PROREP (Program Representasi)
Program Representasi (ProRep) is a USAID-funded project implemented by Chemonics International Inc. It is administered from an office in Jakarta and is expected to last three to five years, starting in April this year (2011).
As mentioned above, ProRep is a three- to five- year program financed by USAID and managed by Chemonics International Inc. Its aim is to increase the effectiveness of representative groups and institutions and, in doing so, bolstering both democracy and good governance.
Representation is a critical element of democratic politics and governance, and it is widely acknowledged that in Indonesia there have been important gains in representation since 1998, with the growth of political parties, CSOs and the media, and the empowerment of national and local legislatures. Even so, in a country as large and diverse as Indonesia representation is inherently complex and challenging and still faces a number of barriers. These include disparities of wealth and power, money politics, and a tendency to rely on top-down approaches to governance.
ProRep seeks to address some of these barriers by focusing on three complementary areas: strengthening membership-based advocacy CSOs; supporting public policy research; and working to ensure that legislative processes become more effective, transparent and representative of citizens’ interests.
CIRCLE Indonesia has implemented a ProRep project with the funding from USAID that lasted from February 2012 to April 2013. CIRCLE Indonesia facilitated Capacity Building activities and the Indonesia Organic Alliance (Aliansi Organis Indonesia/AOI) movement in carrying out advocacy on the budget for organic fertilisers to be managed by organic farmers. AOI consists of academicians, individuals, and institutions concerned with organic farming such as LESMAN, LSK BB, Yayasan Truka Jaya, SPTN HPS, SAHANI, API, KSPPM, PRCFI, Dian Tama, ELSPPAT .
Since the 2000s, the government through the ministry of agriculture has started to promote organic farming by launching the “Go Organic 2010”, a Go Green movement in advancing organic farming. However, no significant changes have been made due to limited budget for organic farming during 2012/ 2013.
In the first year, CIRCLE Indonesia carried out facilitation activities through the AOI secretariat and the representatives of their members in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan by providing trainings and workshops for organic farming activists as well as farmers representatives on the following: budget policy; structure, nomenclature, and mechanism of national and local budgeting; budget monitoring; field assessment; monitoring of organic farming budget. The result of the organic farming budget monitoring and video shooting were discussed with the media, activists and government representatives, especially from the ministry of agriculture and the national legislature.
CIRCLE Indonesia provides members of AOI with evidence based advocacy through the development of policy brief, fact sheet, and policy paper, and by establishing the links with the government and the media for advocacy in increased allocation of budget for organic farming. Discussions with the media and the national parliament (DPR) and farming activitists were broadcast live by Radio 68 Jakarta on 27 February 2013 and were covered by a number of printing media.
At the end of the first year of the program, CIRCLE Indonesia facilitated the development of advocacy strategies and programmes as well as advocacy workplans for members of the AOI in April 2013.