Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals Through Better Local-Level Data

A Case Study on Lumajang and Pacitan Districts in Indonesia

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• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9789292624118
• eBook ISBN:
  9789292624125
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Sustainable Development
• Index: Economics

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set global, big-picture targets that nations have committed to attaining. However, unless action is taken at the local level, these targets can never be reached. This publication describes how ADB worked with local governments and other stakeholders in East Java, Indonesia, to make data from districts available and accessible in a visually attractive and easy-to-understand way for different local stakeholders, thereby contributing to localizing SDGs.

Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals: The Example of East Java, Indonesia

Advancing Localization of Sustainable Development Goals in Indonesia

In 2000, Indonesia embarked on far-reaching decentralization reforms, granting a substantial degree of political and fiscal autonomy to subnational governments, including for delivery of services such as health and education. These reforms have opened a window of opportunity for subnational governments to take a stronger role in implementing SDGs at the local level.

To foster coherence of national and local policies for SDG implementation, a 2017 presidential decree formally required the integration of the SDGs and the national medium-term development plan into medium-term regional and local plans. It also called for the preparation of an SDG road map and several action plans, annual reports, and biannual monitoring systems at the subnational level.⁸

To support the localization of the SDGs, the government has also developed a specific communication strategy, a series of technical guidelines, a support system, and a set of metadata indicators—developed as part of the provincial and local government’s vertical reporting process—to ensure buy-in by subnational levels of government. Nineteen of Indonesia’s 34 provinces have developed and then formalized their SDG action plans by official decree, while a further 15 are currently in the process of completing theirs. At the same time, provincial, district, and municipal planning agencies play a key role in coordinating the implementation of the SDGs. Certain pilot provinces, such as Riau, and innovative cities, including the capital Jakarta, have taken the lead and aligned their medium-term development plans with the SDGs.⁹

At the same time, in 2019, Indonesia published A Roadmap of SDGs in Indonesia, calling for systemic reforms across a wide range of policy areas, from public administration to good governance and the strengthening of the management capacity of the central government and line governments’ ministries.¹⁰

Most local governments have not yet adopted national SDG targets and therefore have not integrated SDG indicators into their data collection systems. Some provinces are training for SDGs and as a result have started developing local indicators (footnote 1). However, a survey on the status of SDGs implementation conducted under the Leadership, Ownership, and Capacities for Agenda 2030 Local Implementation and Stakeholders Empowerment Project (Figure 2) concluded that the requested indicators, in many cases, do not match the available data (footnote 9).

Figure 2: The Leadership, Ownership, and Capacities for Agenda 2030 Local Implementation and Stakeholders Empowerment Sustainable Development Goals Project in Indonesia

ADEKSI = Asosiasi DPRD Kota Seluruh Indonesia (Indonesian Municipal Councils Association); ADKASI = Asosiasi DPRD Kabupaten Seluruh Indonesia (Association of Regency Governments of Indonesia); APEKSI = Asosiasi Pemerintah Kota Seluruh Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Municipalities); APKASI = Asosiasi Pemerintah Kabupaten Seluruh Indonesia (Association of District Governments of Indonesia); APPSI = Asosiasi Pemerintah Provinsi Seluruh Indonesia (Association of Provincial Governments of Indonesia); EU = European Union; LGA = Local Government Associations; SDG = sustainable development goal; UCLG ASPAC= United Cities and Local Governments of Asia Pacific.

Source: United Cities and Local Governments. 2018. Towards the Localization of the SDGs. United Cities and Local Governments, Local and Regional Governments’ Report to the 2018 HLPF 2nd Report. Barcelona. https://www.uclg.org/sites/default/files/towards_the_local-ization_of_the_sdgs.pdf.

Meanwhile progress has been made to make data accessible to the public for advocacy, awareness raising, implementation, and monitoring under the 2008 Public Information Disclosure Act.¹¹ Under the law, citizens can submit a formal data access request through the relevant public agency. The act also provides for a dedicated information management and documentation officer in each public agency. However, there is a general lack of standard data management practices across government agencies. Each agency is working in its own silo, developing its own data management practice, with a lack of a clear strategy for data sharing and collaboration.¹²

To address these challenges, in 2018, President Jokowi passed a presidential decree for Satu Data (One Data), which mandates that all datasets produced by government agencies in Indonesia comply with a common set of standards set by the data, and a supervisory institution to be founded under the decree. Through this policy, Indonesia is expected to have a common framework for data management, and guidelines for public institutions to reduce redundant efforts, improve data quality, interoperability and integration, and create standardized data licensing and formats. Allowing data exchange across ministries and levels of government can have several benefits. Policy makers can access the information they need to make better resource allocation decisions and monitor outcomes within the population, while citizens benefit from easier access to and oversight of services.

Indonesia is also part of the Open Government Partnership. This international initiative encourages governments to promote transparency, increase public participation, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to make government ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Key Points
• Introduction
• The Sustainable Development Goals at the Local Level
• Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals: The Example of East Java, Indonesia
• Dashboard Use and Launch
• Strengthening Local Cross-Sector Policy Dialogue
• How Presenting the Data Led to Change
• Next Steps and Lessons Learned
• Footnotes
• Back Cover