Empowering Community Training centers in Besuki: The role of strategic partnerships for independence and sustainability

Abstract

This research is concerned about the strategic partnership and performance
evaluation, covering self-sufficiency and sustainability of the community
training centres (BLKK) in Basuki Regency, Indonesia, with special reference
to decreasing effectiveness of state funding. There is an immediate concern to
be solved which is the self-sufficiency of these institutions and sustainability
of their activities in the current context. As many as 80 managers of BLKK
were interviewed, and a combination of documentary analysis, ordinary
observation, and checking questionnaires were used. The focus group members
articulated that, synergy with educational, formal sector, industrial, and local
community is anticipated to improve autonomy from government control. It was
revealed that the relationships with the community had the greatest impact on
operational management independence and relationships with the government
agencies were most important for financial independence. The results provide
practitioners and policymakers an argument for forging the necessary strategic
alliances, which should be considered of utmost importance for the existence of
the NAOs in the long term. These centres train and prepare people with skills
in areas of practical interest in cooperation with industry for the benefit of the
Indonesian Economy. This work will set the stage for future work that aims to
make community and vocational training interventions more effective.