BaKTI

SOfEI is a multi-donor project administered by the World Bank. On the 24th of August 2009, BaKTI officially became a foundation according to Indonesian law with the objective of strengthening local ownership and functioning in a sustainable manner. The BaKTI inauguration was held on the 8th of February 2010. BaKTI was initially created as a knowledge bank and a source of information on development for the public in the Eastern Indonesian Region (Kawasan Timur Indonesia - KTI). As we all know, KTI has always been a target for international, national and local development initiatives yet so much valuable knowledge and lessons are not being utilized appropriately as part of planning tools for the future. BaKTI was created to provide a platform and a tool for donor agencies, governments and the public to access and store information, to meet and discuss development issues and to determine priorities necessary for better influencing decision making and to better support knowledge-based development. The role of knowledge development is extremely pivotal in the development of KTI because of: • The lack of data and research supporting policy and decision making therefore assistance is required to provide this support • The lack of community engagement in decision making by the government due to the community's lack of knowledge regarding the issues in decentralization - assistance is required to enhance the community's access to knowledge through relevant sources of knowledge • Lack of understanding at the sub-national level regarding the reason government must be accountable - therefore access to information and documents must be provided to increase understanding regarding the definition of accountability and how to hold the government accountable • The lack of access to information and knowledge which is commonly available only in Jakarta or which is dependent on the varying level of access to information in each region - requires support and a system of knowledge with a user friendly approach and which takes into account the limited access of each respective area For 9 years, BaKTI has been the sole organization focusing on the exchange of knowledge encompassing 12 provinces as well as providing services for the reformers in order to ensure effective development. Every year BaKTI embraces more stakeholders and seeks more opportunities to open potential services especially with local government, to share and to utilize the information in order to develop better programs. The work done by BaKTI has influenced and touched thousands of stakeholders. BaKTI itself has noted myriad significant changes occurring in the recognition of the need for knowledge and has always derived lessons from its relationship with the stakeholder as well as being ever more vigilant in responding to KTI problems being raised at the national level of issues. BaKTI has even been successful in translating these activities to be more focused on solving problems and as a positive approach for local government. Although BaKTI's achievements cannot always be measured by numbers because the process of behavioral change is difficult to measure, the following are some of BaKTI's achievements: 1. BaKTINews BaKTI's premier product in media utilization. The first edition of BaKTINews was in 2005 and was only a 8 page presentation and was distributed to 200 clients. Now, it is published monthly at 32 pages and presented to approximately 2,500 recipients each month and 1,000 recipients in electronic form. BaKTI's own readership reaches 10,000 people each month. 2. BaKTI Help Desk One of the key services provided by BaKTI is the Information Help Desk. Since its establishment to date, BaKTI has answered more than 1500 information requests. For nine years, BaKTI has answered information inquiries regarding KTI development programs and has facilitated hundreds of networking activities and collaborations between organizations and individuals from the government, international development partners, universities, community-based organizations and the media. 25% of the queries come from the government and increases every year. 3. BaKTI as the secretariat of the KTI (Eastern Indonesia Region) Forum BaKTI continues its role as the secretariat for the KTI Forum by supporting the regional and provincial meetings in order to develop the partnerships between the parties in meeting the challenges of development in the Eastern Indonesia Region. This Forum endeavors to support the achievement of effective and sustainable development founded on knowledge-based development and cooperation between the parties. The first KTI Forum meeting was attended by only 32 people. However, the sixth meeting in 2012 held in the form of a Festival with the theme "Weaving Inspiration an Offering from the East for Indonesia" was attended by 507 people. The members of the KTI Forum come from the government, academics, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. They are social reformists in their respective fields and they continue to develop relationships between the parties and between areas in order to build partnerships and social innovations for the development of a better Eastern Indonesian Region. The KTI Forum has two sub-forums i.e. the Heads of the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) Forum in the Eastern Indonesia Region and the Eastern Indonesia Region Researchers' Network (Jaringan Peneliti Kawasan Timur Indonesia - JiKTI). Through these forum activities, BaKTI created a track record by enhancing the cooperation between the central and local government. 4. BaKTI Facilities The public data access and library facilities have been operational since mid-2005. At that time there were less than 100 visitors per month. Now, more than 6,500 people visit the facility annually. More than 59,400 people have visited the BaKTI facility in Makassar since 2005. BaKTI visitors generally come to access books and development data in the library for research purposes and for writing reports as well as meet with others or to access the internet facilities. More than 800 meetings, training and events have been held in BaKTI over the past 9 years. 5. Knowledge Exchange Portal www.batukarinfo.com is the first knowledge exchange portal in KTI and was launched on the 8th of February 2008. As of the beginning January 2014 to June 2014 there has been approximately 5,982 unique visitors accessing Batukarinfo to seek information surrounding development in KTI. 6. Services to support more effective development program implementation BaKTI plays an important role in the design, implementation and support of knowledge exchange program implementation being executed by development partners in KTI such as: • The AIPD (Australia Indonesia Partnership for Decentralization) Knowledge Management (KM) Program by implementing several key products such as development and strengthening the Regional Development Data Centre (Pusat Data Pembangunan Daerah - PD2), The Development Partner Coordination Management Unit (Unit Pengelola Koordinasi Mitra Pembangunan - UPK) as well as identifying and analyzing development lessons in 5 provinces which are AIPD work areas (NTB, NTT, Papua, West Papua, East Java) and 20 districts in those provinces. • The Women Parliament Member Capacity Strengthening for Pursuing Pro-Women and Pro-Poor Policy Program through the MAMPU (the Empowerment of Indonesian Women for Poverty Alleviation) Program funded by AusAID.