Institutions and Planning: A Reflection from Disaster Management Planning in Indonesia

Abstract

Good governance has been used in planning practices, including disaster management planning in Indonesia. The authors are not aware of any published research that discusses the nexus of institutions and planning in the context of disaster management. This article argues that this is a gap that should be filled because studying planning institutions will help us understand governance processes in disaster management. The argument builds from the 6-month experiences of both authors as planning consultants for the RPB disaster management planning project in nine Indonesian provinces between August and December 2011. The regulations, actors, and organizational resources are used to analyze disaster management planning institutions. Overall, the study found (i) that the regulation of development planning and budgeting did not directly consider the disaster management planning output; (ii) that the knowledge gap between national and provincial government bodies occurred owing to limited experience in conducting disaster management planning at the meso-level; and (iii) that there was a significant lack of organizational resources in conducting more inclusive disaster management planning at the subnational level. These findings suggest that the current setup – where disaster management planning has been mainstreamed into the development planning process – is insufficient to address the governance challenges posed by disasters. The findings also suggest that more effective governance in disaster management planning is likely to be achieved by enhancing planning institutions through the vertical and horizontal integration of government institutions.