PNPM Mandiri is the government's flagship community-driven development program. PNPM focuses on reducing poverty in all Indonesian provinces through a community planning process that generates employment and invests in small-scale infrastructure projects that improve the development of individual villages and urban wards. Since 1998, the World Bank has supported PNPM and its predecessor programs through a combination of loans and technical assistance.
The National Program for Community Empowerment (PNPM Mandiri) is a national program that is at the heart of the Government of Indonesia's effort to reduce poverty. It was launched officially in 2007 and scaled up dramatically existing initiatives. PNPM Rural which began in 1998 as Kecamatan Development Program (KDP), and PNPM Urban begun in 1999 as the Urban Poverty Program (UPP), are the two largest components of the program. The objective of the program is to improve the economic and social welfare of the poor and expand their employment opportunities through community consultation, empowerment, and capacity building at the local level. PNPM Mandiri is now currently active in more than 6,000 sub-districts and 70,000 communities in 33 provinces in Indonesia. PNPM represents to a large extent a "laboratory" that offers lessons and innovative practices on community planning, capacity building, and targeting more and marginalized groups. It is also one of the most studied, with over 70 different evaluations prepared on various aspects of the program
Key elements
Components of these activities are the key elements that must exist within each programs of PNPM Mandiri:
- Community Development
This consists of a series of activities for building critical awareness; mapping community potential, problems and needs; and carrying out participatory planning, community organizing, resource mobilization, monitoring, and maintenance of development outcomes. - Community Block Grant
The Community Block Grant (BLM) consists of a fund provided to the community for financing activities that are intended to improve community welfare, particularly the welfare of the poor. - Strengthening Local Governance and Partnership
This comprises a set of activities for strengthening the capacity of local government and partner/ stakeholder to create a positive, conducive and synergistic environment for the community, particularly the poor, required to attain a reasonable standard of living. Activities in the component include seminars, trainings, workshops, field visits, etc. - Technical Assistance for Program Management and Development
This consists of activities for supporting the government and other stakeholders in the management of project activities, quality control, study and evaluation activities, and program improvement and development.
PNPM Mandiri activities are chosen from a menu of activities related to poverty reduction proposed and approved by the community. Example of activities include :
- Basic social and economic infrastructure development and improvement (through labor intensive methods), such as roads, bridges, water and sanitation facilities.
- Provision of capital and financial resources through revolving funds and micro credit for the poor to develop the local economy.
- Special activities related to improve the quality of human resources, mainly aimed to accelerate MDGs in health and education targets.
- Increasing community and local government capacity through training and information dissemination for business skills development and good governance practices at the local level.
The World Bank is supporting three programs of PNPM Mandiri:
Support has come in the form of significant loans ongoing technical assistance, especially in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, supervision, pilot programs that test new approaches, financial management, policy guidance and coordination of donor support. Much of this support comes from the PNPM Support Facility, a World Bank-administered unit that supports the overall management and technical implementation of PNPM.