Thirty-two (32) civil society organizations in Central Java, East Java, and Yogyakarta province in the series of Open Government Week 2019 activities held a consolidation to discuss the transparency of public procurement in the goods/services procurement sector, and the natural resources sector. This consolidation which held last 14/3, is part of global action in the Open Government Partnership initiative.

This civil society organization meeting is aimed to strengthen the anti-corruption movement in the public procurement sector and the natural resources sector, considering the two sectors have the most corruption practices. The meeting also discussed the strategic agenda of civil society organizations in the sector.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ilham Saenong, Open Contracting Program Manager at Hivos, explained the theory and framework of thinking about the contract disclosure. Furthermore, Meliana Lumbantoruan, Program Manager PWYP Indonesia, emphasized the importance of the open contract and licensing in the Natural Resource Sector, as well as the practice of contract disclosure in several countries.

Meliana said, the results of the civil society consolidation are the joint action plan of CSOs in the regions of Central Java, East Java, and Yogyakarta to encourage the openness of contracts in the procurement of goods and services, as well as licensing. The follow-up is advocating the procurement and licensing cases in their respective regions, by encouraging the involvement of community participation. Besides, civil society will also collaborate with the institutions related to the public procurement such as LKPP-National Public Procurement Agency, and law enforcement officials as a forum to convey the supervision results.

“With the implementation of the two action plans, it is expected to contribute to the supervision and prevention of corruption in the public procurement and the licensing sector,” said Meliana.