remote sensing

Planning Group for Kecamatan Bukit Batu gathered at Kalimantan Visioning Workshop, 15-17 March 2008

Kecamatan Bukit Batu with seven Kelurahan´s on Landsat image from 2003
Kanarakan, - Sei Gohong, - Tangkiling, - Banturung, - Habaring Hurung, - Tumbang Tahai, - Marang

Connecting Government and Community through Innovative Local Planning: A Pilot to Strengthen Local Development in Bukit Batu Draft Context Indonesia’s transition to democracy over the past ten years has been marked by broad changes in the concept of government and community. A once centralized government has now been replaced by a decentralised system of governance where villagers are now recognized as citizens with rights and where participation is a stated principle of development. This wholesale and on-going reform of Indonesia’s system of government has begun to take root and deliver benefits but unevenly across the country. Central Kalimantan is Indonesia’s fourth largest province, rich in natural resources but with obvious poverty, especially in the province’s extensive peat and remote areas.

To date, Central Kalimantan has been considered a low priority for international donors but more recently, with global interest in climate change and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Development (REDD) countries, the province has become a focus of donor attention. This proposal aims to pilot an innovative approach to local development that builds on existing reforms and extend these through a pilot project in the sub-district of Bukit Batu, Palangkaraya district in Central Kalimantan. Its success will have potential for up scaling to areas beyond Bukit Batu in what is seen as a key province in Indonesia. Concept Local development is known to depend highly on the institutions and capacity of the government and the society. Institution and capacity building is seen as a key means of putting in place the necessary basis for long-term development.

The process of planning, which like development depends on strong institutions, provides the starting point for local development. Poor development plans that do not accurately reflect reality or the priority of people living in an area are guaranteed to generate future problems and fail. Within this context, an effective plan is a springboard for the future. Indonesia has three main mechanisms for the planning of local development:

• Formal government development planning (and associated budgeting of services and programs) as governed by Law No 25/2004:
• Community planning, formally by government through the Musrenbang, and informally by NGOs and other interested parties;  by YTS
• Spatial planning as governed by Law 26/2007 by Kalteng Consultants

Kick-off meeting of Spatial Planing Group on 16.03.2008 in KC Rungan Sari office.