Clientelistic politics and rent-seeking in health sector funding allocations
Event details
Indonesia Study Group
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Join in-person: McDonald Room, Menzies Library, 2 McDonald Place, Australian National University
Join online: bit.ly/isg_canberra Webinar ID: 850 4235 3685 Passcode: 029070
About the Seminar
What role does informal politics play in health funding in Indonesia? Special Allocation Funds (Dana Alokasi Khusus or DAK) are central government grants provided to the regions to help overcome regional disparities in public health. These grants give the regions extra resources to improve health facilities, infrastructure, and services. However, implementation of the grant is often ineffective, and prone to clientelistic and corrupt practices.
The speakers will present findings from a study that examines the impact of informal politics on DAK from planning and allocation to execution and spending in five districts across Central Java and NTT. With these case studies, they explain patterns of informal politics and rent-seeking practices in DAK allocation and spending. Indicative findings show that, while planning and allocation of DAK funds have become more transparent, the implementation and reporting retain weaknesses that makes the system open to rent-seeking and clientelistic politics. Meanwhile, the system is becoming more centralised and rigid, reducing room for local governments to exercise their decentralised health service functions.
This project is a joint research collaboration between Lila Sari (ANU) and Professor Budi Setiyono (Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro), and funded by the Ruth Daroesman Study Grant 2022.
About the speakers
Budi Setiyono is a professor at the Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Diponegoro, where he started working as a lecturer in 1994. His interests include governance, democratisation and political lobbying and campaigns. He has also served as Vice Rector of Communication and Business and Vice Rector of Academic and Student Affairs.
Lila Sari commenced her PhD at the ANU in 2019. Her research examines clientelistic politics and how it affects the healthcare services at the sub national level in Indonesia. Lila has over seventeen years of experience in institutional capacity building and advancing Indonesia’s public sector reforms. Prior to commencing her PhD she was a Program Manager at AusAID and has also served as the Program Manager for the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi.
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