In a bid to improve the quality of policies made by the government this year, the National Institute of Public Administration (LAN) held a seminar on the theme of Knowledge Management at the LAN office, Central Jakarta, on Feb. 27 with support from the Knowledge Sector Initiative (KSI) and the Indonesian Policy Analysts’Association (AAKI). The event was attended by 200 participants, including researchers from various state institutions, policy researchers and LAN officials.
During the seminar, speakers discussed the importance of using empirical evidence in policymaking to help the country boost competitiveness and overcome development challenges. Good knowledge management can support evidence-informed policymaking by enabling policy analysts, researchers and policy makers to collaborate and share information.
In his welcoming speech, the Head of LAN Adi Suryanto said that knowledge management as a basis for developing better quality policies was a challenge for the government.
“There is a saying that whoever controls information, will succeed. Information forpolicy analysis should be well-managed well so it can be utilised for the benefit of the country,” Suryanto said.
Suryanto acknowledgedthat knowledgemanagement for policy making was still far from ideal. For example, information about the performance and competence of the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) was not yet integrated. This had hampered efforts to improve the competence of the civil service. However, Suryanto said he believed this would improve in the future.
Suryanto added that the seminar was a positive contribution to the government’s efforts to solve issues related to the use of empirical studies for policy making in Indonesia.
KSI Team Leader Petrarca Karetji echoed these sentiments, saying that knowledge management was a vessel which analysts could use to drive the development of quality policies which would benefit allcitizens.
Meanwhile, Kirsten Bishop, Counsellor forPoverty and Social Development at the Australian Embassy Jakarta, said the seminar could be a stepping stone for policy researchers.
“Since 2014, DFAT through KSI, has supported LAN to strengthen connections between researchers, policy analysts and policy makers, as a basis for better use of evidence in policy making,” Bishop said.
