BSP KEMALA
SUPPORTING INDONESIAN NGOs FOR COMMUNITY BASED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 

BSP

Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) is a consortium of the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy and World Resources Institute. USAID funds BSP under a Cooperative Agreement which is managed by USAID’s Global Bureau Environment Center. BSP’s mission is to promote conservation of the world’s biological diversity and to help maximize the impact of U.S. Government support to biodiversity conservation. To accomplish this mission, BSP supports local communities, non-government organizations (NGOs) and governments.

 

KEMALA

BSP has a program in Indonesia, which is known as KEMALA. KEMALA is focussed on building a network of well informed, technically competent, creative and politically active individuals and non-government organizations concerned with community-based natural resource management across Indonesia. KEMALA seeks to build coalitions that expand the use of natural resource management and conservation "best practices" by rural communities. It also supports the growth of decentralized structures within which groups can participate in political life and decision-making in future decades.

 

KEMALA SUPPORT

KEMALA provides support to 15 Indonesian partners - local and national NGOs and networks -. Potential partners that already had a record of achievement in community-based management at field sites or in policy work, were invited to submit proposals for funding support for further work. These proposals were then developed together with BSP staff into full grant agreements. Partners were selected to provide a presence in five Indonesian provinces with very high biodiversity – West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Central Malukus and Irian Jaya. They also provide coverage of key issues in each of three critical resource sectors – community forestry, protected areas, and coastal resources.

KEMALA support is delivered through a "partnership" arrangement. The partnership has three aspects:

• grants to fund partner’s activities in the field and policy arenas, over a 3-5 year period;
• technical assistance to improve the quality of partners’ work;
• networking to improve the effectiveness and sharing of skills and resources among the partners, following a clear set of procedures and protocols.

 

Funding Grants

Partners are supported with direct grants to fund ongoing field work and policy change. Grants are given to achieve a common strategic objective, which is "decentralized and strengthened natural resources management." KEMALA partners believe that can best be achieved by ensuring management rights and responsibilities at the local community level. They also work with local governments to determine how they can best support local communities to achieve sustainable management

Each partner receives a grant agreement to achieve a specific set of targets that are developed by the partner, and agreed by KEMALA staff. Progress towards meeting these targets are reviewed each six months. Continued payments under the grant agreement are made as long as there is satisfactory progress, based on the set of indicators. Any changes to targets are formally agreed with KEMALA staff in a grant amendment. A single grant is given to cover activities for usually one or two years only. After this period, a new grant agreement is renegotiated, if the partner has achieved satisfactory progress, as measured by a set of result indicators. Experience to date shows that this system works fairly well, improving accountability, but still remaining flexible.

 

Technical Assistance

Technical assistance is provided to improve organizational, financial and project management; and to assist with outreach and advocacy, policy analysis, mapping, use of information systems, conflict resolution, and structuring of community organizations. Mentoring is provided by leading international consultants, especially on legal and policy issues.Tools and methods are developed by KEMALA staff and consultants for use by KEMALA partners and other Indonesian NGOs. Increasingly, KEMALA is using Indonesian NGOs that have experience and expertise to assist the KEMALA partners; for example, to supply assistance and training in gender issues.

Technical support to KEMALA partners emphasizes organizational and program management by the NGO. Support is delivered through a training package, which is being developed according to needs as assessed by the partners themselves. KEMALA’s training package includes:

• Scoping to determine a partner’s overall role and priority activities to achieve change in a specific issue. As KEMALA consultant David Richards explains "It is a process to determine the 20% of activities which will produce 80% of the results". KEMALA staff facilitate a partner to determine strategic issues and then the essential functions, actors, needs and activities that are involved in dealing with those issues.
• Project design to develop project objectives tree or logical framework for partner’s grant activities. The project is normally designed after a scoping exercise has been completed.
• Developing and implementing a monitoring plan that is based on indicators to track if objectives are being met and if they are having the desired impacts on environment, local communities or organization of the NGO. The monitoring plan is developed as part of the project design process.
• Producing outreach strategies and materials to ensure important messages and lessons are reaching other NGOs and critical target audiences, such as government and local communities.
• Use of institutional development framework as a strategic management tool, so that a partner systematically and regularly assesses its own organizational development (see Attachment 1 for details of this tool).

 

Networking

An essential element of the KEMALA partnership is the networking that is occurring among the partners themselves. KEMALA’s partners now have extensive field experience throughout five focus areas in Indonesia. They have started to share their experiences and lessons learned with other partners, and with community and government audiences. Through joint workshops, trainings, apprenticeships and study tours, they directly share experiences and skills. They also write up the lessons they have learned and pass these on through newsletters, workshop proceedings, manuals, policy analyses, Web sites, discussion groups and workshop forums.

Some KEMALA partners also work together to achieve the same objectives. Local field work being undertaken by one partner is supported and complimented by legal and policy work at the national level, being undertaken by another partner. Networking activities also include establishing a number of important forums that bring together a wide spread of NGO, government and community representatives. Establishing information centers is an important strategy to spread both information and skills, particularly to community members. These are being placed within local communities where they are easily accessible. A community mapping center has already been set up in West Kalimantan. Electronic media, especially web pages and internet serve lists, continue to be increasingly important for KEMALA partners.