Stories

BASICS Photo Journal Series, Part 2 – The BASICS’ Data Management Smart Practice Stories

16 September, 2014

BASICS (Better Approaches for Service Provision through Increased Capacities in Sulawesi), is a project supported by the Government of Canada through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and the Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Cowater International Inc. is the Canadian consultancy firm responsible for the projects financial administration and technical management.

This photo journal series provides a photographic account of the BASICS project with the aim to highlight the importance of the people the project works to support. Since 2009, the BASICS Project has been active in 14 districts/cities throughout North Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi Provinces contributing to the acceleration of achievement of the Minimum Service Standards (MSS) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for basic services in health and education. These photos express some of the innovations that have been recognized by the BASICS project as “Smart Practices”. Throughout the course of the project, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Provincial Governments of North Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, as well as various regional partners, have supported BASICS enthusiastically and have contributed to the development of these “Smart Practices” which have had a direct, positive impact, on communities, government service units, individuals and project institutional partners.

Minimum Service Standards (MSS) are the minimum quantitative targets for the achievement of specific public services, set by the central government of Indonesia and used simply as guidelines or targets for national and/or regional governments to use in planning, budgeting, monitoring, and evaluation.  Data collection is conducted regularly by various governance agencies but the quality of the data obtained is often questionable and not consistently updated to support calculation of MSS. This results in insufficient or inaccurate data to support the preparation of the local planning and budgeting documents.

In response to this, BASICS’ Data Management Smart Practice was developed to support the achievement of MSS in primary education and health. This database has established standard operational procedures, a computer-based application for sub-district health centers and schools, and MSS data calculations to support the preparation of local planning and budgeting reports, particularly for policy makers in the region. The BASICS’ Data Management Smart Practice has helped districts better understand their MSS performance in infant and children services, including addressing standards for infant mortality (under 1 year old) and child mortality (ages 1 to 5) by quickly and accurately collecting the data and identifying the issue.  The data is uploaded to the government offices responsible for planning and budgeting and were able to update performance indicators taking into account the real field level conditions.  In Buton Utara, for example, by using BASICS’ Data Management Smart Practice, 47 cases of malnutrition and 56 cases of under-nutrition were identified in infants and young children.  Addressing these issues became a part of the program and has generated impressive reduction in infant and child mortality rates.

Related Posts:

BASICS Photo Journal Series, Part 1 – Basekolah: Sending Dropouts Back to School

Meeting Minimum Service Standards in Health and Education through Innovation in Indonesia


Related Content

Sustainability standards are critical to a more competitive MSME sector in Indonesia

Mirco, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) play a crucial role in the Indonesian economy, yet they face significant challenges in accessing global markets. This can be attributed to various factors, […]

ProNurse Project celebrates International Women’s Day 2024

This year’s International Women’s Day theme was “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”. To celebrate and raise awareness of the role of women in the nursing sector of Bangladesh, ProNurse Project […]

Community, Capacity and Coordination: why environmental management matters for sustainable development in Peru

Author: Victor Neagu, Director of Communications and Marketing, Cowater International I recently travelled to Peru for a series of closing events linked to the MEGAM Project. MEGAM is the Spanish […]



Interested in shaping the future with Cowater International?
Learn More