Policy Research Network (PRN) is an inter-institute research network which has focused on evidence-based research or evidence-based policy research. These studies are aimed at influencing government policy. PRN was established on January 29, 2013 in a formal meeting attended by institutions which received grants from ProRep (Program Representation)-USAID. The establishment of PRN was motivated by the idea that a formal cooperation was needed among research institutions.
Since January 2013, LPEM FEBUI has been conducting policy research about Forest Resource Utilization: Economic Perspectives, Environment, and Public Finance and its implications on the draft of Fiscal Balance Law. This study examines the relationship between deforestation and decentralization, especially its relationship with UU No.32 of 2004 on Regional Government, UU No.41 of 1999 on Forestry, and UU No.33 of 2004 on Fiscal Balance. One of the interesting findings is that decentralization leads to higher deforestation. Recently, this research activity is in the process of writing policy briefs.
To support this policy research, various activities have been carried out, such as in-depth interviews with Mr.Taufiq Effendi (Vice Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives), Mr.Firman Soebagyo (Vice Chairman of Commission IV of the House of Representatives ), and Mr. Bobby Adityo Rizaldi (Member of Commission VII of House of Representatives), government agencies at the central level (Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Finance), provincial and district agencies (Local Parliament, Bappeda, Forest Local Office, Revenue Local Office and Environment Local Office), and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with central government agencies, Civil Society Organizations (CSO), and academic society. Katingan and Seruyan District (Central Kalimantan) and Berau and Kutai Barat District (East Kalimantan) were chosen as the areas of the survey because they received forestry revenue sharing in a significant amount. The research results were presented at a dissemination seminar which was held on August 22, 2013 at the Century Park Hotel, Jakarta. On that occasion, Mr. Firman Soebagyo was present and gave a presentation about Challenges on Amendment of UU No. 41 Year 1999 on Forestry.
Researchers from CSIS discussed about "The Relationship between Politicians and Their Constituents". This research study suggests that two functions of the House of Representatives (legislation and representation) are encountered problems. As a representation function, it is not maximized to generate political processes with higher transactional costs and lower confidence levels as a democratic basis. Politicians and their constituents have contradictory perceptions by each other.
This research uses ethnography-shadowing and in-depth interview method with a number of popular politicians like Mr.Marzuki Alie (Democratic Party), Mrs.Wanda Hamidah (National Mandate Party), Mr.Budiman Sujatmiko (PDI-P Party), Mr. .Tony Wardoyo (National Rising Party), Mrs. Nurul Arifin (Golkar Party), and others. To assess the study in terms of constituents, they conducted face to face interviews in 31 provinces (Papua and West Papua were not included in the survey because the situation was not conducive), which was held from 9 to 16 April 2013. The total sample is 1,635 respondents. In addition, it also held focus group discussions with voters in abroad (Taipei, Hong Kong).
IRE conducted research entitled "Implementation of Relationship of Regional Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia with its constituents". The purpose of this study is to investigate the further practical implementation of obligations between DPD and its constituents as required by UU No.27/2009 on MPR, DPR, DPD and DPRD. Under this law, the presence of DPD has the potential to strengthen the democratic establishment in Indonesia, especially on how DPD can properly manage interactive relationships with its constituents.
Research which was conducted by IRE suggests some findings as follows: First, the public is enthusiastic to choose DPD in national elections but many of them do not know about its function. Interestingly, the participation rate is relatively higher but does not correlate with public knowledge of DPD functions and duties. This enthusiasm in selecting DPD members is not comparable to society's knowledge about the functions, duties, powers and institutions of DPD. Political communication which was used by the senators using procedural mechanisms, working visits and recess, through face-to-face dialogue, seminars or attending the cultural religious events. While the political process for accommodating local issues to the national level, DPD has not had a formal communication pattern.
WRI conducted research entitled "Representation of Women in the House of Parliament and Law of Gender Equality Justice" is motivated by imbalance composition between women and men in the House of Parliament in its correlation with policy making process. The increase of women's representation in the house of parliament has not influenced the direction of the public policy process yet. Therefore, The Law of Gender Equality Justice is expected to be a priority in order that the representation of women in national parliament will be increased by descriptive and substantive.
For collecting qualitative information, WRI conducted in-depth interviews with 22 members and 1 former member of the House of Representatives in May – July 2013. The purpose of this activity is to capture the pattern of representation by gender in the house of representatives, to know the challenges and barriers to increasing women's political representation, and to know the opinion of members of the House of Representatives about gender-responsive policies that already exist. WRI also conducted FGDs with CSOs in Jakarta, Makassar, and Surabaya in October 2013 to confirm their findings which were derived from in-depth interviews and surveys. These three cities were chosen based on the number of women's political representation in the 2009 elections and the diversity of CSO. On December 2, 2013, WRI with Prolegnas Pro Women's Network (JKP3) visited Golkar party fraction to conduct hearing session about Law of Gender Equality Justice. The three members who welcomed WRI were Mr. Sayed Fuad Zakaria (Commission VIII), Mr. Tetty Kadi Bawono (Commission IV), and Mrs. Hetifah (Commission V).
WRI conducted research entitled "A Decade of Performance-Based Budgeting in Indonesia: Policy Recommendations for Improvement". This study aims to explore the implementation of Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB) in Indonesia, to analyze the impact of Performance-Based Budgeting implementation in every government agency, and then make policy recommendations. The method used the “purposive nonprobability-sampling” by taking samples from the ministry or agency which is responsible for the implementation of PBB policies, among others: National Planning Agency, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Education. From this research study, PPPI recommends that it is necessary to integrate the budget and planning functions, to improve the quality of PBK implementation in the ministry/agency level starting from budget presentation and public engagement to performance indicators.
