Who's Wicak? An Introduction

Wicaksono Sarosa sees himself as a committed professional knowledge-worker—facilitating processes of knowledge transfer—in the area planning and management for sustainable urban and community development, including in their relationships with the critical issues of dealing with the informal economy, strengthening social capital and managing environmental sustainability.

Upon finishing his five-year term as the executive director of the Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI), a not-for-profit research/training organization, in January 2007, Wicak worked for almost three years as an independent consultant/researcher/training facilitator/writer on urban/environmental/local planning/governance issues. He was also one of the founding-partners at Rona Kota Selaras, a Jakarta-based urban design and planning consulting firm (established in 1997). From 1997 through 2009, he taught various classes (urban ecology, urban management and planning methods/processes) at the Trisakti University's School of Architecture's bachelor program, and later its post-graduate program. Beginning October 2009, Wicak has been assigned as the Executive Director of the Partnership for Governance Reform, a multi-stakeholder organization aimed at promoting governance reforms in Indonesia.

Wicak earned his doctorate degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley (2001) with a dissertation titled: “Infrastructure-based Community Development: Theories and Practices of Sustainable Development at the Local Level with a Participant-Observation of Three Pilot-Projects in Rural Villages of Java, Indonesia”. His master degree also came from the same university (1993) with a thesis titled: “The Dual Formal-Informal Growth of Jakarta: A Study of the Morphological Impacts of Economic Growth in Metropolis of the Developing World”. His bachelor degree in Architecture was earned in 1984 at the Bandung Institute of Technology. From 1990-1992, he received a Fulbright scholarship that enabled him to study in the United States of America.

Wicak has written quite a number of articles and presentation papers. One of his published writings is a working paper, titled “A Framework for the Analysis of Urban Sustainability: Linking Theory and Practice” (Urban and Regional Development Paper Series 2002/2). He has also contributed a chapter in a number of books edited by others, such as "Mengetengahkan yang Terpinggirkan: Ekonomi Informal Perkotaan" (in Soegijoko, Napitupulu and Mulyana, eds, 2005, "Pembangunan Kota Indonesia dalam Abad 21," URDI – YSS), "Indonesia" (in Roberts and Kanaley, eds., 2006, "Urbanization and Sustainability in Asia: Good Practice Approaches in Urban Region Development," Asian Development Bank – Cities Alliance) and "Globalisasi dan Metropolitan di Indonesia" (in Winarso, ed, 2006, "Metropolitan di Indonesia: Kenyataan dan Tantangan dalam Penataan Ruang," Direktorat Jenderal Penataan Ruang, Departemen Pekerjaan Umum). He also co-wrote (with Mulya Amri) a chapter on Human Settlements in the "Status Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia 2006" (State of the Environment Report in Indonesia 2006) published recently by the Ministry of Environment. Also with Mulya Amri, Wicak co-wrote "CSR untuk Penguatan Modal Sosial" (published in 2008 by the Indonesia Business Link as one of five-volume series on CSR). He is currently working on a book of his own, expected to be published in mid 2010. [some of the afore-mentioned publications are available on-line with the addresses below]

In most of his professional endeavors, Wicak tries to combine his theoretical knowledge and his practical experiences. He has been involved in various urban design, planning and development projects since 1984, including a number of newtown development projects (such as Bumi Serpong damai, Bintaro Jaya among others). Wicak has also worked in participatory projects at the community level. In recent years, Wicak has also been active as a training facilitator in various local capacity building exercises not only in various places in Indonesia but also in Cambodia, Vietnam, Australia, and Bhutan, from every of which he always also tries to gather relevant insights about the places, people and cultures.

Wicak also has led a number of collaborative works involving various other organizations such as in the Local Governance Forum (2002-2003)—which was supported by associations of local governments, related NGOs and a number of international donor agencies. He also initiated and coordinated a civil-society collaboration for community-based village reconstruction processes in tsunami-affected Banda Aceh (2005-2006). In addition to his more substantive works as outlined above, he also has held various positions in a number of related national as well as international organizations.

In the last three years, Wicak was involved in join efforts to develop and apply a Report Card on the Implementation of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) at the local level in Indonesian cities/districts (2007). Adapted from various Citizen Report Card models (most prominently from the UNDP/TUGI's Report Card), the "Kartu Penilaian Bersama" involves not only members of the civil society but also representatives of the local governments, allowing dialogues between them. Lessons on how such an approach can be best implemented are still being learnt from these on-going activities. Likewise, the format and contents of the MDG Citizen Report Card are still continuously updated while at the same time being applied.

Another major work that Wicak recently concluded (2008) is an analytical study of district planning and budgeting processes, working with two other colleagues and commissioned by the Decentralization Support Facility (DSF) and the National Planning Agency (BAPPENAS). The study concludes, among others, that more integrated planning and budgeting processes at the district level is critically needed if we are to ensure that people's voices are heard in the processes. The weak planning - budgeting integration is due, among others, to some historical - idealogical differences between the law regulating development planning and the one that regulates budgeting. In addition, more time and supports also need to be allocated for better participatory processes at the community level. (Titled "Making People' Voices Matter", the study can be downloaded from http://www.dsfindonesia.org/, among the publications of DSF's Focal Area-2).

Throughout 2009, Wicak was tasked to lead a team in developing the National Urban Policy and Strategy, commisioned by the BAPPENAS, Directorate General of Human Settlements of the Ministry of Public Works and the World Bank. It is indeed an important, and actually a very strategic, endeavor. Wicak and his team have been trying to introduce a new approach in dealing with the urbanization phenomenon in Indonesia. The rough draft of NUSP was presented and shared internationally at a conference in Damascus in September 2009 and received good feedbacks. However the overall project circumstances have been far from ideal. Although originally planned to result in the Final Draft before October 2009, the NUSP process has been delayed for various reasons and the draft is currently still being formulated while at the same time he already has to assume his new position at the Partnership for Governance Reform. He wish to conclude his part in the NUSP development no later than the first quarter of 2010 (while the NUSP process will continue with local pilots of developing Local Urban Strategy and Policy).

Wicak lives in Jakarta with his wife and their daughter (while their son now lives in the US, studying at the University of Washington in Seattle). When time allows, Wicak likes to do painting, photography, easy readings, easy music listening, swimming or traveling with the family. He also always enjoys walking around neighborhoods and talking to people on the streets in Jakarta or wherever he is.