2. A Collaborative knowledge network as an instrument for Capacity Development in Indonesia

by
Ferry J. Putuhena, Water Sector Capacity Building Specialist
and
J.T.L. Yap, Team Leader Collaborative Knowledge Network Development Project

Abstract

Since 1999, major responsibilities to provide public services by the Government of Indonesia have been devolved to regional governments. The implication of this change is the delegation of authority from central to regional governments, and the responsibilities attached to it. Yet, it seems that the regional capacity to perform in this new role is insufficient. The same is true for the Water Resources and Irrigation sector. A new water sector reform policy endorsed in 1999 adopts a participatory approach to Water Resources and Irrigation Management (WRIM) in a sustainable manner. This requires capable institutions for management, capable individuals within the various organisations and an external environment that enables the institutions and individuals to perform according to stakeholders' expectations. It involves assessment of existing manpower competence to perform their tasks and responsibilities, and the identification of gaps in required knowledge, skills and attitudes at present and in the future. Universities, Research and Study Centers, and other Knowledge Centers (Capacity Builders) have a strategic role to play as national human resources development instruments. However, most of the Capacity Builders are still following supply-oriented instead of demand-oriented practices in knowledge transfer. In addition, integration and cross sectoral concepts, strategic thinking skills, although not new, are still not systematically included in the national curricula. Consequently, capacity building to strengthen the Capacity Builders is an essential step to implement the capacity development in Indonesia. Taking into consideration the time constraints and the large coverage area of the country, the most efficient instrument to address the capacity building needs is to set-up a collaborative network between the capacity builders in the country. Development in ICT introduces new ways of collaborating through the Internet at national and international levels. A network development strategy has been developed in order to provide sustained capacity development services to the water resources and irrigation sector. It includes short, medium and long-term plans of the network development. Constraints and problems related to Capacity Development Needs and Network Development are elaborated.

General context

In 1999, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) initiated political reforms by decentralizing part of the government tasks to the regions in favour of the previous centralized system. This change has been endorsed by Law No. 22 (1999) on Regional Government and Law No. 25 (1999) on Central Regional Fiscal Balance. The implication of this change is the delegation of authority from central to regional governments, and the responsibilities attached to it. Major responsibilities to provide public services have been devolved to regional governments.

The success of the implementation of this political reform itself depends largely on the capacities of regional institutional and human resources. Lack of institutional and human resources capacity leads to poor public service performance. Yet, it seems that the regional capacity to perform in this new role is insufficient at regional level.

The Water Resources and Irrigation sector condition does not differ substantially from the general condition above. A new water sector reform policy endorsed in 1999 adopts a participatory approach to Water Resources and Irrigation Management (WRIM). A Water Resources and Irrigation Sector Management Programme (WISMP) will soon be initiated with the main objective to establish institutional capabilities to manage water resources and irrigation systems in a sustainable manner. This requires capable institutions for management, capable individuals within the various organizations and an external environment that enables the institutions and individuals to perform according to stakeholders' expectations.

Competency and task oriented training, development of local training capacity and adaptation of formal and informal educational programmes in local institutes and universities are key actions to accommodate the short, medium and long-term needs of the WRIM sector agencies. The modernity and strength of the local educational and training systems are strategic instruments in the future development of the public sector (including WRIM). Universities, Research and Study Centres, and other Knowledge Centres (Capacity Builders) as national human resources development instruments have a strategic role to play. Most of the Capacity Builders are still following supply-oriented instead of demand-oriented practices in knowledge transfer. In addition, integration and cross-sectoral concepts, strategic thinking skills, although not new, are still not systematically included in the national curricula. Consequently, the capacity of human resources does not match with the new paradigm (demand-oriented) requirements. Tailor-made training to challenge the new paradigm is therefore required to strengthen the Capacity Builders as high priority intervention to produce short-term results. It involves assessment of existing manpower competence to perform in their tasks and responsibilities, and the identification of gaps of required knowledge, skills and attitudes between present and future.

Taking the strategic role of capacity builders in Nation Building into consideration, it is obvious that the key is strengthening the capacity of Capacity Builders: Capacity development of the Capacity Builders. Capacity at the Learning Institutes to support the GoI's capacity building initiatives to reform the water sector should be in place before the other programmes such as WISMP starts. Taking the time constraints and the large coverage area of the country into consideration the most efficient instrument to address the capacity building needs is to set-up a collaborative network between the learning institutes in the country.

Development in ICT introduces new ways of collaboration through the Internet at national and international level. It is believed that creating and nurturing a dynamic network of capacity builders is the first essential step towards a sustainable mechanism of knowledge generation, sharing and dissemination throughout the nation.

Building the network

The concept of the Network was formulated during an initial meeting in Bandung, Indonesia in July 2002, where the following National Universities in a Consortium agreed to establish a Collaborative Knowledge Network (CKNet):

It is an open network and will ultimately consist of other local, regional and international institutes in order to strengthen and enhance capacity in training, education, information and knowledge dissemination, and research activities on topics and issues related to Infrastructure, Water and Environmental Management (IWEM) with water as the central theme.

In June 2003, the World Bank financed a workshop on the Development of a Capacity Building Network in Indonesia in the field of Water Resources and Irrigation Management in Bandung. The UNESCO IHE Institute for Water Education was appointed to organize the workshop. During this workshop the idea to establish CKNet was launched and accepted by the Government of Indonesia through: the Ministry of Settlements and Regional Infrastructure; the private sector through the national professional associations; the Indonesian academic sector through representatives of the largest national private and state universities; the Capacity Building network (CapNet) and the World Bank.

Recently, in June 2005, a Collaborative Knowledge Network consisting of national Capacity Builders has been formally set up as an initial part of the continuing capacity development process, where the members can collaborate in supporting and providing future capacity building interventions in the regions. In this way allowing the knowledge and capacities to be decentralized to the regions through participation of regional capacity builders in a sustainable and dynamic way. It was agreed to name the new network Collaborative Knowledge Network Indonesia or CKNet-INA.

Collaborative knowledge network Indonesia (CKNet-INA)

The CKNet-INA members agreed to adopt and respect the following guiding principles, which form the Code of Conduct of the network:

1. Commitment, cooperation, and solidarity
2. Communication based on respect. Trust and equality
3. Transparency and accountability
4. Innovation
5. Quality assurance

Mission CKNet-INA

To contribute to the welfare of the people in Indonesia and their living environment by combining the strengths of the members of the network through:

• providing a dynamic platform for communication, collaboration and knowledge networking;
• serving communities of practice in the fields of infrastructure, water and environmental management; and
• developing appropriate and demand-oriented knowledge for all stakeholders in the infrastructure, water and environmental management areas.

Vision CKNet-INA

To become a sustainable network of academics and professionals in building capacity in the infrastructure, water and environment sector where knowledge is shared and exchanged among members to enhance knowledge generation and dissemination activities in support of a decentralization and development programme in Indonesia.

The objectives of the Consortium and its Regional Centres

• To train and educate practising professionals, students and field staff and to create awareness amongst decision makers about IWEM, specifically to promote the development of more appropriate curricula at universities, polytechniques, academics, etc.
• To promote a multi-disciplinary approach, emphasizing socio-cultural, good government practices and institutional consideration in the planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of the systems.
• To collect, map, generate and disseminate knowledge and information through CKNet-INA and to undertake applied research and demonstration.
• To make available and share existing and state-of-the-art knowledge on IWEM to all stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors using CKNet-INA.

In the long-term programme, the most essential initiative for arriving at sustainable capacity building programmes is to:

• Strengthen existing capacities of the national universities (National Capacity Builders) to deliver capacity building services (education, professional training, on-the-job training, coaching, etc.) to the regions.
• Create collaborative partnership between the various capacity builders, first national and later international, to cope with the need for a concerted effort to support the government policy to decentralize (part of) their responsibilities to the regions and to strengthen the local government institutes and their human resources.

The short-term programmes were formulated and consist of:

• The creation of a collaborative knowledge network, where the national capacity builders can prepare and work together to assist in the future capacity building programmes for the regions. The established network will allow cooperative development, information and knowledge sharing to promote synergy through common databases, ideas and experiences, library, software, research output and transparency. In this partnership, a strategy and action plan should be laid out leading to upgrading of the individual capacity of the institutions.
• Strengthening the capacity of the network partner to deliver professional oriented short training modules. This upgrading should be allowed to be broadly interpreted, in the light of the pressing local development problems. In some cases, it may focus on the obvious under - or post-graduate education programmes, but in other cases, it may appear that the university can best meet the demands by venturing into programmes with short, intensive recycling courses. In this way capacity to deliver professional oriented training modules is being developed.

Furthermore, the CKNet-INA members have come to an agreement for developing academic collaboration through three Thematic Working Units:

1. River Basin Management
2. Coastal Zone Management
3. Urban Infrastructure Management

The Thematic Working Units (TWU) operates as decentralized units within the CKNet-INA structure. Communities of Practice (CoP) can be developed within a TWU by addressing specific issues of the main theme. A demand responsive knowledge product (e.g. training course) can be developed and offered as a tailor made programme by combining and merging expertise from within each TWU and from external sources,.

Each TWU will develop their own capacity through initiatives of the network members. They are expected to organize themselves as the needs arise, for example by initially setting up an ad-hoc secretariat, administration or coordinating unit, which may evolve into a more permanent form, if required. Eventually, a higher-level unit, the Network Secretariat, will coordinate the TWUs. The TWUs are part of the operational structure of the Network Secretariat. This structure is preferred as it is a real bottom-up approach, from CoPs as part of a TWU to the Network secretariat and finally to a Network Management Unit that only has a facilitating role.

The establishment of CKNet-INA has been financially supported by NUFFIC-The Netherlands through a series of workshops, assignments, and finally a seminar where the rectors of the 10 participating universities signed a cooperation agreement or charter in Jakarta, Indonesia. The development process of CKNet-INA is presented in Figure 1. This development process and the coming strengthening activities (the short-term programme) are based on an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the consortium as presented in Table 1.

Figure 1. Building the Network

Table 1. Strength and Weaknesses

Constraints encountered

During the development process, the main difficulty encountered was the resistance of the participants to adopt a demand driven approach. As senior lecturers of the universities, they followed a typical supply oriented approach to development and implementation of training programmes. Current practices of training programme development focus on what the participants must learn which is unsuitable for professional oriented courses. Competencies based on what people must do on the job should be the lead during course development, based on a Training Demand Assessment. Current practice is mainly supply driven, decided by the lecturers. Moreover, the impact of such a programme is low, as these types of courses focus on learning of facts and knowledge only, instead of skills and change in attitude. So far, only a few of the participants appreciate the need for a different approach.

Understanding financial sustainability for operating and managing the knowledge network is another problem. By offering knowledge products and other services to third parties following a cost effective approach, rational cost estimates and proper risk management may generate income for the network. The roadmap towards financial sustainability is to follow an entrepreneurship strategy for the generation of income through the provision of demand oriented services to third parties. The generated income should include overhead to cover operational expenses of the network secretariat. Internal accountability is the key. The definition of sustainable in this context is that the network does not depend on external financial resources to operate, but can generate internal or own resources to cover operational and managerial expenses of at least its network secretariat. The requirements for further development and expansion of the network should be financed using own resources.

Communication in the English language is another constraint. The participants should make more use of English in their communication, taking into consideration the huge opportunities knowledge networking using modern ITC technologies offers. Communication in English is essential in order to stay abreast.

Team working and commitment is another constraint. Social networking among the participants is excellent, however, real teamwork, commitment and accountability is still weak. Experience shows that in order to achieve this level more time is needed.

Finally, leadership in networking is a new experience. Higher demand on leadership is required in this type of network, with virtual teams working in different geographical areas, as compared to traditional teams.

References

FAO. Water Report No. 26, 2004. Capacity development in irrigation and Drainage. Issues, challenges and the way ahead. Rome.

Kay, Melvyn; Franks, Tom & Tato, Sonia. 2005. Capacity needs assessment methodology and processes. Workshop Proceedings on Capacity Development in Agricultural Water Management, Moscow 2004, p 1–25. IPTRID Secretariat, FAO, Rome.

Putuhena F.J. 2002. Knowledge Management Network dalam Pengelolaan Terpadu Sumberdaya Air. Prosiding Peran Penelitian dan Pengembangan Dalam Menunjang Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Air. Pusat Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Sumber Daya Air, ISBN: 979-3197-21-8, Bandung, Indonesia.

Morrison, Terrence. Actionable Learning, a Handbook for Capacity Building through Case Base Learning. Asian Development Bank Institute.

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. February 2005. National Framework for Capacity Building to Support Decentralization Guidelines on Capacity Building in the Regions. Module A: The Capacity Building Cycle - From Capacity Building Needs Assessment (CBNA) towards the Capacity Building Action Plan (CBAP)

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. February 2005. National Framework for Capacity Building to Support Decentralization Guidelines on Capacity Building in the Regions. Module B: Methods and Instruments for the Capacity Building Cycle (“Toolkit”).

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. February 2005. National Framework for Capacity Building to Support Decentralization Guidelines on Capacity Building in the Regions. Module C: Supplementary Documents, References and Sources of Information.