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Messages | Sekapur SirihMessage fromthe Chairperson ofthe Board of TrusteesIn 2013 SMERU gained very valuable experiencesas a research institute. First, it has been trusted tocooperate fully with the National Development PlanningAgency (Bappenas) to help devise the Master Plan forthe Acceleration and Expansion of Poverty Reductionin Indonesia (MP3KI). This trust was gained thanks tothe hard work of SMERU in developing and maintainingits reputation in the field of socioeconomic research,particularly poverty, for more than a decade. Second,SMERU hired and mobilized 194 researchers spreadout across 64 kabupaten (districts)/kota (cities) in 25different provinces to conduct a direct survey of teachers’attendance (without giving the party to be surveyedany prior notice) in 893 public & Islamic primary schoolsand public & Islamic junior high schools. Both activitiesare considered a success. The MP3KI document will bemainstreamed in the 2015–2019 National Medium-TermDevelopment Plan, while the teachers’ attendancesurvey managed to visit 99.2% of the targeted sample ofrandomly selected schools. These accomplishments furthersolidify the reputation of SMERU in Indonesia’s researcharena.In terms of finance, the proportion of SMERU’s operationalfunds sourced from the core funds (grants) has beenreduced from 100% to 40% within 12 years. This reductionis the result of the institute’s ability to obtain researchproject funding and competitive research funding fromvarious sources. Therefore, as SMERU’s core funder,the Australian Agency for International Development(AusAID)—which was merged into the Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in September 2013—hasrequested that, in three or four years’ time, the institute beable to finance its operations independently. ConsideringSMERU’s present achievements, I am optimistic that theinstitute will continue to grow and eventually becomefinancially sustainable. Socioeconomic problems in acountry as vast as Indonesia would mean that SMERU willnever run out of research projects to undertake, even ifdozens of similar institutes are established and become itscompetitors.Since the 1998 reform, there have been rapid and majorchanges in the Indonesian social order. Transparency,participation, and accountability become an expressionof the struggle for the strengthening of democratic civilsociety. Now, the Indonesian people—poor or rich; femaleor male—are not merely beneficiaries of developmentpolicy. They are now engaged in the formulation andimplementation of policies that affect their lives. Thisessentially makes the bureaucrats, both in governmentand nongovernment institutions, no longer able to developpolicies based on what is visible to the naked eye alone.This situation has led to the emergence of a generationof bureaucrats who realize the importance of knowledgebaseddevelopment perspective. They begin to make useof a variety of research results in policy formulation. Suchdynamics then encourage the growth of public policyresearch, which SMERU has undertaken all this time.Based on this reality, I believe that the future will be verybright for SMERU. Still, it is the creative and innovativepolicies and actions of the management, research staff,and all support staff that can deliver SMERU into a brilliantfuture. Needless to say, we must be grateful for the amountof success that SMERU has enjoyed up to this moment.This success would not have been possible without thewillingness of government officials and the communityto have discussions with SMERU; the availability ofoperational funds, especially the grants from AusAID; theassistance of field researchers in SMERU’s various worklocations; and of course the hard work of the SMERUmanagement, research staff, and support staff. For that, onbehalf of the Board of Trustees of The SMERU Foundation,I express my appreciation and thanks. aSyaikhu UsmanChairperson of the Board of TrusteesAnnual Report2013