The Reform Period in Indonesia introduced a new chapter in how the Government managed poverty. Evaluation of the prior centralised approach to poverty alleviation and public consultations with government, universities, NGOs, donor organisations, economic players and poor communities (Kikis 1999) indicated that the centralised approach was outdated and that poverty alleviation should be specific to local conditions. Poor communities should not be positioned as objects of development, but rather participate as part of the solution. This means that poor communities should be involved in the planning, implementation, supervision and evaluation from the outset of a poverty eradication programme.

With decentralisation...

In 2004, the proportion of poor families in Indonesia reached 16.6%, that is 26 million out of the total population of 320 million people (KPK 2005). The ex-secretary of KPK, Gunawan Sumodiningrat, indicates that poor families have certain characteristics and conditions such as vulnerability and helplessness, and isolation and inability to channel aspiration (Sumodiningrat 2003). He also suggests that failure to make a serious attempt to tackle these conditions will result in: (1) high socioeconomic burdens on a community; (2) poor quality and unproductive human resources; (3) low levels of active community participation; (4) decline in public order and harmony...

Malinau District officially became an autonomous region⁹ after its break away from Bulungan District in 1999, as a result of Law No. 47/1999. This district covers an area of approximately 4.3 million hectares. It has about 4 million ha of forest cover, made up of a 2.1 million ha of production forest and 1.9 million ha of protected forest and nature reserves (BPS Kabupaten Malinau 2001) including the biodiversity rich Kayan Mentarang National Park.

The 2000 census put the population of Malinau at 36 632, while data from 2002 showed a population figure of 41 170 for Malinau District (BPS...

West Kutai became a district after breaking away from Kutai District in 1999. It covers a total area of 3 162 900 ha, or 15% of the total area of East Kalimantan province.

In the last 6 years, the population has grown by only 14 889, from 132 887 in 1997 to 147 776 in 2003 (BPS Kabupaten Kutai Barat 2004a). This is an average annual population growth of 1.87% between 1997 and 2003.

The indigenous people of West Kutai are Benuaq, Tunjung, Bahau, and Modang Dayaks, as well as Kutai (Casson 2001). As traditional communities, the Dayak people work...

Poverty eradication policies have yet to become priorities for the Malinau and West Kutai Districts. There are three reasons for this:

KPK members feel no need to be responsible to the committee and do not play an active role; hence coordination and programmes that should have been formulated jointly have not taken place. The same goes for the district heads, who (despite giving the mandates) have never requested accountability reports from KPK members.

Mainstreaming of APBD originating from DAU has yet to take place despite being mandated by presidential decree and the mandate to establish regional KPKs. More of the...