BappenasCommunicating Policy for Effective Governance

Short Term Award Program

Twenty seven mid to senior level Indonesian bureaucrats from Indonesia’s National Development Planning Ministry (Bappenas), Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda NTT) and Bogor municipal government participated in an Australia Awards Indonesia Short Term Award from 28 September to 9 October 2015. The Award titled ‘Communicating Policy for Effective Governance’ was delivered by the University of Queensland International Development (UQID). The Award aimed to improve participants’ capacity to apply best practice policy communications methods. It was comprised of classroom sessions, guest lectures, facilitated workshops, scenario-based exercises, case studies and institutional visits.

In delivery of the Award, UQID drew on the policy expertise of UQ academic staff, former and current policy practitioners, media advisors and journalists to deliver content around best practice policy development; policy advisory units and think-tanks; intergovernmental relations; disaster response communication and coordination; strategic communication plans; quality assurance processes for commissioned research; media engagement; rapid response policy advice; and gender equity and social inclusion considerations in policy communication.

Key Elements

Pre-course workshop in Bandung

Two week course at the University of Queensland (UQ)

Institutional visits to government agencies and think-tanks in Brisbane and Canberra

Presentation of personal Award Projects

Closing Ceremony at Summit Restaurant in Brisbane

Ongoing engagement via electronic discussion and follow-up assessment of Short Term Award Projects

The Award was led by The Honourable Paul Lucas. Mr Lucas is a former deputy premier of Queensland with a 16-year political career across a range of ministerial portfolios, including planning, local government, infrastructure, transport, health, energy and IT. Mr Lucas provided participants with an executive perspective on policy communication, guiding them on key considerations in engaging stakeholders, building policy consensus and making recommendations to Ministers. Co-course leader, Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller is an Indonesia specialist with experience working with a range of government agencies in Jakarta. She provided a former policy advisor’s perspective on policy communication, addressing key elements of rapid response policy advice and the importance of understanding the whole-of-government policy context when identifying and engaging with key stakeholders.

Short Term Awardees, Brisbane, September 2015. Photo: The University of Queensland

Awardees Ellyna (Lynna) and Teni brainstorm a policy communication exercise at the Pre-course workshop in Bandung, August 2015.

Ms Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum (Lisa), Deputy Director for Community Empowerment, Directorate of Poverty Reduction, Bappenas Jakarta

Lisa‘s learning goals for the course were initially predicated upon developing a strategy for improved communication of poverty alleviation targets as stipulated in Indonesia’s Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN 2014-2019). As the Short Term Award progressed, Lisa refined the objective of her Award Project to achieve greater harmonisation between Indonesia’s fisheries development programs with Bappenas’ poverty reduction strategy. Her new topic: ‘Aligning the [Maritime Affairs and] Fisheries Program with the Poverty Reduction Strategy’ reflects the fact that farming and fishing communities constitute around 60% of Indonesia’s poor and that developing the capacity of Indonesia’s fisheries communities is a declared policy priority of the Joko Widodo Government. In the evolution of her Award Project, Lisa sought specifically to implement a policy communications project aligning Bappenas’ Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) predicated on community empowerment with Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s (KKP) development of fisheries communities through the provision of assets and infrastructure. Lisa successfully adapted a strategic marketing communications plan to assist her in communicating with key stakeholders. The UQID delivery team looks forward to hearing about the progress of Lisa’s Award Project along with those of all Awardees during the Post-Course Workshop in January 2016.

During the two-week in-Australia component of the Award, participants gained new knowledge, tools and skills in policy communication. Many of the Awardees, for example, readily adapted a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (‘SWOT’) environmental analysis into their personal Award Projects based on a strategic marketing communications plan introduced by former Queensland Government media advisor (and Sessional Lecturer at UQ’s School of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS)), Dr Lorann Downer.

Dr Sarel Gronum (Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UQ Business School), meanwhile, challenged many Awardees’ assumptions about academic freedom and methodology in commissioning research from universities and external think-tanks. The gender equity and social inclusion considerations as they apply to Awardees’ respective policy areas was considered through practical exercises with UQ academic and former federal government policy advisor, Dr Michelle Brady.

Key to the Award program was the establishment of professional networks in Australia to assist Bappenas personnel in communicating and coordinating complex, whole-of-government policy issues. Briefings by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C) Economic Division, Cabinet Division and Project Office were also well-received by Bappenas Awardees working to improve the communication of Indonesia’s national development priorities with line agencies, provincial, district and municipal governments. Awardees were enthusiastically welcomed at PM&C, where they engaged in discussions on federal-state relations, intergovernmental consultation mechanisms, briefing processes, and the importance of seconding staff from line agencies into PM&C. At the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an influential Canberra-based strategic policy think-tank, Awardees gained an appreciation of the importance of contestability in policy advice and saw how ASPI utilises social media to communicate its policy analysis and products. A visit to the Australian Productivity Commission provided Awardees with insights into the remit of a government-funded independent research and advisory body. Presenters at the Commission further provided Awardees with copies of the Commission’s annual Report on Government Services, which provides vital information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services across Australia.

In Queensland, Award highlights included an institutional visit to the Queensland Emergency Services Complex at Kedron where participants visited the State Disaster Coordination Centre and the State Operations Centre to see an example of multi-agency emergency response capability. This visit enabled Awardees to benchmark interagency coordination mechanisms in Australia with those in Indonesia, particularly around communication in crisis management and disaster response.

Contact person: Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller, Manager, Governance and Public Policy g.nabbskeller@uq.edu.au

Djoese, from the East Lesser Sunda Islands Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda NTT) joins fellow Bappenas awardees in a visit to the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 6 October 2016.

Communicating Policy for Effective Governance Awardees look on as Craig Phasey from Queensland Government Air (QGAIR) demonstrates the ‘Cruiser Table’ which enables QGAir personnel to view emergency response data on high tech, interactive touch screens, September 2015.