Jakarta, MINA— The Indonesian House of Representatives urges the global parliamentary community to enhance oversight standards for foreign aid to ensure greater transparency and accountability.
Rachmat Gobel, a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of the Indonesian House of Representatives emphasized this point during a discussion titled “Development Cooperation and the SDGs: Making the Most of Aid,” held as part of the UN Parliamentary Hearing in New York, United States on Thursday.
In his statement, as quoted from Parlementaria on Saturday (Feb 15), Gobel highlighted the challenges parliaments face in monitoring foreign aid, particularly regarding government transparency.
He explained that Indonesia’s Constitution and the State Finance Law require DPR approval for international agreements affecting national finances. However, he noted that information provided by the government has often been macro-level and lacking in detail.
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For example, he pointed to Rp1 trillion in aid from an international financial institution for Project Upland—a program to enhance agricultural capacity in highland areas. This program can potentially improve the welfare of 17.2 million small farmers in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the forestry, agriculture, and fisheries sectors employed 40 million workers in 2022. However, without better transparency, the parliament struggles to measure the impact and ensure equitable aid distribution.
Gobel called for inter-parliamentary cooperation in developing international guidelines to strengthen oversight standards for foreign aid.
This initiative is expected to improve the effectiveness and accountability of international aid utilization while accelerating sustainable development goals.[]
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