Implementation of the Village Level Program Review: What and How?

Efforts to realize an open government need to start from the smallest units such as villages or kalurahan, as people in Yogyakarta call them. Karl Popper in Ali Imron (2010) mentions that openness in society is characterized by interconnectedness, individual sovereignty, and exchange towards change and collaboration. Involvement is one of the keys when talking about openness. This spirit is built through the Review Program.

Get toknow ProgramReview
Program Review is one of the bureaucratic reform approaches implemented in Japan to overcome the budget problems experienced by Japan after the weakening of economic growth. Basically, this program focuses on methods to evaluate the implementation and results achieved by a program. This method has been practiced by 145 local governments in Japan since 2002.

In Indonesia through the Tifa Foundation, since 2020 and with the support of the Japan Initiative, Program Review has been implemented in two villages: Sriharjo and Guwosari, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Province. This approach focuses on 3 basic concepts, including (1) discussion is easily understood by the community, (2) evaluation focuses on results, not plans, and (3) critical of the program being implemented. To achieve this, the Program Review relies on 4 parties who synergistically collaborate, namely, program administrators (such as village / village officials), independent responding evaluators, community assessors who are also representatives of the community, and an implementation committee that accommodates the implementation of the evaluation.

Following last year's pilot (May 2022), this year on 19 and 20 May 2023, both kalurahan conducted evaluations through the Program Review approach which is fully coordinated by the Kalurahan Consultative Body (Bamuskal).

Stories from the Field
Each kalurahan, both Sriharjo and Guwosari, have evaluated two kalurahan government programs/activities funded by the Kalurahan Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBKal). Sriharjo village conducted a review of the Srikeminut foodcourt management activities and the anniversary of Sriharjo village. Meanwhile, Guwosari Village evaluated the assistance program for high-risk pregnant women and the waste service program of the Guwosari Maju Sejahtera unit of Go-Sari. All programs/activities evaluated were selected through the process and achievements that have been realized in 2022.

The implementing committee of each sub-district has been preparing for the implementation of Program Review since March 2023. The preparation starts from the formation of the implementation committee, selection of programs to be evaluated, filling out program information sheets by program administrators or activity implementation teams, selection and training of evaluators, to selection and training of citizen assessors. This preparation stage takes approximately 2-3 months. Every week the implementation committee holds a meeting to discuss and prepare the components of the Program Review.

Implementation in Sriharjo Village
Program Review in Sriharjo Village which was held on May 19, 2023 to evaluate the management of the Srikeminut food court and the anniversary of Sriharjo Village. These two programs/activities were evaluated based on Bamuskal's decision after going through a process of collecting aspirations from the community that had been carried out from December 2022 to public consultation in March 2023.

The management of the Srikeminut food court by BUMKal was evaluated because the food court was not running well. The situation was that there were only 2 traders filling the 20 available slots. On the other hand, visitors can be counted on the fingers every day due to the decline in the number of tourists in the Srikeminut area. It is hoped that thefood court can still be managed well so that it becomes one of the culinary destinations that can become a source of village income. Another activity that was also evaluated was the facilitation of the Sriharjo Village anniversary celebration. This activity was chosen because it consumed a very large budget that exceeded the financing capacity of the village government, and its implementation was labor-intensive. Nevertheless, this activity was in demand by the community, as indicated by the high participation in a number of organized activities.

The review process for both activities in Sriharjo Kalurahan went well. On the evaluation day, 3 evaluators joined, namely Agus Subagya, a member of Bamuskal Panggunghargjo, Khatami Anggara Kusumah, a BUMDes and UMKM consultant, and Sutoro Eko, Head of STPMD "APMD" Yogyakarta. While the discussion session was fully guided by Sri Surani, a member of the DIY Regional Information Commission Commissioner. The program review began with an explanation of the activities by the village officials as the program administrators, followed by a question and answer session between the evaluators and the program administrators. The evaluators then had their turn to ask questions and provide suggestions and criticisms of the activities organized by the village government. Afterwards, the evaluators made a decision on the sustainability of the activity by filling out the program evaluation sheet.

There were 28 assessors present at the Program Review in Sriharjo Sub-district. As a result, for the Srikeminut food court management program by BUMKal, 4 assessors stated that the management was good and did not need to be changed, while 24 assessors chose that the program be improved. As for the kalurahan anniversary program, 5 people assessed that the activities had gone well, but 23 other assessors stated that the activities needed to be improved and became the basis if they wanted to hold similar activities.

Implementation in Guwosari Village
Guwosari Village conducted an evaluation of the assistance program for high-risk pregnant women and the waste service program of BUMKal Guwosari Maju Sejahtera Go-Sari unit on Saturday 20 May 2023. BUMKal Guwosari selected these programs based on discussions and consultations with the community. Guwosari has several cases of high-risk maternal deaths, so this is a concern for the village government. Unfortunately, the assistance program for high-risk pregnant women through the provision of laying hens to be raised is considered less effective and actually burdens the pregnant women. Meanwhile, the waste service program of BUMKal Go-Sari unit has not been implemented optimally because the service has not been running as promised by the manager.

Three evaluators attended the Program Review in Guwosari Village. First, Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi, Head of Panggungharjo Village. Second, Bayu Imamtoko, a consultant from Resikplus, an organization working on hygiene and environmental issues. Third, Annida Hanifah, a nutritionist from Yayasan Rumah Perlita Indonesia. The discussion in Guwosari was moderated by Ahmad Yunadi, a lecturer at Alma Ata University Yogyakarta. The discussion was dynamic. Many assessors asked questions to the relevant program administrators. Suggestions and criticisms were often made by the assessors, especially those who had direct experience with the program.  

All 30 citizen assessors attended and gave their assessment of the Guwosari Village Program Review. The assessors decided that both programs needed to be improved. A total of 23 people decided that the high-risk pregnant women assistance program should be improved, 3 people considered the program to be good, while 4 people decided that the program should be discontinued. For the waste service, 23 villagers decided that the program needed to be improved, 1 villager decided that the program needed to be discontinued, and 6 villagers decided that the program was already good and did not need any changes or improvements.

Learning Notes
The Program Review results will then be followed up by Bamuskal. The decisions of the community assessors and the notes aspired will then be documented and managed by the organizing committee to be submitted to Bamuskal. From there, Bamuskal will oversee the follow-up process in accordance with the village regulations or lurah regulations that have been prepared, namely (1) Guwosari Village Regulation No.2/2023 concerning Evaluation of Community Participation-Based Village Development Program Through Program Review and, (2) Guwosari Lurah Regulation No.1/2023 concerning Implementation of Community Participation-Based Village Development Review Program, and (3) Lurah Regulation No.2/2023 concerning Implementation of Community-Based Program Evaluation Through Program Review.

This evaluation process is one way to realize meaningful democracy starting from the smallest unit, the village or kalurahan. The community is given an open opportunity to speak out, not just being a passive subject who is often referred to as a beneficiary. Through the implementation of this evaluation, the community is placed as arights holder who actively has a role in development. The Tifa Foundation together with Alterasi Indonesia with the support of the Japan Initiative is and will continue to advocate to policy makers to be able to carry out similar implementations not only at the kalurahan level but can be expanded to the district and provincial levels, for the realization of open government.