Posted August 1st, 2008 by admin
The quality of infrastructure in Indonesia is poor. This limits the health and well being of the Indonesian population and severely restricts their potential for economic development. The infrastructure sector has difficulties getting to grips with the challenges the country is facing. To address this situation, promising policies are being developed and implemented such as the policy on decentralization that mandates local government agencies to play a leading role in infrastructure planning, construction and operation at the local level. Additionally, a policy is being implemented to relax the past rigid planning procedures and come to a more community centered planning and development of infrastructure systems.
It is recognised by national level agencies in Indonesia that the successful implementation of these policies is frustrated by the severe capacity limitations that exist with various local level stakeholders. In order to address these, the Centre for Transportation and Logistics Studies (PUSTRAL) of the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) has been requested by the National Planning Development Agency Bappenas, to prepare a postgraduate programme in Infrastructure and Community Development. In its turn, PUSTRAL has approached ITC to assist in the development of this programme. To be able to respond to this request the current project is proposed.
The long-term objective of the project is to contribute to the establishment of a critical mass of multidisciplinary professionals that are able to apply innovative approaches to the complexities of integrated and community centered planning and management of infrastructure. This will be achieved through supporting the design and implementation of an academic programme in community infrastructure development consisting of a M.Sc., short courses and a PhD research programme developed and executed by the involved partners.
These activities are already under development by the Indonesia partner and are foreseen to continue beyond the duration of the project. The activities to be executed within the project will have a supporting role in the development of this programme, and are meant to improve thematic coverage and scientific quality to international standards and increase societal relevance. Important short term objectives of the project are the development of the curriculum for the MSc and short course activities, a substantial amount of teaching material (including an extensive integrated infrastructure project), the training of local staff, the development of a regional training and marketing plan, the initiation of a join research programme, the implementation and evaluation of 1 cycle of the MSc programme and the short courses.
Under the project an estimated 110 participants will be trained yearly through the various course programmes. During the project such course cycle will be realized once. After the termination of the project the same output is foreseen on a yearly basis.
Tags: community development, indonesia facility, infrastructures, people empowerment
