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For six months, from June 2013, KATADATA will be looking back over the 15 years of PNPM Perdesaan. Articles will be published every third week in Tempo magazine, and all the articles can be accessed at www.katadata.co.id. Feedback and suggestions to info@katadata.co.id

Pulau Matutuang

Marore Island

SANGIHE DISTRICT:

Area : 1.013km2Population : 127.520 (2011)

38,9%poor (2010)

PNPM Perdesaan Funds (2013):

IDR 14,6 billion

MARORE SUBDISTRICTPNPM Perdesaan Funds (2013):

IDR 1,85 billion

A FIGHT AGAINST THE ODDSPNPM MANDIRI TRIES TO FREE BORDER AREAS FROM THE GRIP OF POVERTY. NUR FARIDA AHNIAR REPORTS HAPPENINGS ON SANGIHE DISTRICTS, NORTH SULAWESI, ON THE INDONESIAN-FILIPINO BORDER.

PHILIPPINES

PASIFIC OCEAN

SULAWESI SEA

420 metres of breakwater

18 public toilets

980 metres of road

12 subdistricts

TAHUNA

The Extremes of MaroreMarore Subdistrict in Sangihe District is one of the most difficult PNPM Perdesaan locations. One village cadre even almost lost her life crossing the sea in a small boat from Matutuang to Marore, the island closest to the border with the Philippines.

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PNPM arrived 4 years ago on Matutuang Island. Constructed :

INDONESIABUSINESS INSIGHTS

15 YEARS PNPM PERDESAAN (1998-2013)The Largest Community-Based Development in The World

PRODUKSI KATADATA/TIM INFO TEMPO

RECKSAN Salur knows the bitter sweet of living on the border between two countries: Indonesia and the Philippines. He spent his childhood up to the end of primary school in his grandfather’s village, in the Philippines. Since junior secondary school, he has lived in his father’s village, in Indonesia.

Others may be proud to have had the experience of living in another country. But not Recksan. Like his father, he lives on Matutuang Island, in Kepulauan Sangihe District, North Sulawesi. There, many people are of mixed origin. Some even speak Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, more fluently than Indonesian.

Sangihe is not a prosperous border area. But Recksan feels that life is better in Indonesia. “There are more opportunities to work in Matutuang,” said the 27-year old. “In the Philippines, you have to work your fingers to the bone. There are no (government) subsidies. You have to do it alone.”

Border areas like Sangihe do get special attention from the government. Several development programs have been launched there, including the national community empowerment program, Program Nasional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (PNPM) Mandiri Perdesaan, for which Recksan works as a village community empowerment cadre.

Unlike other development initiatives, PNPM takes a community-drive development approach, with the activities proposed, and carried out, by the community itself. First launched under the name Program Pengembangan Kecematan (PPK) in 1998 in partnership with the World Bank, PNPM has grown continuously.

In the space of 15 years, PNPM Perdesaan has reached 63,000 villages across Indonesia. The government and World Bank have spent a total of IDR 70 trillion. Each subdistrict receives IDR 750 million – 3 billion a year. Jeremia Pilsrun Antara, local PNPM support worker in Tabukan Tengah, Sangihe, says that the subdistrict for which he is responsible received IDR 4 billion between 2010 and 2012.

In the PNPM development model, village communities propose the programs that they want for their village. The proposals are put forward to compete with proposals from other villages. Unlike other projects, contractors are not allowed to be used to construct physical infrastructure, which must be done by the villagers themselves. Labourers must be locals as well.

As a consequence, as well as keeping costs down substantially, “Community participation is high,” Minister of Home Affairs Gamazan Fauzi told the Katadata team. He gave the example of PNPM constructing water supply storage tanks and pipelines on land that had been donated by the villagers.

This is quite unlike other, centralised, development programs. “If this were a government-run

project, everyone would be demanding compensation, however small,” he said.

In Bowongkali village, Tabukan Tengah, Sangihe, for example, the villagers proposed building a 700 metre bridge. “The villagers contributed the labour and 25 cubic metres of stone,” said Jeremia. “Local people who were unemployed were recruited as labour, giving them an income.”

In the frontier areas of Indonesia, the government is doing more to develop PNPM Perdesaan in order to accelerate efforts to alleviate poverty. Some border areas have received more funding since 2010. That year, for example, three districts on the border in North Sulawesi – Sangihe, Talaud and Kepulauan Siau Tagulandang Biaro – received PNPM funding of IDR 41 billion.

As a result, in Sangihe District, since 2010, the PNPM Mandiri Perdesaan program has built more than 47 kilometres of road, of which 18 kilometres were constructed under PNPM Mandiri Perdesaan di Perbatasan, a PNPM program specifically for frontier areas.

In Tabukan Tengah, as well as ‘conventional’ programs such as constructing water supply facilities and roads, or providing loans through rotating fund schemes, PNPM also built a sago processing unit. Sago – which in Java is usually used as an ingredient in crackers or other foodstuffs – is a source of income for the people of Sangihe Island, along with coconuts and cloves.

To process sago, the villagers used to break it up with a mattock, which was extremely time consuming and back-breaking work. It took two days. Now, using a chopper they designed themselves – from a modified boat engine – it only take them a few minutes.

“Tabukan Tengah subdistrict was the first place in Sangihe to have a sago processing unit,” said Jeremia, who recently received an award for best local support worker from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In Matutuang, since the arrival of PNPM four years ago, 980 metres of a planned 1,100 metres of road have been constructed. Also, 18 public toilets and a 420-metre breakwater have been built. On a wage of just IDR 200,000 a month – which is not always paid on time – Recksan dedication as a village cadre never wanes.

If this were a government-run project, everyone would be demanding compensation, however small

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PRODUKSI KATADATA/TIM INFO TEMPO

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THE BOAT suddenly capsized. Alarmed, Recksan Salur and Karce Salensehe tried to right the small boat that they were taking from Matutuang to Marore, two small islands in Sangihe District, North Sulawesi. When they eventually managed to right the boat, the engine was dead.

Recksan and Karce had to take the small boat to Marore, because as village community empowerment cadres for Program Nasional Pemberdayan Masyarakat (PNPM) on Matutuan Island, they had received an invitation to a meeting on the island, which is the capital of the subdistrict.

Brought up on the small island in the area bordering the Philippines, Recksan and Karce were no strangers to this journey. They hadn’t even bothered to have breakfast. “We just a glass of tea, because we thought the journey would only take 90 minutes,” said Recksan, recalling what happened three years ago.

Those 90 minutes turned into five days, floating at sea without food or water. Adding to their hunger and thirst, was the burning sun that made all their skin peel off. Karce, a woman facilitator elected by the Matutuang villagers, was physically weaker. She was dehydrated and unconscious when the Navy patrol boat found them on the fifth day.

They were taken to the Navy hospital in Bitung, North Sulawesi. It was two weeks before Karce regained consciousness. She survived, although the doctors told her that she had just a 30 percent of survival due to severe dehydration. Recksan was in hospital for two weeks before his skin recovered.

Being a PNPM facilitator in a border area or an area where conditions are extreme, such as in Sangihe, is no easy task. The ferry to the district capital, Tahuna, only sails once every two weeks. If pressed, they have to rely on a small boat, which in the Philippines is called a pumpboat.

Telecommunications are abysmal too. On Matutuan Island, mobile phones don’t work. The fastest communication is by letter. And these are sent via the fishers. The social life of the villagers presents its own challenges. Many of the villagers do not speak Indonesian, and in the past lived in the Philippines. “We have to deal with people who have very little education, adapt to their language, which they brought with them from the Philippines,” said Recksan.

Recksan was born in 1986. His father came from Sangihe and his mother is mixed Indonesian-Filipino. He emigrated to Indonesia when he was in junior secondary school. When PNPM came to Matutuang in 2009, Recksan knew nothing about the program. But the villagers chose him, a 23-year old, to be a village community empowerment cadre. Karce was chosen to be the woman cadre.

He enjoys his job even though he earns very little: just IDR 100,000 a month. A pay rise last year means he now gets IDR 200,000. “But this year, I haven’t been paid for six months,” he said. Demonstrating the same

BATTLING WITH DEATHFIVE DAYS AND FIVE NIGHTS, TWO PNPM FACILITATORS WERE FLOATING IN THE OPEN WATERS AROUND SANGIHE. UNCONSIOUS, THEY HAD A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SURVIVAL.

She was dehydrated and unconscious when the Navy patrol boat found them on the fifth day.

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INDONESIABUSINESS INSIGHTS

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15 YEARS PNPM PERDESAAN (1998-2013)The Largest Community-Based Development in The World

PRODUKSI KATADATA/TIM INFO TEMPO

WITH years of experience as Solok District Head (1995-2005) and as Governor of West Sumatera (2005-2009), Minister of Home Affairs Gamawan Fauzi knows exactly what development model is right for engaging local communities. In an exclusive interview with the Katadata team, this winner of the Bung Hatta Anti-Corruption Award, is sharply critical of the project model that has been the norm since the New Order era.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF PNPM?There are many ‘top-down’ programs, but they aren’t effective because people don’t feel that they own them. They have little sense of ownership. Unlike projects that the communities work on themselves. They will take care of it. The output will be maximised. That’s the strength of PNPM.

FOR EXAMPLE?When I was the head of Solok District in West Sumatera, my district was a PNPM pilot project area. We constructed water supply infrastructure. The villagers felt that it belonged to them, because of their high rate of participation. Their yards were used for the water pipeline. They constructed the pipes and the collection tanks. They did all that without being paid. But if that had been a government-run project, they would have asked for compensation, however small. I once built a micro hydro system, but not through PNPM. That program only lasted two years. The villagers were supposed to manage it themselves. But they didn’t want to, because they considered it a government project. Development was something that the government did.

PNPM WILL END IN 2014…Development under PNPM has encouraged public participation, and been cost saving. So I hope that

this program doesn’t end. Programs like PNPM are icons, the development models of the future. PNPM was designed as a purely bottom-up development model. I will promote this as a development strength that could replace the project model. If this program does end, it’s spirit cannot be allowed to disappear. The PNPM approach must be continued by governors, district heads and mayors. Development must be from the people, for the people, and managed by the people themselves.

SOME THINK THAT PNPM IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAM NOW…This program has been running since 1997. It has spanned presidents, political parties. We need to stop thinking about politics all the time. We have to be able to see good ideas, see them clearly. It would be unhealthy to be looking through political eyes all the time.

Read the article in full atwww.katadata.co.id

level of dedication is Jeremia P. Antara, who works in Tabukan Tengah subdistrict. This dedication recently won him an award as the best subdistrict support worker in Indonesia in extreme and isolated areas.

It is not unusual for him to climb hills and cross the sea in a pumpboat. He even regularly has to walk about 9 kilometres from his home in Bowongkali to the Tahuna subdistrict PNPM

secretariat.All this hard work pays off when he

sees school children not having to trail along muddy roads and villagers not having to walk miles to fetch fresh water. “People didn’t use to have the money to sell fish, but now some have even got boats. People who used to be tailors, now have small clothes shops.”

OUT WITH THE PROJECT MODEL

GAMAWAN FAUZI, MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS44

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