SERASI

Objectives

To mitigate social conflict and support peace building through the peaceful resolution of communal and regional conflicts and development of more collaborative and transparent relationships among NGOs, academic institutions, the private sector and the government. 

Program Focus

SERASI, named for the Indonesian word for “harmony”, provides rapid and flexible programmatic, administrative and logistical support for strategic grants and technical assistance programs.  SERASI uses participatory planning to determine the most strategic use of grants in the following key areas:

• Ensuring a continued robust and legitimate peace process in Aceh Province;
• Increasing capacity of government and civil society organizations to manage conflict;
• Promoting respect for human rights and inter-group relations;
• Integrating marginalized groups to be fully involved in broader development issues; and,
• Promoting a more democratic and transparent security sector.

Initially, SERASI is focusing efforts on conflict-affected areas of Aceh and Central Sulawesi from grassroots to provincial levels.  In Aceh, SERASI supports Aceh Peace Resource Center (APRC), a think tank of Aceh Peace-Reintegration Agency (BRA) and FORBES DAMAI, a multi-stakeholder advisory board of the BRA.  A second forum for dialogue, the Commission on Sustaining Peace in Aceh (COSPA) was initiated with SERASI support. COSPA brings together various Free Aceh movement factions, the Government of Indonesia and the Communication and Coordination Forum (FKK) to facilitate dialogue on the Aceh Peace Accord and help the parties reach agreement on implementation. SERASI also provides livelihood grants to village communities in Aceh and Central Sulawesi. 

Activities at the national level include the development of laws on conflict management, training on conflict mapping for stakeholders, study tours and seminars for provincial leaders, and promotion of exceptional women as positive role models for managing conflict. The program will also develop and maintain a crisis-rapid response capability that will stand ready to help USAID and its partners respond to natural or human-made crises throughout Indonesia.

Implementing Partners

International Relief and Development (IRD)

Period of Performance

February 2008 – February 2011

Funding

US$ 27 million

All Democracy and Governance activities