Theory and practice of foreign assistance to regional development planning: The case of peripheral rural areas in Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the pilot case of Dutch technical and financial assistance to the provincial planning board in Indonesia's most western Special Territory of Aceh. With specific reference to the two districts of Aceh Utara and Aceh Tengah, the picture of dependency relationships is sketched for rural peripheries in the Third World. Development planning efforts have not successfully addressed persistent problems, either because they were based upon urban‐biased policy prescriptions wrongly transferred from the northern hemisphere, or because rational‐comprehensive planning procedures were too arbitrarily blueprinted. Focusing upon the latter misapplication, the paper presents a practical working procedure for managing, through five stages, a multi‐annual and rationalizing exercise, such as Dutch assistance to improving regional planning methods employed by low‐level administrative units in peripheral rural regions. There follows a critical review of nine years of Dutch regional planning assistance by comparing theory and practice of three approaches applied to the two districts of Aceh Utara/Tengah. The Dutch lessons learned underline inter‐sectoral programme preparation, institutionalization and training components. A 6‐7 years working procedure for future foreign‐assisted district planning projects is proposed.

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