Also in this issue

Starting Up
• Certifiably Clean: RTI Helps the Emirates Enforce Environmental Regulations
• Removing Health Care Barriers and Empowering Communities in Madagascar

Publications
Hill et al., Would You Fight Again? Understanding Liberian Ex-Combatant Re-Integration

Krishnan et al., Poverty, Gender Inequities and Women’s Risk of HIV/AIDS

Litavecz et al., Building Research Capacity in Developing Countries

PDF Version

Growing School Communities in Indonesia

A decade ago, Indonesia’s centralized education system offered communities few openings to participate in the operation of their schools. The central government managed schools from the top down, shielding budgeting and planning decisions from parents and local officials.

Children engage in a class activity in Central Java. [Photo: DBE1 Central Java]

However, in 2001, Indonesia began the process of decentralization, allowing local governments, divided into districts, to assume greater responsibility for the education sector. Districts set out to develop ownership over their own education systems, although the previously centralized system had left them with minimal management or community participation experience on which to build.

In April 2005, RTI International began implementing the More Effective Decentralized Education Management and Governance (DBE1) program, a five-year project in Indonesia funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). DBE1 constitutes one of three integrated components that form USAID’s Decentralized Basic Education program in Indonesia. As prime contractor, RTI provides support to local governments in seven provinces—East Java, Central Java, West Java/Banten (combined), South Sulawesi, North Sumatera, and Aceh—as they tackle new responsibilities within the decentralized education system.

DBE1 works in 50 districts to develop models for education management and governance that can be replicated in the remaining 400 districts over time. The project creates and implements effective education finance systems, strengthens private sector support for education, and assists local governments to improve management systems, with an emphasis on fostering local participation in the education process.

Promoting Transparency and Community Participation

Before decentralization, community participation in most schools was limited. Some schools created ad hoc bodies to collect fees, but those committees were unrelated to governance.

Community members participate in a school committee training session in Aceh. [Photo: DBE1 Aceh]

“Communities viewed schools as being owned by the government,” said Dan Moulton, DBE1 Chief of Party.

“When we tried to communicate with community members before DBE1, they always thought we were trying to collect money,” said Mrs. Jerniati, a school principal.

To promote community involvement following decentralization, the government required many schools to develop school committees and grant them some authority. But principals often chose participants without informing other community members of the existence of the committees.

“Taking specific and directive actions to involve the community increases community support for education in terms of both providing additional financial resources and implementing school planning,” Moulton said.

RTI has taken several steps to foster community participation and improve management in schools. For example, the project has trained 13,297 school committee members and 3,548 principals to become active, effective contributors to school planning, management, and oversight.

“Through the trainings, committee members learn that they now have responsibilities, as well as rights, in terms of school management,” Moulton said.

A student participating in a school lesson in East Java. [Photo: DBE1 East Java]

At nearly 1,100 schools, the principals, school committees, and parents have collaborated to create School Development Plans, which help guide school priorities, activities, and budgeting. More than 3,000 additional schools are implementing this DBE1 methodology using local funding.

To increase transparency, DBE1 encourages schools to start posting their budgets in public places and also monitors whether the budgets remain posted. Improving public understanding of schools’ budgets and goals not only limits the possibilities for corruption within local school systems, but also instills a sense of community ownership, which contributes to better operated, higher quality schools.

“With the budget displayed in the open, the community now knows the school’s objectives and activities to achieve those goals,” Principal Jerniati said. “Everybody now regularly works together to create a more comfortable environment for the students.”

In some schools, public participation has pushed communities to provide more services for their children. “With DBE1 guidance, schools and parents learn and grow together,” said Mrs. Cici, a school committee member. “Now, together with the local health center, we manage a program to provide supplementary food and nutrition to students from low-income families.”

At another school, the creation and promotion of a School Development Plan spurred parents to find a solution to another common problem in the community. “We agreed that parents who could afford it would pay more to help students from low-income families,” said Mr. Abdul Wahid, a school committee member. “This arrangement enables all students to receive similar opportunities to learn and to grow.”

Accurate Budgeting for Better Management

Students in the Boyolali District of Central Java work in their classroom, now decorated with their art, made through the DBE1-supported Active, Creative, Joyful, and Effective Learning method. [Photo: DBE1 Central Java]

In addition to building community participation, RTI also assists district-level strategic planning and budgeting. DBE1 strengthens district planning practices by moving away from highly aggregated sums to appropriate, targeted data for planning. With technical assistance from RTI, 29 districts can now strategically tailor their limited budgets to the most essential and effective areas, Moulton said.

Recently, many newly elected officials have adopted the political platform that education should be free, since expensive school fees can be prohibitive for low-income families. However, the method of financial analysis RTI has introduced has revealed in many districts that government subsidies alone would not cover basic operational costs of schools. Now more districts are requesting help with financial analysis from the project to determine whether they could realistically offer free education.

DBE1 is facilitating discussions between education stakeholders, who will bring the issue to district legislators and executives. The project is also working to suggest alternatives to free education, such as using a sliding scale that offers inexpensive—rather than free—education.

Achieving Sustainability

In addition, RTI works to ensure project sustainability by training 334 government officials, especially school inspectors from district education offices, to improve and apply their planning and budgeting skills.

“The inspectors are now highly qualified in these areas,” Moulton said. “These government employees will continue to work long after the project is completed.”

DBE1 is also working to identify and build the capacities of other local institutions, such as universities, to assist local governments in school-related financial analysis, database use, and planning—expertise that is not readily available in most areas of the country.

More information:
Dan Moulton, e-mail dmoulton@rti.org