From Transactional to Relational – Guidelines for Equitable Intermediaries in Indonesia

Indonesia’s funding landscape for environmental civil society organizations (CSOs) is rapidly evolving, creating unique opportunities to reimagine the roles and relationships between international, national and subnational organizations. Funding intermediaries have until recently played vital roles in brokering partnerships and providing access to funding, technical support and organizational development support for local organizations. The decline in international aid along with growing calls to shift power and direct funding to local organizations, presents a key moment to reflect on the future roles of funding intermediaries; how can fund-ing intermediaries contribute to the enabling conditions for a thriving civil society? The objective of this report is to understand the funding challenges of Indonesian CSOs, assess their experiences with funding intermediaries and identify guidelines for integrating equity into the practices of intermediaries. It draws on quantitative and qualitative insights from 24 CSOs that completed an online survey and interviews with 19 representatives from seven CSOs, four intermediaries, and four donors. This report aims to contribute perspectives from Indonesian CSOs to the ongoing discussions around localization, shifting power and equitable funding mechanisms. This report is also available in Indonesian.

- There is a disconnect between the often described value-adding and ‘capacity-building’ roles of intermediaries and the experiences of local CSOs in Indonesia.
- There is a clear call and need for more core, unrestricted and/or long-term funding for environmental CSOs in Indonesia.
- Intermediaries should embrace relational approaches and invest in processes that value the lived experiences and local expertise of CSOs across Indonesia.
- Intermediaries have a key role to play in enabling the organizational development and autonomy of CSOs.
- A set of guidelines have been developed for ‘equitable funding intermediaries’ working in Indonesia. The following five guiding principles each contain a suite of recommendations and actions that can guide intermediaries on their journeys towards becoming equitable partners, enablers and catalysts of civil society.
1. Inclusive and equitable access to opportunities
2. Designing equitable regranting/funding mechanisms
3. Mutual accountability
4. Strengthening the civil society ecosystem
5. Self-reflection, learning & growth

Fruitema, M., R. Pertiwi, A.Thornley, L. Hakim, A. Chandra Pinanditha. From Transactional to Relational: Guidelines for Equitable Intermediaries in Indonesia. Menjadi and Saraswati, April 2025.

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