Terra Nova Melati Taihitu
August 30, 2018Ms. Taihitu received a Master of Development Studies from University of Melbourne in Australia, and has been working on development issues for over 10 years, particularly in the area of human rights and strengthening democracy. Last year she was the Project Officer for Indonesia Democracy Index (IDI), which oversees all provinces in Indonesia. She is passionate about enhancing democracy and law, which will eventually lead to the improvement of public services. In 1999 the first ever free and direct election was conducted in Indonesia. Ever since, the country has continued to seek the proper shape of its democracy. Through her work, Ms. Taihitu learned that it is not easy to develop a policy initiative, moreover to ensure that the initiative is incorporated within the national/regional planning and budgeting. However, IDI with all its strengths and weaknesses has already set the standard for policy makers to start the trend of evidence based policy making in Indonesia. This year, national as well as international students and researchers have reached out to the expert members to learn more about IDI.