Celebrating Success through Innovation and Adaptation

LEI recently submitted the fourth progress report of the Papua Spatial Planning program or PSP as it is referred to, operating in Indonesia.

The poor quality and availability of spatial data has always been one of the biggest challenges in spatial planning in Indonesia, and most importantly in Papua. Further constraining spatial planning and sustainable development challenges, though, is the severely limited technical capacity of local government staff. Recognising this, Papua Spatial Planning – a bilateral programme between the Government of Indonesia and UK, implemented by LEI and Daemeter – has developed a structured and customised training known as On-the-Job Training (OTJT).

There have been many articles about the impacts of COVID-19 in the international development space – perhaps best evidenced in our sector by the 100+ articles on land and COVID-19 on the LandPortal blog. Development partners and practitioners alike have needed an unprecedented level of adaptiveness and flexibility to continue activities alongside this global challenge. Now approaching two years into the pandemic, we can begin to take stock. And so, in this article, we want to explore just some of the measures taken in one of LEI’s projects, and what these measures have meant in terms of project delivery of intended outcomes. This ‘taking stock’ is also important as we look to the future of our sector: are there intrinsic lessons from the pandemic response that we will take forward?

In Indonesia, our Papua Spatial Planning project team has been working from home for over a year now, and LEI and Daemeter recently presented each team member with a gift in recognition of their continued efforts despite hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

International deforestation statistics are compelling. Annual tree cover loss is regularly reported at the size of entire countries and this is rapidly increasing. We know that addressing deforestation is essential to climate mitigation – yet forests receive just 3% of available climate mitigation finance. This is despite recognised additional deforestation risks of biodiversity loss and disease spread (including COVID-19).

Land Equity International and Daemeter Consulting are pleased to commence working with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) via the UK Climate Change Unit in Indonesia (UKCCU) and the Government of Indonesia to deliver the program Reducing Deforestation through Improved Spatial Planning in Papua Provinces, Indonesia (Papua Spatial Planning – PSP).

The Participatory Mapping and Planning project (PMaP) sub-activities compiled new and existing spatial information into a WebGIS (aka province and district-level information management systems – IMS) to support spatial planning and natural resource licensing enforcement. New modalities such as IMS, standardised spatial data, trained government officials and the established spatial data forums helped the province and targeted districts to meet national agenda, to implement One Map Policy.

Over the past 12 months, Participatory Mapping and Planning Sub-Activity No. 3 (PMaP3) has been delivering three tasks across 11 districts in Indonesia. The following infographic video was used as part of the stakeholder management strategy to provide a comprehensive and uncomplicated overview of PMaP3 to target audiences. It shows how the program was developed to address the problem of land use and space – a result of long-term poor planning and overlaps in spatial information management.

MCA-Indonesia’s third project – Participatory Mapping and Planning Sub-Activity No. 3 (PMaP3) – focuses on eleven districts across four provinces. The project is assisting district governments to implement the following three tasks:

Spatial planning and One Map Policy in Indonesia