Core Management and Budget Skills for Indonesian Local Governments (2000-2005)

The Core Management and Budget Skills for Indonesian Local Governments Program provided budgeting and financial management assistance that reached more than 400 local governments in Indonesia.

The Core Management and Budget Skills for Indonesian Local Governments Program provided budgeting and financial management assistance that reached more than 400 local governments in Indonesia. This component of BIGG (Building Institutions for Good Governance) worked intensively with 46 local governments in West Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, and the Bird’s Head Region of Papua by providing on-site consultancies, technical assistance, training, and publications. The combination of these activities supported improved democratic decision making, more efficient and effective service delivery, budget priority setting and performance tracking, and a greater level of citizen participation in the budget preparation process. Accomplishments included:

  • Development of a wide range of self-sustaining, interactive training models, manuals, and publications on performance budgeting and other financial and management topics. The materials were used in universities across the country.
  • All 46 local governments that received BIGG’s intensive training in one department took the initiative to use BIGG’s training materials to train their entire local government staff at the local government’s own expense through the use of their own trainers.
  • The local legislative councils where BIGG was active became more engaged in the budgeting process. Where previously they only “rubber stamped” a proposed budget, the legislative and executive branches began working together to jointly set budget priorities.
  • BIGG formed and trained a pool of highly sought-after local government consultants from a broad range of institutions such as local governments, local government associations, central government ministries, and universities.
  • Mayors began to link results of their performance budgets, balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and cash flow statements to their annual accountability reports.
  • Local legislative council members became more accountable to the public: for example, they reduced gasoline expenditures of non-active members and recorded attendance of council members.
  • Local governments conducted radio discussions about the budget with listener participation.
  • Local government departments began to identify measurable targets for each of their budgeted activities.