Center for Policy Studies

International Policy Fellowships

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MENTOR CRITIQUE FORM

Your thoughtful and honest appraisal will be most helpful. We appreciate your input and will try to implement as many of your ideas as possible. Continue comments on the back if necessary.

The IPF program pairs each Fellow with one or two mentors who are Soros foundations network-affiliated (usually Open Society Institute and Central European University), as well as one ‘external’ mentor who is an expert in the field working outside the Soros foundations network. Mentors should: 1) Work with Fellows to devise a brief policy paper in their field(s) of expertise based on a lengthy research paper written over the course of the fellowship year, 2) Maintain contact with Fellows at least once every six weeks or so by telephone, fax or e-mail to discuss the development of projects, 3) If feasible, meet with Fellows at least once during the fellowship year to discuss the project, 4) Facilitate Fellows’ contact with other relevant experts and participation in appropriate meetings (IPF has discretionary funds to support Fellow attendance at relevant events), 5) Complete brief mid-term and final critique forms supplied by IPF to provide the program with feedback regarding the Fellow’s progress.

Your name, position: Leonora C. Angeles, Ph.D. (Political Science), Assistant Professor of Women's Studies and Community and Regional Planning

Name of Fellow you have assisted: Asima Yanthi Siahaan

1. What, in your opinion, have you and your Fellow/program/project gained from your cooperation thus far?

Asima Yanthi Siahaan is my second PhD student advisee from an overseas university institution. This rather unusual arrangement and the status of Asima, the Fellow, as a PhD candidate at a university in New Zealand, supported by a fellowship from a prestigious international institution, have certainly elevated my own thesis supervision record at my home university. It has underscored the importance of networking and attendance at international conferences, such as the one sponsored by the Development Network in Wellington, New Zealand, where I first met the Fellow in person in November 2000. I am certain that this mentorship or supervisory relationship I now have with the Fellow will go beyond after the completion of her PhD dissertation, perhaps extending to the potential institutional linkages between my university in Canada, and her home university in Indonesia.

Recent developments in her research, writing and communication of research results have also been very bright and productive. In the course of her fellowship, the Fellow has presented a paper on "Women and Local Government in Indonesia: Bringing Local Governance Close to Women?" at the International Conference of Development Studies Network in Aetearoa/New Zealand. The paper, judged as one of the best presentations during that conference, has been published on-line. In October 2002, she came to the University of British Columbia as a visiting scholar of the Centre for Southeast Asian Research at the Institute of Asian Research. At the Centre, she gave a very interesting seminar on "Women, Local Government and the Politics of Decentralisation in Indonesia" which was attended by most of UBC's Indonesian specialists. During her visit, she has met Dr Geoffrey Hainsworth who encouraged her to submit a chapter for the book he is editing on Social Cohesion in Indonesia. Her chapter entitled "The Politics of Gender and Decentralisation in Indonesia will be included in that anthology, where a number of rising Indonesian scholars are also contributing chapters. The Fellow and I also have plans to co-write an article for an international development or political science journal, tentatively titled, "Women, Local Governance and the Politics of Decentralisation in Southeast Asia: Lessons on Gendered Political Citizenship from Indonesia and the Philippines."

More importantly, the research fellowship has enabled her to conduct research in Indonesia that also served as a vehicle for training workshops and information dissemination within policy-makers in the North Sumatra region. Her workshops and lectures have generated much interests from officers of the Regional Development Planning Board as well as the Women's Empowerment Bureau in North Sumatra who have expressed eagerness to maintain their mutual co-operation to improve the new decentralisation framework in the region.

2. Do certain areas of this Fellow’s work need improvement? Which areas?

With the assistance of her mentors in Indonesia and abroad, I would encourage the Fellow to publish her research in international refereed journals and other outlets, and to disseminate her research results to a wider audience in Indonesian policy makers and academic circles.

3. In your opinion, does your Fellow’s project make a significant contribution to the field?

YES, definitely. Decentralisation policies have been analysed in the last 10-15 years since it became a popular policy agenda within national governments, pushed by international development agencies. However, the gender implications of decentralisation policies, particularly their gendered differential impacts on women's participation in local government, have not been adequately analysed. The Fellow is attempting to address this gap in the existing research on the politics of decentralisation, especially in developing countries like Indonesia.

4. Would the project be important to other countries in the CEE/fSU region?

YES , many countries in the Central Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union currently undergoing decentralisation or have had decentralisation policies would benefit from the Fellow's studies on the gender implications of decentralisation and how gender planning could be used as a tool by policy makers and program officers in ensuring that women's strategic gender interests are also taken into consideration in the framing and implementation of decentralisation laws.

5. Could the proposed policy research make an impact on the policy environment in specific countries or regions? (Policy makers, experts and policy research community)

YES, definitely, especially in the Southeast Asian region. In fact, there are indications that the workshops and meetings the Fellow have had in the province of Sumatra in Indonesia have already led to some policy rethinking and program adjustments with regards to decentralisation in the province.

6. Is the timetable for the project realistic?

YES, I am confident that the Fellow will be able to finish her research writing and defend by March 2004, if not earlier.

7. Could the project benefit a large number of people?

YES, so far, the Fellow's research project has benefited hundreds of local and provincial officials in Indonesia and fellow IPF-OSI fellows who have attended the workshops where the Fellow has served either as facilitator, resource person or participant/presenter. The research project will in fact benefit an even larger number of people when the Fellow is able to publish parts of her dissertation in international refereed journals and in Indonesian publication outlets written in the local or national language. Great multiplier effect will also be generated if and when these local and international publications are popularised and or translated into policy briefs for government officials in Sumatra, in particular, and Indonesia in general. Such policy briefs or policy papers would assist the local and national governments in improving on their decentralisation plans, especially in the integration of gender planning considerations in decentralisation efforts.

8. Does the Fellow show evidence that he/she can think strategically about the relevant project and/or field?

YES, the Fellow has demonstrated a strong ability to think and plan strategically about her thesis research and beyond . She has not confined herself only to the research or data-gathering process related to her thesis writing, but has also appropriately viewed the research process itself as a vehicle to broaden her network of contacts within the local, provincial and national governments in Sumatra and Indonesia. Through the in-depth interviews she has conducted and the number of training workshops she has facilitated for the local and provincial government officials in Sumatra, she has not only gained their trust and esteem, but also enabled her to display her analytical abilities that are invaluable in policy research, program evaluation, and developing policy recommendations.

9. If the Fellow were to re-apply for continued OSI funding for follow-up work associated with the project, would you support continued funding?

YES, I strongly support the continued funding by OSI for follow-up research and training opportunities associated with the project. This is in view of my projection that the Fellow will be groomed for more important positions in both the academe and government circles in Indonesia. I think that it is in the interest of international agencies like OSI to continuously support and maintain contacts with Fellows who are in a position to influence the policy process and outcomes in their home countries.

Follow-up work related to the research project could be also supported by an extension of fellowship. This may include seminars and public presentations at other Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, where both policy and academic interests in decentralisation have already been very high, but not necessarily aware of the gender implications that the Fellow has been doing for her Indonesian case study. The newly created Decentralisation Network in the region, started by professors from the College of Public Administration of the University of the Philippine, as well as the regional Congress of Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP) would also be very good contacts for the Fellow.

10. Are there other appropriate funders that may support the project?

Perhaps, the Fellow could also further explore other international funding agencies that operate in the Southeast Asian region, such as the Ford Foundation, Asia Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. As these institutions are all based in the United States, I think it is important for Southeast Asian fellows to broaden their funding network contacts by tapping into the European circles such as OSI.

Recommendations for other potential senior contacts for this Fellow:

Dr. Marilyn Porter, Department of Sociology, Memorial University, St John's Newfoundland, Canada

Dr. Micheal Leaf, Director, Centre for Southeast Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Dr. Alex Brillantes and Dr. Proserpina Tapales, College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Dr. Abidin Kusno, Department of Art History, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, USA

Additional Comments (Please comment on your Fellow’s work and all aspects of the IPF program using the back of this sheet):