Australia - Nusa Tenggara Assistance for Regional Autonomy (ANTARA) Program

Program Background

The Indonesian provinces of East and West Nusa Tenggara (NTT and NTB) remain among the five poorest provinces of Indonesia. Australia is currently implementing several major development projects in Eastern Indonesia, in health, education, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and local NGO capacity building.

In line with the Australia-Indonesia Development Cooperation Strategy (2003 onwards), the Australia- Nusa Tenggara Assistance for Regional Autonomy (ANTARA) Program is an innovative, flexible program aimed at reducing poverty in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). This will be achieved through a longer-term commitment to sustainable and equitable social and economic development by improving regional and provincial governance, improving the quality of and access to essential services and increasing peri-urban and rural incomes.

ANTARA will operate initially over five years (2004-2009), with funding of up to A$30 million. It is anticipated that a second phase of ANTARA assistance will be required post-2009, given the scale of the development challenges faced by these provinces. ANTARA will commence in NTT, with a base in Kupang, West Timor, and will be extended progressively into NTB.

Description of goals/objectives

The goal of the ANTARA Program is to reduce poverty in NTT and NTB through sustainable and equitable social and economic development.

The ANTARA Program objectives are to:

improve provincial and district governance
improve peri-urban and rural income, and
improve access to and quality of delivery of basic services

ANTARA aims to achieve its goal and objectives by:

improving coordination and cohesion among relevant current and future Australian development projects and help build greater synergy between these programs and the programs of other key donors so as to maximize their impact on poverty reduction;
developing targeted new activities in areas such as local planning and budgeting and small business development; and
strategically investing in local or international initiatives with a proven capacity or strong potential for impact and expansion.

The ANTARA Program will support, wherever possible, local systems and processes, and priorities set by provincial level stakeholders (government, private sector and civil society). Assistance will be provided through a flexible and programmatic approach to regional development. Assistance will be delivered through a range of mechanisms and partnerships will be established with a broad range of stakeholders within local and provincial governments, business communities and civil society organisations to ensure local participation and ownership and sustainability and to maximise the impact of the program on poverty reduction.

In order to effectively establish and manage the ANTARA Program, AusAID will separately contract an ANTARA Program Coordinator and a Management Support Team (MST), commencing with the appointment of the Coordinator.

In consultation with the Coordinator, AusAID will separately select and appoint a MST to provide a range of services including analysis, design, monitoring and evaluation, logistical and coordination capacities to support the Program and the Coordinator.

This page was last updated on 6 July 2005