Australian Community Development and Civil Society Strengthening Scheme (ACCESS)

Estimated budget	A$22 million
Commenced	February 2002
Scheduled completion	June 2007
Counterpart Agencies	DG of Village and Community Empowerment (PMD), Ministry of Home Affairs
Main Locations	East & West Nusa Tenggara, South & South East Sulawesi
Managing Contractor	International Development Support Services Pty Ltd (IDSS)/Connell Wagner Company

Background

ACCESS is a continuation of the Indonesia Australia Small Activities Scheme (IASAS), which was an integral part of Australia's official bilateral assistance to Indonesia from 1989. Like IASAS, ACCESS supports community development through grants, capacity building, planning and collective learning.

Description

The goal of this five-year program is to contribute to the alleviation of poverty and strengthen civil society, particularly in Eastern Indonesia.

The ACCESS approach is based on the understanding that community development involves not only improving livelihoods but also facilitating a stronger role for the community in civil society. The approach is intended to create an environment of collective learning between the community, organised groups in society (such as NGOs and CSOs) and leaders within government bodies.

ACCESS funding is available nationally, but concentrates on two districts in four target areas: NTT (East and West Sumba), NTB (Central and West Lombok), South Sulawesi (Jeneponto and Bantaeng) and Southeast Sulawesi (Muna and Buton).

Achievements/outcomes

180 grants for non-government organisations to support community based development activities, with a total of around 60,000 direct beneficiaries.
Successful facilitation of Civil Society Index workshops across eight districts involving approximately 350 participants from Government, private sector, CSOs and community groups (approximately 40 per cent women).
Successful introduction of the Organisational Development Snapshot Tool (ODST) process, providing a strategic tool for NGOs in improving their good governance.

This page was last updated on 22 May 2007