Inequality in Public Service Delivery: The Development of Education, Health, and Infrastructure Sector in Papua (Kesenjangan Pelayanan Publik: Perkembangan Sektor Pendidikan, Kesehatan, dan Infrastruktur di Papua)

Abstraksi

Decentralization purpose are to improve the quality of public service delivery and social welfare. In general, such improvement can be observed in many public service areas in Indonesia. However, significant inequality still exist; with Papua is often mentioned as an example of inequality in public service and social welfare. This is especially important considering the special autonomy granted to Papua in 2001, which aims at accelarating economic development and improving social welfare of the people in Papua to achieve equality with other regions in Indonesia. Research objective is to analyze the progress of public service performance between 2011 and 2016 (using education, health, and infrastructure indicators) in the province of Papua, compared with that of other regions with similar characteristics. Both qualitative method (focused group discussion with 5 sample local governments) and quantitative method (propensity score matching and double difference) are used. The result indicates that there is improvement in public service performance in Papua during the observed period; however, the improvement is less than that of other regions with similar characteristics. Research findings indicate that some of the reasons behind the result are (1) the required conditions to achieve high public service performance are not met, with institutional and human resource become the main concern; (2) the high cost to provide public service, especially in isolated areas. Some approaches to address these issues are (1) improving institutional and human resources capacity, and (2) implementing performance-based measures on financial management and public service delivery outcomes.