The Kecamatan Development Project (KDP) encourages villagers to voice their needs and take control of local development decisions. Project funds are given as grants directly to sub-district (kecamatan) councils, which allocate the money among proposals submitted by their member villages. Villages may submit up to two proposals each year; if two proposals are submitted, at least one must be from a women's group. With a few exceptions, villagers can propose whatever productive activity they think best meets their needs.

The KDP's objectives are to reduce poverty and to help communities manage their own development activities. By giving communities the time and resources to do their own planning, working through peopleıs own institutions, and channeling resources directly to communities, the kdp helps groups and individuals identify their needs, plan, write proposals, and participate in the decisionmaking process. Private sector facilitators work with informal leaders, traditional institutions, and local institutions to disseminate information on the projectıs principles and activities.

The KDP will work with over 750 kecamatans and reach over 20 million people in all 27 Indonesian provinces for a total of three years. Over 13,000 village and kecamatan council members and 18,000 elected nongovernmental representatives have participated in the planning and proposal selection meetings.

The project is not risk free, and implementation is far from smooth, in part because Indonesia is grappling with a major economic and political transition. While too new to be declared a success, the KDP is part of a broader effort by the Indonesian government and civil society to bring more transparency and accountability into development decisionmaking. The KDP's design principles point to a new way of doing business in Indonesia.