My work for Benkulu municipality
“Bengkulu Municipality is situated on the Indonesian island Sumatra and counts 225.000 inhabitants. The municipality has launched a development programme in 2008 with a focus on education, health and local entrepreneurship.”

“I work as a Budget Planner at Bengkulu Municipality and my main responsibility is to develop processes for financial planning and budgeting.”

Experiences in the Netherlands
” I had already participated in training courses on the topic of finances but the training course “Fiscal Decentralisation and Local Finances” in The Hague was quite different. This training course not only tackled the fiscal dimension of decentralisation but also other dimensions, such as political, economic and administrative. Unlike the other courses, the one in The Hague was very participatory and gave me a big chance to share my experiences with the other participants. The course contained various presentations from the trainers and speakers, practical examples from different countries and enough room for asking questions. I got new knowledge from the experts during the training but also had nice discussions and shared experiences with other participants from different countries like Ecuador, Albania, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Palestine and the Netherlands. I believe that this helped me to understand the conceptual framework of fiscal decentralisation.”

“During my internship at Municipality of Hoorn I have met different important people, such as the Major, the aldermen for Finance and the one for Special Planning, the municipality’s secretary and of course, my Dutch guest family.”

“As part of my programme, I have visited the biggest project in Hoorn called Oostereiland. Oostereiland used to be a former jail and now has been renovated and turned into cinemas, restaurants, museums and houses. I also had an opportunity to see how Hoorn prepares the annual budget, organises the financial administration and audit. However, the best experience in Hoorn for me was when I became a VIP guest during the Council meeting! The meeting’s objective was to cut the subsidies for several organisations in Hoorn as a result of the economic recession.”

Back Home Action Plan
“After my return to Indonesia, I will share my new knowledge and experiences with colleagues in my office through presentations and discussions. I will also discuss new knowledge and experiences that I gained in the course with the head of my department. In general, I will use my new knowledge to support my organisation in completing tasks and jobs mandated by the Major.”

“I will try to make a Policy Recommendation Paper for the Major focusing on how to develop effective financing structure, encourage participatory budgeting process and promote transparency and accountability of the local finance management. I want to believe that my new knowledge and skills will bring a new perspective in the budget planning process and local public finance management in my region.”

Benny Alamsyah