Institutional Strengthening and Innovation  

Institutional strengthening requires wide support to fill institutional capacity gaps, 

including redefinition of existing institutions and processes to support multi stakeholder 

involvement.  There is little theoretical or experiential evidence to demonstrate that 

current institutions, which were designed to support economic growth based on natural 

resources exploitation, will support sustainable development. Sustainable development 

requires new skills, innovative approaches, and support for institutional restructuring. 

If counterparts and project stakeholders are to be provided with the skills necessary to 

implement project innovations, access to training must be more flexible.  Increasing the 

provision of informal training, such as applied research programs and study tours, was a 

successful NRMP activity. 

Competitive resource allocation processes, using transparent decision making criteria, 

provide a cost effective means to encourage wider participation in applied research. 

Structure of this Book 

The readers targeted by this book include policy makers at all levels, potential bilateral, 

multilateral and private donors for natural resources management projects, and academics.  

Many readers will look to the detailed technical analysis of policy reforms and the associated 

recommendations intended to improve resources management outcomes.  NRMP produced 

many of these analyses, which may be found in a large collection of project documentation 

known as the "blue cover reports".  Annex A describes the NRMP database and how to access 

it, and Annex B presents a list of the NRMP reports.  In this book, the major lessons learned 

are developed with supporting details from field experience.  The focus of the book is on 

processes; how to go about fixing problems associated with inadequate resources management 

input.  How to design improved project interventions and identify critical aspects to achieve 

better outcomes forms the basis of the major lessons learned from the NRMP experience.  This 

book is organized into five chapters: 

Chapter One: Enabling Policies for Sustainable Resources Management: Chapter One provides 

an overview of macro economic policy experiences, highlighting the need for project designers 

to better understand policy processes in the Indonesian context, and the roles and opportunities 

that donors create for policy interventions.  The chapter presents NRMP's experience in 

addressing economy wide policy issues.  In particular, the incentives for industrialization and 

deregulation priorities are discussed in terms of how incentives can support sustainable 

resources management.  Lessons learned from identifying and encouraging natural resources 

management policy reforms pertain to i) policies for sustainable development and ii) policy 

development players and their roles. 

Chapter Two: Sustainable Natural Forest Management: Chapter Two reviews the forestry sector 

experience and the lessons learned from a wide range of often diverse NRMP interventions.  

The economic importance of Indonesia s natural forests and institutional and ecosystem 

management issues are reviewed.  Lessons learned are considered, primarily through field 

experience from West Kalimantan, by reviewing three fundamental and inter linked 

recommended policy reform themes: i) simplifying institutional requirements, ii) reducing natural 

forest undervaluation, and iii) reducing uncertainties of resource allocation rights. 

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