Summary of publication

AIPD was a complex program with many activities and focus areas, implemented across various locations. The program underwent a major restructure in 2013, and the Australian Government's approach to development in Indonesia also shifted throughout the life of the program. Overall, AIPD delivered concrete achievements at the national and sub-national level, but also provided a number of lessons for future governance programs to build on.

The Independent Completion Report details how AIPD worked to align itself with the focus areas of the Government of Indonesia on decentralisation and participated in key activities at both the national and sub-national level. AIPD built effective working relationships with different parts of government and some civil society actors. The AIPD experience also provides lessons around monitoring and evaluation for governance programs, and some useful considerations around the achievements of sustainable outcomes in service delivery.

Management response

DFAT's Management Response to the AIPD ICR agreed with seven recommendations and partially agreed with one. DFAT agreed that:

• Future programs that support decentralisation in Indonesia should be assessed for feasibility
• Future programs seeking to work in governance and decentralisation in Indonesia need to avail themselves of suitably qualified staff, whether these include DFAT employees or those available through contractors
• DFAT should consider its rationale and aim for ongoing engagement in decentralisation in Indonesia
• Future programs ought to be accompanied from the point of initial concept development, by a detailed program theory of change
• Future program designs ought to specify strategies and resources for management of knowledge alongside requirements for research production and for standard monitoring and evaluation procedures

Future programs to support decentralisation should be underpinned by a performance approach which draws from existing research and knowledge about how to assess change in complex program environments.

Full publication

• Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Decentralisation Independent Completion Report [PDF 1.14 MB]
• Independent Completion Report management response [PDF 71 KB]
• Independent Completion Report management response [Word 108 KB]