district, and that the consultants
are only contracted for a period of 28-30 months under a project duration of 39
months. This means that they have intermittent periods during which they are
away from the districts. During this time of absence, activities in most cases
come to a halt, that is, the local players rely on the consultant to move
forward, without consultant presence, not much happens.
As with most development projects, there is the problem of sustainability. In
many cases once the project is terminated, the beneficiaries return to the
status quo ante, nothing appears to have changed. Especially in the case of a
project like this, sustainability is a big problem: without strong ("spiritual"
and financial) commitment and political will of the local governments the
project is doomed to fail. With frequent changes and mutations of staff, new
staff is either not well informed about what is going on or is not interested. A Bupati who committed himself to the program will disappear after his term has
ended, a new Bupati may not be equally committed. Medium term government plans (RENSTRA,
RENJA for example) come to an end, and will they be renewed in the same spirit?
To counteract on this, it is a very good thing that most districts have started
to draft regional regulations that regulate the achievement of the minimum
service standards and, in some cases, the education sector in general. The
advantage here is that regional regulations need the commitment and approval of
both the executive and legislative arms of government, and are "timeless', they
are not dependent on changes in the political climate. Once a regional
regulation is adopted it is there, and to change or dispose of it needs
considerable efforts.
On a general
note, it is the “way of doing things” (“work behavior”) that is detrimental to
smooth and successful implementation in addition to the fact that many staff are
not well trained in things such as proposal and report writing as well as proper
budgeting. In our opinion, for the program to be sustainable our DAT consultants
will need to work on bringing about a change of the mindset of education
policy-makers and implementers.
Two quotes may
illustrate this:
"The key word for improving the
education sector and dealing with its problems is “mentality”. Even if
facilities and infrastructure are excellent there will be no change if
the mindset [of the players] remains out of line. Hopefully, the MSS CDP
can provide a solution (Mentalitas merupakan pintu masuk untuk
membenahi seluruh bengkalai pendidikan yang selama ini masih menjadi
masalah, karena walaupun sarana dan prasarana sekolah dipenuhi jika
mentalitas tidak dibenahi maka tidak akan ada perubahan, semoga program
PKP SPM Dikdas bisa menjawab kedepannya)
Mr. Ismail, Coordinator of School
Inspectors of Morowali: "In particular, the school head is not
just a managerbut he must be
a leader who thinks about strategies to push the school forward.
If the school head is not change-minded, progress in school quality will
slow down" (Khususnya kepala sekolah bukan hanya sebagai manajer
namun harus menempatkan diri sebagai leader yang senantiasa berpikir
strategi jitu yang harus dilakukan demi pengembangan sekolah yang lebih
maju. Jika kepala sekolah tidak memiliki jiwa-jiwa perubahan maka
otomatis pengembangan mutu sekolah akan berjalan lamban)
A point of some concern is the
following: we received a report from DAT consultant Rustam Borahim in Maluku
Barat Daya. He pointed out that he was concerned about “slowness” of
implementation of activities (no activities were carried out during the last
quarter of 2015), and found that “they” (staff of local education office and
government) are more interested in projects funded through the local budget (APBD),
general and special allocation funds (DAU, General Allocation Funds, and DAK,
Special Allocation Funds) than in grant funded activities where expenditures are
under tight control. One can only speculate about the reasons for this. It is
quite possible that similar views circulate in other districts as well. On the
other hand, DAT consultant in Morowali, Syamsuddin Awing, reported as follows: a
meeting with school inspectors was held to strengthen commitment to the program.
This seemed to have been successful. The school inspectors expressed their hope
that management of education in particular would be improved rather sooner than
later. Our overall impression is that commitment needs to be “refreshed” from
time to time.
Achievements so far
Awareness among stakeholders (including the community, the legislative
arm of government and the private sector) has increased considerably;
In many districts, commitment towards the program has increased
substantially, and the spirit to make the program successful with
lasting impact is good, especially at the grass-root level;
We notice a distinct increase in transparency of District Offices of
Education, an openness and a will in respect to achieving the best
possible results of the project;
The fact that many districts have drafted a regional regulation
concerning the achievement of the MSS shows that stakeholders are
concerned about sustainability of the program after it is completed. In
all cases the drafts were well received by the legislative;
Steps to
integrate the achievement of the minimum service standards into local
government policies, planning and budgets are materializing alongside
the development of a road map for this;
Coverage of
the district activities by the local media (TV, newspapers, magazines,
radio) is good and stimulating;
All
districts/ offices of education have either implemented a full census on
achievement of the indicators for the minimum services standards in
education or have planned to do so in the near future. It shows that the
districts are concerned about the achievement of the minimum service
standards. The results of the census will show the gaps in achievement,
and the way to go (exemplified in a road map);
A very fortunate development is that in Seram
Bagian Timur district the private sector (CITIC Energy) is interested in
cooperating with the District Education Office on funding of education
activities. This happened during a meeting after a socialization
activity where representatives of this firm were present.
Read the full story in Indonesian;
Work on
formulating a road map for education, a policy document, is progressing
well in most districts.
The various
training workshops and seminars that were held over the course of the
project and in which also people from the districts (such as school
inspectors, technical teams, government representatives) participated
have shown to bear fruit.
Outlook
For 2016, another large number of district activities is planned. These will
address specific capability and capacity issues in school planning and
budgeting, further development of a road map for district education, the
adoption of regional regulations and the integration of the minimum service
standards into local government policies. Some time during 2016 there will be an
assessment of the achievement of the minimum service standards and compare the
data with those that were collected in 2014. We expect that there will be
considerable improvement in the achievement of the indicators.
An
early highlight in 2016 was a workshop held from 13-16 March 2016 in Luwuk, the
capital of Banggai district in Central Sulawesi (follow
this link for a story on the event). The purpose of the workshop was to
train regional resource persons in formulating and putting together local
(annual) school and madrasah work plans and budgets (RKS/ M, Rencana Kerja
Sekolah/ Madrasah; RKT, Rencana Kerja Tahunan; and RKAS, Rencana Kegiatan dan
Anggaran Sekolah). The training modules and other materials/ tools provided to
the consultants in a previous workshop in Yogyakarta served as the basis for
this workshop. It is expected that the local resource persons will serve as
trainers/ facilitators at the district and/ or school level to ensure that these
work plans and budgets are integrated into the road map reflecting objectives
and expected outputs in respect to achieving the minimum service standards in
basic education. The 26 enthusiastic participants originated from a variety of
participating districts in Maluku and Central Sulawesi; they comprised mainly of
local school inspectors, key players on the ground in promoting achievement of
the service standards, and other staff of the district education offices as well
as local universities.
One participant wrote a small story about his opinions and view on education
these days. Follow this link to read
it.
Originally, the program was set to end by 27 February 2017. However, the
European Union, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Asian Development
Bank decided to extend the program up to November 2017 in order to provide more
time to the districts to formulate their "end product", i.e. a road map with
action plan for (acceleration of) achievement of the minimum service standards
in basic education that will be integrated into local planning and budgeting
documents (annual work plan, five-year strategic plan). By now (that is November
2017), almost all road maps are finalized and - as regional policy documents -
signed by the executive and legislative branches of the local governments. Many
of the signed road maps are integrated into the local budgets and work plans.
Also several districts have issued a regional regulation (Perda) and/ or a
regulation of the head of the district (Perbup) that provides legal support for
the road map.
Followthis link
for a selection of opinions, comments and quotations (most in Indonesian, some
in English) from
people in the districts.
Since November 2017, the project is terminated. Below is a summary of program
achievements:
The key
achievements or products of the program can be summarized as follows:
The status quo assessment and focus group
discussions opening the eyes of educators and other parties involved
District proposals with budget preparation
leading to the implementation of many socialization and training
activities thereby transferring necessary skills in planning and
budgeting to staff of the District Education Offices and others
Follow-on school data collection (census)
Formulation and issuance of regional
regulations
Formulation of a road map
and action plan with integration into the local Strategic Plans (Renstra)
and the Work Plans (Renja) as well as the Medium-term
Development Plans (RPJMD).
The program’s key achievement are
the road maps that in all districts are now completed. In several
districts the road map serves as a good example of a real road map that,
if implemented, will have positive impact. In one case (Buru), the road
map was copied and distributed to other agencies in the district to
serve as a model for replication in planning and budgeting. All
districts have used census data to analyze gaps, and included these into
the road map document(s) where the road map as such now is a local
policy document that sets the direction of future education development,
and will be taken as the basis of regional regulations. What remains to
be done is the full and formal integration of the road maps into
regional planning documents, and the detailed formulation of concrete
action plans.