ABOUT USAID ERAT

Theory of Change

USAID ERAT believes that improving the quality of public services must start with governance itself. Therefore, USAID ERAT uses four strategies to achieve the desired change:

1. Strengthening accountability to the central and provincial governments
   With decentralization in Indonesia, local governments gained a lot of responsibility to provide public services. In carrying out their duties, local governments need integrated guidance and supervision (bimbingan dan pengawasan, binwas) from the central and provincial governments so that public services can be provided optimally and standardized in all districts. In addition, there is also a need to provide incentives for local governments that have successfully provided quality public services. In this regard, USAID ERAT encourages central and local governments to develop performance-based financial assistance schemes tailored to government priorities. USAID ERAT also works with the central government to simplify the key performance index of local governments so that it is more relevant for them.
2. Improving accountability to the people
   Through the involvement of civil society, including the youth, religious groups, gender minority groups, and people with disabilities, USAID ERAT supports changes in implementing public services so that the government can genuinely reach and serve the needs of all Indonesian citizens. USAID ERAT also encourages the government to provide and improve information transparency and public complaint channels so that the public can directly convey their complaints and aspirations.
3. Promoting horizontal incentives through competition and peer-to-peer learning
   USAID ERAT encourages local governments to learn from each other when facing development challenges. In the process, local governments can develop their existing innovations or adopt innovations from different regions to be applied according to the local context. In addition, USAID ERAT facilitates local governments in meeting the indicators for various assessments and competitions at the national and provincial levels to increase the region’s visibility.
4. Improving the capacity of government and non-government actors
   One of the most frequent activities that USAID ERAT does is capacity building and technical assistance to local governments. This is to help local governments face various development challenges such as lack of competence, budget, or resources. It is envisaged that at the end of the program, local governments will be able to produce quality policies and programs with competent human resources independently. In general, the quality of government budgeting and expenditure implementation is also expected to increase while the level of corruption in the region decreases. USAID ERAT also encourages local governments to collaborate with other areas and provides opportunities for the private sector to provide quality public services.

The improvement of governance following the four strategies above will encourage improving public services regarding access, quality, and cost. The community is also expected to be more aware of its right to quality public services and use its voice to demand that the government provide these services.

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