Understanding Strong & Effective CSOs in Indonesia’s Environmental Sector: A Social Analysis

This report was jointly developed by the Institute for Social and Political Research and Development, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (LPPSP FISIP UI), and the Asia Research Center, Universitas Indonesia (ARC UI) to contribute to the development of Indonesian CSOs, particularly those working in the environmental sector, funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The purpose of the research report is to explain how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and their beneficiaries define strong and effective CSOs within the historical context of a decentralized and democratizing Indonesia, and in what ways diversity and social inclusion contribute to CSO effectiveness.

It achieves this purpose through gathering primary and secondary data, and looking at patterns of meaning. Primary data was obtained through in-depth interviews with key informants from CSOs, the government, the private sector and communities as well as simple surveys of young people. All of our research subjects care about or are active in addressing environmental issues. Secondary data was used to verify, validate, and provide context so that we could understand the cultural logic of our research subjects.

This research finds that strong and effective CSOs work on four levels: organizational, management, financial, and program levels. These levels are used as foundations and tools to achieve their objective, namely establishing an environment-based economy by putting the management of natural resources in the hands of local communities.

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