Good governance in the population administration system (GG PAS)

Project description

Title: Good governance in the population administration system (GG PAS)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Indonesia
Lead executing agency: Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA)
Overall term: 2003 to 2012

Indonesia. A resident of one province getting registered. © GIZ

Context

The legal acknowledgement of citizenship and of basic personal details, such as births and marriages, is of prime importance for the observance of civil and human rights. However, the population administration system (PAS) of Indonesia is not yet able to guarantee all citizens equal access to documents such as ID cards and civil registration certificates. Although older, discriminatory regulations have now been replaced by new laws, administrative procedures are often still inefficient and there is little customer orientation.

Through the passing of a new law on population administration (Law 23/2006) and the implementation of the related rulings, which the GIZ project helped to develop, a number of regulations remaining from the colonial period, which discriminated against specific population groups, have been dissolved. Today, the main challenge is to reform the population administration services in Indonesia's 497 districts and cities. There are no locally issued regulations tailored to specific structural and geographical contexts. Roles and responsibilities are not clearly allocated, and regular procedures are missing. There is also a shortage of facilities, such as mobile service centres, that improve citizens' access to public services. Moreover, in many communities the level of training of the local officials is inadequate, and it is common for them to demand illegitimate payments before issuing documents. The protection of personal data cannot be guaranteed across the board.

Objective

Population administration services are provided on the basis of new standards introduced throughout the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Approach

The project focuses on two main areas.

  • Legal reform: In partnership with civil society organisations and the relevant government and religious authorities, the project supports legal reforms related to the population administration services.
  • Capacity building: The project is promoting the reform of the population administration services themselves. This includes the development of a strategy to improve the training of officials working in this area. Information campaigns are also staged to inform citizens about their rights and to explain the benefits of having their own personal documents, such as ID cards and civil registration certificates.

Results achieved so far

The law on population administration, ratified in 2006, abandoned the discriminatory rules that were originally introduced between 1848 and 1933. It guarantees all Indonesian citizens equal recognition of their citizenship.

Under the local administrative reforms, since 2008 the capacities and resources of the municipal registration offices been developed, and the services they provide have become more transparent and easier to access.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is supporting the implementation of a reform concept which is designed to develop good practices in nine fields. To this end, medium term planning and implementation instruments devised by the project are being applied in 30 local authority areas of Central and East Java, West Sumatra and East Nusa Tenggara. The reorganisation is underpinned by the spatial redesign of the registration offices in ways that enhance transparency and customer friendliness.

The adherence to the new service standards is controlled by internal monitoring teams. Using the information obtained, the municipal offices can identify bottlenecks in the provision of services, while continuously improving the efficiency and efficacy of the personnel.

Indonesia. A busy moment in one of the administration offices. © GIZ

More than 80 districts and cities have already introduced new rules for their population administration services, based on the new legal framework. Mobile service centres are now operating in 17 communes. In selected districts, birth and marriage registration has already increased by an average of 20 per cent.