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As part of the regional consultations, case studies from local
CSOs are presented and discussed. See below for summaries of the
case studies during the consultation in South East Asia.
Indonesia
Public Participation in Policy Formulation in Indonesia
The case study by Yappika (Civil Society Alliance for Democracy)
describes the experiences of Coalition of Participatory Policy (KKP-Koalisi
Kebijakan Participative) in using evidence for advocating participatory
policy development. Advocacy efforts by KKP on the draft legislation
on Procedures for law formulation (RUU-Tentang Tata Cara Pembentukan
Peraturan Perundang-Undangan) culiminated into the first united
effort in establishing a foundation for public participation in
policy formulation in Indonesia. Despite the plethora of recent
institutions working for democratization of policy process in Indonesia,
the shadow of authoritarian way of governance is still strongly
entrenched. As a consequence, its dominant characteristics and main
actors strongly reflect and sustain a process that distances people
from the process of policy formulation. In order to change this
situation through its continuous and advocacy work KKP has been
able to achieve the following: increased public support and awareness
regarding policy development and support from the members of the
parliament, particularly from the five largest factions in the House
of Representatives for adopting its recommendation on people's right
to participate in policy formulation process. KKP has realised that
while the methods and techniques used to make policy more evidence
based can be varied and innovative, the impact of evidence, however,
largely depends on its robustness vis a vis the dominant discourses,
the nature and objectives of the political parties and the openess
of the legislative procedures.
- Click here for more on the consultation in Indonesia
Cambodia
Evidence and Policy in Cambodia: Lessons learnt, opportunities
and constraints
This case study from Cambodia Development Resource Institute
(CDRI) draws cross cutting issues around evidence and policy drawn
from a development project currently being implemented in the Tonal
sap region in Cambodia. The main issues presented are: 1)it is important
to develop a reputation among the stakeholders through research
activities that is considered to be credible by the clients.2) Good
research creates better informed researchers.3) the trend in Cambodia
is to produce qualitative rather than quantitative analyses by the
CSO community , which is often considered to be 'soft' by the policy
makers. 4) Policy advocacy and analysis is about providing opportunities
for public debate with and among different stakeholders and people
have different ideas about objectives that can compete with and
complement each other and this discussion enriches the process and
assist in exploring the best option. 5) Donors have a disproportionate
amount of influence over policy process in Cambodia and therefore
research needs to be aware of donor considerations. 6)While lots
of work goes into policy development and ensuring that policy process
is participative, the implementation of these polices clearly takes
a backseat to political considerations in Cambodia.
Research, Advocacy and Policy Influence
The Medicam Case study provides a brief overview of the work
the organization has done regarding evidence and policy over the
last few years. Established in 1998 Medical is a network of organizations
working on health issues in Cambodia. Medicam's activities include
information sharing, advocacy, capacity building and representing
the voice and concerns of CSOs working in the health sector in Cambodia.
Medicam uses various forums to present its opinion; apart from the
national assembly and government ministries Medicam is also a member
of various technical groups (TG) which are linked to the Consultative
Group (CG) where the donor community, CSO representatives, the private
sector and policymakers meet annually to make decisions regading
the development agenda of Cambodia. To further consolidate its input
Medicam has also formed its own NGO working groups: the NGO Reproductive
Health partnership Working Group (NGO-RHPWG) and the NGO Child Survival
Working group (NGO-CSEG).This study also shows how the development
process in Cambodia is very much influenced by the donors. The challenges
identified by Medicam regarding the general policy development in
Cambodia are: the questions around the quality of research-based
information produced by the CSOs, weak networking among the CSOs
in Cambodia, lack of harmonization of research and advocacy efforts
by the CSOs, and the general environment of mistrust, and 'finger
pointing' between CSO community and the government. The significant
lessons learned by Medicam through its policy advocacy work include:
the realization that empirical evidence is the best way to influence
policy makers in Cambodia, the inputs by CSOs need to be well documented,
CSOs should engage with the government by providing constructive
criticism rather than being confrontational and last but not least
informal agreement with the government and the donors before the
official event assists in reaching the required change in policy.
- Click here for more on the consultation in Cambodia
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