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tive, there was little evidence of local ownership at this stage of IDEA’s
programme.
The other dimension of sustainability is obviously the financial one, and
IDEA has had difficulty mobilising resources in support of its work in Indonesia.
While the Member States have all been supportive of its work, they
note its low profile in the country and the effect this may have on raising
additional funding from outside its traditional resource base. Without funding
for its future programmes, the organization may in effect lose the investments
of the past 18 months. The inability to confirm a longer term
presence in Indonesia therefore leads to questions of sustainability and the
level of commitment on the part of potential partners.
Partnership: The selection of participants and local partners for IDEA’s
programme activities is largely appropriate. This pertains to both those experts
invited as speakers and discussants, as well as members of the democracy
assessment working groups, workshop participants, and local organisers.
However, a number of issues were raised with the evaluators which also
indicate that the skills and constituencies of its partners are not fully accessed
and it needs to be more sensitive to these issues.
The reason why Indonesian partners decide to work with the organization
therefore appears to rest on the following principles: (a) they feel that
the project is an important contribution to democratisation; (b) IDEA is
part of a wider network which is important for their organisational goals;
and (c) their impression that IDEA has a flexible agenda and approach.
IDEA’s management structures currently do not encourage shared ownership
and decision making with its partners. The lack of decentralized decision
making authority at the field level has left the impression with many
stakeholders of a highly centralized, Stockholm-driven capacity building
process that does not always act in the interests of the Indonesian partnerships.
Appropriateness of Design: Programme development has been participatory
in some respects, but appears to be heavily influenced by the components
of IDEA’s capacity building methodology and directed from Stockholm.
On specific project activities, there is some evidence of participation
by partners in the planning of activities, especially in the case of workshops
which have been subcontracted to partners to manage.
The partners who were interviewed also commented on the highly academic
approach required by Stockholm, especially the rigidity of the democracy
assessment framework, which in their view did not necessarily
reflect the needs or vision of all stakeholders. These observations point to
the dilemmas IDEA faces in ensuring the quality products for which it is
well-known while also creating the environment and conditions in which
their stakeholders can provide the inputs and analysis necessary to ensure
ownership of and participation in a highly process-oriented approach and
outputs.