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UNDP promotes peace in Central Sulawesi
Peace-building and disaster risk management programs are Central Sulawesi's top priorities in the wake of the sporadic sectarian violence that has battered the province for nearly a decade, said officials from several donor institutions at a meeting in Palu last week
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eace-building and disaster risk management programs are Central Sulawesi's top priorities in the wake of the sporadic sectarian violence that has battered the province for nearly a decade, said officials from several donor institutions at a meeting in Palu last week.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has promoting a crisis-sensitive participatory planning program to local administrations and civil society groups in selected regions throughout Central Sulawesi, said Muhammad Masykur, director of the People's Legal Aid Association (PBHR).
The PHBR is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that receives UNDP funds for a program in Palu, he added.
The UNDP was also working with the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to implement other programs in Poso and Palu, he added.
The meeting was attended by a number of donor institutions, NGOs and regional government officials.
"One of the outcomes of the meeting was a realization that we must develop a forum for communication between donor institutions, NGOs and provincial and regional administratiors to discuss how to create more transparent, conflict-sensitive development programs," Masykur said.
The UNDP allocated US$16.6 million (Rp 153.7 billion) from September 2005 to June 2010 to support programs in the province.
Those programs received financial support from the Dutch Embassy, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), say reports.
Under the Peace through Development Programme, the UNDP said it hoped to increase social unity in the South Sulawesi by promoting peace.
The UNDP also funded a $9.7-million program that supported legal empowerment and assistance for disadvantaged people from 2001 to 2008.
SIDA and the Norwegian government contributed $7.6 million to the project, said a meeting organizer.
The UNDP has also allocated $100,000 in 2010 for a community-based disaster risk reduction program in Palu and another $100,000 for a school-based disaster alert project, according to reports.
Rasyidi Bakri, a program manager for a USAID-funded peace building initiative in Central Sulawesi, said that his organization had allocated $27 million to the UNDP to reduce social conflict and support the promotion of peace both in the province and in Aceh.
"Our program in Central Sulawesi started in February 2008 and will end in February 2011," he said.
South Sulawesi Vice Governor Achmad Yahya said communication between local administrations and the donors should be improved.
"That is why we should sit down and talk at the same table - to increase coordination between all the institutions," he said.
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Correction
In reference to the article titled "UNDP promotes
peace in Central Sulawesi," on May 22, we would like
to clarify that the People's Legal Aid Association
(PBHR) is a grantee that receives funding from
USAID/SERASI, not UNDP. It is also USAID/SERASI,
which works with Bappenas (in Jakarta) and local
organizations such as the PBHR to implement SERASI's
program, and allocated US$27.5 million in funds. We
apologize for the error.
- Editor
The Jakarta Post, FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010, page 9
