92435
World Bank Support to the Peace Process                                                               April 6, 2006
Background
 
After the Helsinki Peace Accord of August 15, 2005, the World Bank, at the request of the Government of Indonesia, has
developed a number of programs to support the peace process.  The World Bank distributed peace posters and copies of the
peace agreement, is piloting peace radio training, and is part of Forum Bersama which supports the reintegration of former
combatants into their communities. The Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) program is working with the International
Organization for Migration to provide reintegration grants. The Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas (SPADA)
program will bring conflict and neglected areas into the reconstruction process.
 
Bank support for the peace process includes working closely with the Aceh Monitoring Mission,
EU, the International Organization for  Migration, UNDP, United States and Japan in cooperation
with the Provincial Government. 
 
The program includes a comprehensive research program to support policy making.  This
has involved completing a comprehensive GAM reintegration needs assessment based
on extensive quantitative evidence (survey of 638 GAM combatants, census of 1,700
prisoners, media monitoring) and qualitative fieldwork (700 people interviews in 38
villages); it will also include analytical work on the upcoming elections, an evaluation of
the reintegration program, and a study looking at how to mainstream conflict senstivie
principles into tsunami aid.
 
The Bank has helped develop innovative approaches for monitoring corruption across the
main Aceh transport routes to track demands for illicit payments, which have contributed
to rising construction costs. Early results have shown rising levels of extortion at weigh
stations and fees to ensure security. The Bank is also conducting on-going monitoring of
conflict trends and reintegration dynamics at the request of the Provincial Government.     
                                                                                                  Acehnese girls showing peace poster
 
The Bank has also been involved with other donors in supporting the joint Government-GAM information strategy ( Tim
Sosialisasi Aceh Damai – Socialization Team for Peace in Aceh).  This has included helping to socialize the peace
process through the design, printing and dissemination of more than 240,000 peace posters, 375 banners, thousands of
peace calendars and stickers, grants for community theater and radio drama, and organization of joint GAM-GoI socialization
forums by 5 mobile teams of over 200 GoI and GAM representatives.
 
                                      Serving as members of the Forum Bersama, an advisory group to the Badan Reintegrasi Aceh
                                      (Aceh Reintegration Agency - BRA), to support its strategy for spending nearly US$80 million in
                                      reintegration funds and coordinating donor responses, the Bank has also been strengthening its
                                      Aceh operations to support reintegration and community reconstruction including:
                                       
                                      Working with other donor agencies to deliver reintegration funds and mental health
                                      treatment to former combatants through the KDP network.

                                    Using KDP facilitators to carry out a comprehensive village needs assessment of conflict
    The peace process is underway
                                    related damage to public infrastructure .
                                    The new SPADA project that starts in May 2006 includes leadership training for former
       combatants, small business development training and seed support for former combatants and victims, community
       based trauma counseling, and programs to integrate internally displaced people.
       SPADA also includes a strengthened “access to justice program” that provides institutional channels for mitigating local
       conflicts and providing a way to resolve grievances during reintegration.
       Using KDP and SPADA for rebuilding conflict-damaged infrastructure and other public goods at the local level.

 
Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas Project (SPADA)
 
Project Objective
 
Overall, SPADA will help the Indonesian government address problems of governance and poverty in the 100 poorest districts
of Indonesia.
 
Project Design
 
The overall project consists of the following four components: (1) the project will provide sub-districts with unearmarked block
grants that can be Rps. 500, 750, or 1,000 million rupiah, depending on their population; (2) district and subdistrict grants also
include a small fund to provide operational support. This grant will allow the communities to organize planning seminars,
contract advisers while they review proposals, carry out site visits to neighboring areas, and the like; (3) The project includes
three major types of implementation support. The different levels of government are backed by a technical assistance
structure that includes a national management team, an oversight and monitoring unit in each province, and a multi-sectoral
support team in each participating district; and (4) SPADA requires a sophisticated system for monitoring and evaluation.
Project managers need to know in more than casual ways whether the project is on course and whether interventions are
having their desired effect.
 
More information on SPADA:
  Project Documents