Is our bureaucracy so bad it needs a PMO? Yanuar Nugroho shares the origins of Indonesia’s first official Delivery Unit
The Reformist Podcast ep. 3 is now available to stream online
Dear readers,
Since the new administration took office, people have voiced concerns (even disdain) over a number of ‘controversial’ figures being appointed as ‘special staffs’ to the President and various Ministries.
Notably, there is TV personality Raffi Ahmad (the President’s Special Envoy for Youth Development and Arts) and the more recently appointed magician-turned-podcaster Deddy Corbuzier (the Defense Minister’s special staff). While they are both megafamous entertainers, many have questioned their appointment for such a high-level post usually reserved for highly-qualified people.
This phenomenon is indeed disheartening, considering the first time Indonesia appointed ‘special staff’ was actually to employ qualified people to help the government quickly, and effectively, deliver a national mandate.
In our previous episode, you’ve heard William Sabandar’s story on the BRR, an organisation filled with professionals (who are not government officials), mandated to reconstruct Aceh and Nias after a devastating tsunami. The model of this organisation, in the corporate world known as Project Management Office (PMO), has set the precedent for every ‘delivery unit’ that comes after it, including the SBY era Presidential Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), Indonesia’s first official presidential delivery unit.
Coming to The Reformist Podcast to tell this story is Yanuar Nugroho,
who served as an Expert Assistant to Head of UKP4 (2009-2014) and later appointed as a Deputy to the Jokowi era Presidential Staff Office (2015-2019).
His story will change your mind about ‘non-government officials’ being employed to work for the government. Spoiler alert: the agility of the PMO model, and the work ethics of the staff, is the answer for smoother and more efficient government program delivery, as opposed to the rigid, often inefficient bureaucracy within the executive offices.
But this is a band-aid solution—what does it mean?
Listen to the full story on the 3rd episode of The Reformist Podcast with Yanuar Nugroho!
We are now available to stream on:
Enjoy the episode!
Best,
The Editorial Team at The Reformist.
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