Technical Cooperation: Country-led and Needbased Approach

Don K. Marut INFID Indonesia National NGO Platform

I. C I Case A - G Government t
Technical assistance and technology for seawave power plant at Baron Beach, Yogyakarta and seawatch technology. The contract was signed on 19 December 1995, for US$ 3,5 million, a part of mixed aid (technical (t h i l assitance, l it loans and d export credit). Results: None. There is no None seawave powerplant. Experts have been fully paid.

I.

Case B Governments & CSO G t CSOs

Agricultural and Entrepreneurship trainings for rural youth: JICA th th through h OISCA. Results: sustainable; ; hundreds of young people trained and practiced their skills in their own communities.

I. Case C: Government, CSOs & P i t sector Private t

FASID: Foundation for Advanced Studies in International D i I t ti l Development (R k k l t (Ryukoku University) Participants: graduate students and young professionals f f i l from J Japan, ASEAN and Indonesia. Facilitators: both from Japan and Indonesia. I d i Results: followed by Youth Camp for Rural Development; some work as government officials, l t t ffi i l lecturers, and d business; some work in aid agencies including JICA. Networks among young professionals established; regular Youth Camp.

I. Case D: donor, Northern CSO, local governments & Local CSOs l l t L l CSO
GTZ BORDA Local government (Boyolali District, Central Java) and local CSOs: rural gy, , g gy, technology, microfinance, biogas technology, animal husbandry for poverty reduction. Results: Boyolali becomes the center of milk production in Indonesia; training reference for biogas technology for energy. Results: extended t S th S th R lt t d d to South-South Cooperation: Indonesia and West and North Africa supported by GTZ (now GIZ) GIZ).

II. CSO E II CSOs Experiences i

CSOs have accumulated experiences on technical cooperation, both North-South and South-South. South-South:
Philippines, Philippines India and Indonesia: rural technology technology, participatory development practices, participatory development planning and budgeting, and organizational development. p Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines: on housing for the poor. Architects from each of the countries shared their expertise in the fields. Indonesia, Ethi i and T I d i Ethiopia d Tanzania: on microfinance, rural i i fi l technology, social entrepreneurship. Indonesia and Cambodia: on rural water supply and sanitation. sanitation

II. CSO E II CSOs Experiences i

North South: Volunteers from developed countries working in the developing countries:
VSO VIA (USA) CUSO (Canada)

The volunteers are in fact professional or young people with special expertise; recruited based on the needs from the developing countries (schools, hospitals and NGOs). Help promote capacities of the local agencies: human resources, management, management technical skills etc. A volunteer from VIA after 6 etc VIA, months working with farmers on integrated pesticide management, produced a handbook/manual for rural applied gy y y technology that has been widely used by farmers in Indonesia.

CSOs E CSO Experiences i

Triangular cooperation:
Most CSOs have components of South-South Cooperation supported by CSOs from developed countries. VSO and CUSO started recruiting volunteers g from the South working in the South. Volunteers from developed countries transfer the knowledge and skills t l t d kill to volunteers i th S th and send in the South; d d the volunteers to other developing countries.

III. K t S III Key to Success

Needs Assessment: it is included in the short short, medium and long-term plan of the agencies. Agreements on skills/expertise and technology: the failure of Sea-wave power plant was started when there was no agreement on how it should be developed and what t h l d l d d h t technology i applicable. is li bl Preparation: understanding of contexts and adaptation of skills to the contexts Entry and Exit strategy is well designed. Sustainability strategy. strategy

IV. R IV Recommendation d ti
1. 1 Ownership is the key: the needs for technical cooperation is integrated in the national development plan, based on the systematic needs assessment and planning. The capacities provided thorough the technical cooperation respond to the needs of the country and specific agencies in the country. y 2. The country has to have strategy on technical cooperation: handbook on technical cooperation. The handbook should contain details from needs assessment, preparation, choices of sources of technical capacities, exit strategy, sustainability strategy, etc.

3. Specific recommendation:
Gender mainstreaming of technical cooperation. From CSOs experiences, the empowerment of girls and women in rural areas are to certain extent inspired by the presence of women experts working together with the communities. communities