Improving Management Practices in Budgeting, Citizen Involvement, and Environmental Education in Samarinda

Background - Samarinda Population: 550,000 Primary Industry: coal, oil, gas, agriculture and forestry, gold and other mining products; farming; handicrafts; and trading

Background – Tigard Population: 43,000 Primary Industry: Wholesale trade, retail trade, service industry

Problem Statement Legislation on Regional Autonomy granted local governments increased authority to raise revenue and allocate funds for providing public services at the local level. Regional Autonomy legislation calls for the introduction of performance budgeting and higher accounting standards to be used. Double-entry accounting systems are not used at any level of government in Indonesia, so there is no experience to draw from. City fees are not tied to the cost of delivering services. Citizen participation is not developed to a point that the level of knowledge of city government allows the city to pass fee increases for needed capital investment. City staff was not formally trained in the budgeting or accounting systems to be introduced.

Project Description – Workplan Objectives Introduce performance-based budgeting and double entry accounting into the local government financial process. Improve citizen participation and improving communication between citizens and city employees. Develop an environmental education curriculum for the city schools with the aim of introducing responsible environmental behavior to the community through the local students.

Preliminary assessment of Samarinda’s accounting and financial reporting system Ali Fitri Noor, Samarinda In-depth training for Samarinda financial staff Books, examples of city budget documents, and new finance tools provided to Samarinda finance staff. Development of in-house training program for Samarinda accounting staff Recruitment of a new staff accountant in Samarinda. Key Steps

Results Samarinda successfully adopted the performance based budgeting system for its 2003 budget. Samarinda used several methods to encourage citizen participation in the development of the budget. Samarinda established an electronic payment system for its city employees. Samarinda is in the process of adding an environmental awareness component to its school curriculum.

Lessons Learned Performance based budgeting provides a more structured way to make decisions regarding allocation of city funds The new budget model improves monitoring of city services and identify areas for improvement. A transparent budgeting process will help to gain the trust of citizens and potential investors. Using performance budgeting approach will improve the efficiency of resource allocation. Increased efficiency can lead to better and more services for citizens.

Sustainability Extensive training for both city technical staff and council members Mayor and council are supportive of the new budgeting and accounting systems Citizens committees have endorsed the budget

Transfer All local governments will need to implement similar budgeting systems in the near future Local governments interested in increasing citizen involvement can benefit from Samarinda’s experience

Contact Drs. H. Ahmad Amins, MM., Walikota Mochdar Hasan, Ketua BAPPEDA Address: Jalan Kesuma Bangsa no. 82 Samarinda Kalimantan Timur phone: Fax: