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Home , Gadjah Mada University, Sebelas Maret University, Sriwijaya University, Syiah Kuala University, Udayana University, University of Brawijaya

Sustainable Higher Education Research Alliances (SHERA) Program Performance Report Quarter 4 FY 2018 (July - September 2018)

Cooperative Agreement No: AID-497-A-16-00004

Prepared for:

Jalu Cahyanto, AOR Education Office, USAID/

Prepared by:

Institute of International Education (IIE) October 2018

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ...... 3 Executive Summary ...... 5 I. SHERA University Partnerships/Centers for Collaborative Research ...... 6 1.1 Overview of Results ...... 6 1.2 CCR Lead Direct Mentoring and Other Support ...... 6 1.3 CCR Annual Conference ...... 7 1.4 CCR Quarterly Meeting ...... 7 1.5 CCR Monitoring ...... 7 1.6 CCR Year 1 Assessments ...... 8 1.7 CCR Activities – Key Highlights during the Reporting Period ...... 9 a. CCR-ARI ...... 9 b. SMART CITY ...... 10 c. CDSR ...... 10 d. NCSTT ...... 10 e. ANBIOCORE ...... 11 II. Other Program Activities that Contributed to SHERA’s Achievements ...... 12 2.1 Stakeholder Engagement ...... 12 a. Government of Indonesia ...... 12 b. Private Sector Engagement ...... 12 III. Operations ...... 12 3.1 Revisions to SHERA’s Grants Process ...... 12 3.2 IIE Internal Auditor visit ...... 12 3.3 IIEF Modified Scope ...... 13 3.4 Project Office Relocation ...... 13 3.5 Visa Requirements for CCR scholars’ Travel to the U.S...... 13 3.7 Update to SHERA Performance Indicator ...... 13 IV. Challenges ...... 13 4.1 CCR Program and Operational Capacity ...... 13 4.2 SHERA Operations ...... 14 V. Activities Anticipated for Next Quarter (October - December 2018) ...... 15 5.1 CCR Bi- Annual Meeting ...... 15 5.2 CCR Direct Mentoring ...... 15 5.3 Stakeholder Engagement ...... 15 5.4 IIE Home Office Travel ...... 15 Annex 1: IIE’s KPI Achievements ...... 16 Annex II: SHERA Quarterly Activity Record ...... 25 Annex III: CCR Quarterly Activity Record ...... 27 Annex IV: ...... 57 Survey on Access to External Academic Research Engines ...... 57

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List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ANBIOCORE Animal and Coral Reef Fisheries AOR Agreement Officer Representative BADORA Badan dan Orang Asing/ Foreign Corporate and Individual Tax Service Office CCR Center for Collaborative Research CCR ARI CCR for Acute Respiratory Infections CDSR Center for the Development of a Sustainable Region COP Chief of Party G&C Grants and Contracts GDA Global Development Alliance GOI Government of Indonesia HEI Higher Education Institution IIE Institute of International Education IPB Institut Pertanian Bogor/Bogor Agricultural University ITB Institut Teknologi Bandung/Bandung Institute of Technology ITS Institut Teknologi /Surabaya Institute of Technology KEMRISTEKDIKTI Ministry of Technology, Research, and Higher Education KPI Key Performance Indicators LPIK Lembaga Pengembangan Inovasi dan Kewirausahaan/Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development MOU Memorandum of Understanding MIS Management Information System MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning MOOC Massive Open Online Course MSU Mississippi State University NCSTT National Center for Sustainable Transportation Technology PFI PT Proven Force Indonesia PIC Person in Charge PIRS Performance Indicators Review Sheets RSUD Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah SHERA Sustainable Higher Education Research Alliances SMART CITY Scientific Modeling, Application, Research, and Training for City-centered Innovation and Technology SSU Savannah State University ST&I Science, Technology & Innovation TOD Transit-oriented Development UBB Universitas Bangka Belitung/University of Bangka Belitung UF University of Florida UGM Universitas Gadjah Mada/ UI Universitas Indonesia/ UIUC University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign UNAIR Universitas Airlangga/ UNDANA Universitas Nusa Cendana/University of Nusa Cendana UNDIP Universitas Diponegoro/ UNG Universitas Negeri /University of Negeri Gorontalo UNIBRAW Universitas Brawijaya/ UNIPA Universitas / UNLAM Universitas Lambung Mangkurat/University of Lambung Mangkurat UNPAD Universitas Padjadjaran/ UNPATTI Universitas Pattimura/ UNRAM Universitas / URI University of Rhode Island UNS Universitas Sebelas Maret/ UNSRI Universitas Sriwijaya/

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UNSYIAH Universitas Syiah Kuala/ UNUD Universitas Udayana/ UP Universitas Pertamina/Pertamina University UTS Universitas Teknologi Sumbawa/Sumbawa Technology University USAID United States Agency for International Development USG United States Government UTP Universiti Teknologi Petronas/Petronas Technology University

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Executive Summary

From July 31– September 30, 2018, the Institute of International Education (IIE) completed activities and milestones necessary to implement the Sustainable Higher Education Research Alliances (SHERA) program (Cooperative Agreement AID-497-A-16-00004). SHERA aims to foster linkages between Indonesian higher education institutions (HEI) and U.S-based universities, and across diverse Indonesian universities to enhance the research capacity of Indonesian HEIs in science, technology, and innovation (ST&I), improve the enabling environment for quality research, and promote access to research and professional development opportunities for women. By establishing Centers for Collaborative Research (CCRs) within top Indonesian universities, SHERA, in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kemristekdikti), bring together Indonesian and U.S. scholars to conduct world-class research within priority research areas.

During the reporting period, IIE achieved two major programmatic milestones, successfully running SHERA’s inaugural Annual Conference and completion of the assessment of the CCR’s Year 1 activities. Under the theme “Partnerships towards Innovation,” the Annual Conference brought together CCR lead and affiliate management and staff, CCR lead institutional leadership, Government of Indonesian (GOI) representatives, private sector officials and other key stakeholders to celebrate the CCRs’ Year 1 achievements and share best practices in university and public-private sector partnerships. The conference was proceeded by a quarterly meeting with all CCR leads to discuss challenges over the past year and share solutions to address them in the year ahead.

SHERA’s assessment of the CCR’s achievements included visits to each CCR lead to review their Year 1 targets against actual achievements and their Year 1 budget against their actual spending. This analysis was then used to work with each CCR lead on their Year 2 work plan and associated budget.

Other highlights from the quarter included participation in the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education’s (Kemristekdikti) flagship annual event, National Technology Awakening Day (HAKTEKNAS), to celebrate innovations in technology in Indonesia. As a sign of their continued support for the program and alignment with its goals, Kemristekdikti has invited all CCR leads to display their research and achievements. Lastly, IIE is happy to report that, due to the in-depth capacity building and technical assistance to the CCR leads through quarterly meetings, one-on-one trainings, refreshment trainings, and virtual and in-person meetings, all CCR leads are fully up-to-date on invoicing to IIE. This will be reflected in this quarter’s federal financial report to USAID.

In the upcoming quarter, IIE will finalize negotiations with CCR’s regarding their Year 2 work plans and budgets. IIE plans to work with each CCR to modify their awards to include revised approval processes and reporting requirements that will further streamline the advance request and financial reporting process, as well as increase their award obligation to support their Year 2 activities. IIE will hold a meeting with all CCR leads in October to present some of these process and requirement revisions and share updated templates and tools. A Financial Operations Specialist from Washington DC will travel to Indonesia to join the meeting and work one-on-one with the CCR leads.

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I. SHERA University Partnerships/Centers for Collaborative Research

1.1 Overview of Results In the final quarter of this year, the SHERA program focused on activities to celebrate accomplishments and learn from challenges from the first year of CCR implementation and plane for their second year. This was primarily conducted through three major activities: 1) SHERA’s Annual Conference, held in Bogor on July 9-10; 2) the final CCR Quarterly Meeting, held in Bogor on July 11-13; and 3) IIE’s annual assessment of CCR activities, held from July 23-September 4.

Over the quarter, CCRs continued to implement their research and capacity building activities per their Year 1 work plans, which resulted in significant achievements towards their key performance indicator (KPI) targets. Of highlight, during this quarter CCRs led 16 trainings in research methods and participated in eight international conferences. See a full list of CCR achievements in Annex III.

Of highlight, the consortium focused on innovative technologies, the National Center for Sustainable Transportation Technology (NCSTT), led by Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), exceeded its target number of 32 peer-reviewed publications produced by their researchers. The CCR focused on the environment, energy and maritime sciences, Center for the Development of a Sustainable Region (CDSR), led by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), also exceeded their target, producing 22% more publications than targeted (27). Meanwhile, the CCR focused on public health and infectious disease, Center for Collaborative Research on Acute Respiratory Infections (CCR ARI), led by Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD), has experienced challenges in meeting their target for this indicator as their research does not include preliminary data for manuscript preparation. This, CCR – ARI will reassess their target publications in the upcoming quarter to identify a related study that would support their research focus.

CDSR welcomed a new institutional partner into their consortium this quarter, Institute Teknik Surabaya (ITS). ITS is strong in maritime sciences research, specifically in wave energy as a renewable energy source in Indonesia, which could greatly benefit CDSR’s research. In addition, the consortium focused on urban planning and development, Scientific Modeling, Application, Research, and Training for City-centered Innovation and Technology (SMART CITY), led by Universitas Indonesia (UI), welcomed a new U.S. partner, Alabama A&M University (AAMU) and Indonesian partner, Universitas Teknologi Sumbawa (UTS).

SHERA’s achievements are directly correlated to those of the CCRs. At 239 scholars, SHERA met its target for the number of scholars participating in collaborative research for the quarter. In addition, SHERA exceeded its target for the number of institutions with improved research and management policies by 450%, as each CCR lead and four Indonesian affiliates created written policies this quarter.

In addition to the above successes, there were several targets not met for various reasons. The number of scholars who participate in virtual knowledge exchange was 155 this quarter, 51% of the set target, due to the fact that CDSR and NCSTT initially planned for virtual exchange activities for this quarter that have since been adjusted to occur during their second year of implementation. The number of improved administrative and management systems in place reached only 40% of the set target because CCR members at the research unit level must first improve their own administrative processes before addressing those of larger institutions. Lastly, only three of the five CCRs (60%) are actively using their consortium websites (CCR ARI, CDSR, and NCSTT), which the SHERA team will address in the upcoming quarter through a hands-on communications and outreach training. See a complete list of SHERA’s achievements per its KPI for the quarter in Annex 1.

1.2 CCR Lead Direct Mentoring and Other Support The SHERA team conducted a virtual mentoring session to CCR leads Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) staff via Skype in September, with topics covering the upcoming Annual Reporting deliverables to IIE and overview of the CCR leads’ quarterly reporting templates, potential changes to

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SHERA’s indicator on peer-reviewed scientific publications resulting from USG support to research and implementation programs, in which IIE will be adding proceeding articles to the definition of peer- reviewed publications, and reviewing the completion of CCR leads’ quality benchmarks.

Leading into this quarter, the CCR focused on food security and self-sufficiency, Animal Biotechnology and Coral Reef Fisheries (ANBIOCORE), led by Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), as well as UNPAD consistently submitted incomplete and late financial reporting to IIE. The SHERA team dedicated additional time during this quarter to work with UNPAD over Skype to address their questions and areas of misunderstanding. In addition, the team visited IPB and UNPAD to conduct direct mentoring and work directly with them in finalizing their reports. By the end of this quarter, IIE is happy to report that both were up-to-date on their financial reporting.

1.3 CCR Annual Conference SHERA’s inaugural Annual Conference took place July 9-11 at the IPB International Conference Center in Bogor. The event’s theme, “Partnerships for Innovation,” framed the event, in which CCRs presented their consortium’s achievements to-date, as well as lessons learned, while subject matter experts shared best practices in research collaboration management and private sector partners shared information regarding their experience collaborating with HEIs. The format was a mixture of presentations, panel discussions and exhibitions. See a fully description of the event in SHERA’s Quarterly Communications Report.

1.4 CCR Quarterly Meeting IIE held its final quarterly meeting with all CCR leads in Bogor on July 10-12, which focused both on learnings from Year 1, planning for Year 2 and sharing best practices and possible solutions to challenges faced by the CCRs. SHERA’s MEL Specialist conducted small focus group discussions with the MEL staff from each CCR lead to address challenges stemming from weak management and their lack of understanding of SHERA’s theory of change and business processes. An outcome from the meeting was a list of recommendations to address these challenges through increased involvement of the CCR lead Partnership Managers, including 1) having a more complete and nuanced understanding of SHERA’s Performance Indicator Review Sheets (PIRS), 2) providing close supervision and better support to MEL staff, especially related to establishing performance targets and making adjustments based on actual implementation; and 3) working closer with CCR affiliates on data recording and reporting.

1.5 CCR Monitoring The SHERA team conducted several field visits this quarter to document CCR activities first-hand, validate best practices and lesson learned at the selected partner institutions, capture impact and success stories, and conduct data quality assurance. During each field visit, the SHERA team met with CCR scholars and management at affiliate institutions, the deans of the targeted faculty and rectors of the universities. The key findings are outlined below per field visit:

Field Monitoring Visit to CCR ARI affiliates – Universitas Syiah Kuala (UNSYIAH), Aceh and Universitas Lambung Mangkurat (UNLAM), Banjarmasin: • CCR-ARI trainings conducted for the Indonesian affiliates have met the needs of scholars. The affiliates, however, cited that the trainings should be conducted in multiple stages – basic, intermediate, and advance – to provide targeted capacity building. • Scholars at the affiliate universities are struggling to meet their responsibilities as CCR clinical researchers given their demanding teaching responsibilities at their universities. It was determined that advocacy at the local government level is necessary to change these responsibilities and increase the time available to dedicate to the collaborative research activities. • The Dean of at UNSYIAH noted the benefit of SHERA as increasing the capacity of local researchers to produce articles that meet the required standards for international

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publications, which, in turn, benefit the professional development of the scholars and the growth of the university overall as a world class HEI. • Before joining the CCR, both UNSYIAH and UNLAM had ethics committees with limited capacities to meet internationally accepted standards. Their capacity has increased under the guidance of the CCR lead, UNPAD.

Field Monitoring Visit to CDSR affiliates – Universitas Negeri Gorontalo (UNG) & University of Gorontalo (UMG): • Scholars at UMG acknowledged that their research and presentation capacity has increased since participating as a CDSR affiliate partner. Some scholars noted that they are more confident to participate in an international conference and submit an article to an international journal for publication • The greatest challenge mentioned by the affiliates to their successful participation in the consortium is the complex local bureaucracy. • The research environment at both institutions to support collaborative research under SHERA is gradually increasing.

1.6 CCR Year 1 Assessments As mentioned above, the SHERA team met with each CCR lead to conduct a thorough Year 1 assessment of their implementation. During each meeting, the team reviewed CCR leads’ Year 1 Implementation Plans against their achievements, based on their key performance indicator targets, and their actual spending against their Year 1 budgets. Using the findings from this analysis, the team worked with the CCR leads to develop their Year 2 work plans and associated budgets. The criteria used to assess performance included:

• CCRs’ actual achievement in each KPI against their targeted performance, • CCRs’ success in reporting complete and accurate data to IIE by the set deadline, • CCRs’ success in implementing activities per their work plan, and • CCRs’ actual spending against their budget projections (budget vs. actual, BvA).

CCR leads’ overall performance were all rated as fair, in which IIE noted a general delay in data recording and reporting and CCRs achieved roughly 26-50% of their target indicators and planned activities. With this assessment, the CCR leads’ demonstrated that close supervision by IIE is still needed in managing and operating the CCRs in a manner that is compliant with USG and subaward terms and regulations. See the overall results of CCR leads’ Year 1 performance in Table 1.

Table 1. CCR Leads Overall Year 1 Performance Categories CCR Total Result IR 1 IO 1 IO 2 IO 3 R&R IP BvA

CDSR - UGM 2 3 2 2 4 3 3 2,7 Fair

ANBIOCORE 0 3 1 3 3 3 2 2,5 Fair - IPB

NCSTT - ITB 4 2 2 2 3 4 1 2,6 Fair

ARI - UNPAD 1 2 3 3 2 3 3 2,4 Fair

SMART CITY 1 3 3 3 4 4 2 2,8 Fair - UI TOTAL 1.6 2.6 2.2 2.6 3.2 3.4 2.2 2.5 Fair

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The overall challenges IIE documented during the assessment includes the following: • Lack of capacity in managing CCR in compliance with USG and subaward standards. • Lack of accountability in their own program management and that of their affiliates. • Unclear procedural standards. • Lack of understanding of SHERA theory of change, thus each CCR has a different understanding of how to deliver their business process. • Lack of experience or framework in which to advocate internally for changes in institutional research policies. • Lack of clarity in the roles of the CCR leads and their U.S. affiliates in conducting collaborative research. Based on the above, IIE will institute the following activities to support the CCRs: • Conduct intensive program mentoring. • Conduct routine data quality assurance. • Provide close supervision to CCR program managers and directors, to ensure necessary oversight. • Support the CCRs in developing standard procedures for program management and activities. • Increase CCRs system’s for knowledge management. • Communicate all management and program learnings to all CCRs’ members. • Establish a standard monitoring dashboard for each CCR to monitor performance.

1.7 CCR Activities – Key Highlights during the Reporting Period This section provides general highlights from the CCRs’ activities during the reporting period. For additional details, see Annex I and III.

a. CCR-ARI During this quarter, CCR ARI moved forward with its burden of disease study, which analyzes the impact of respiratory disease on highly impacted populations, including pregnant women, young children, and the elderly. Total recruited patients in participating Bandung hospitals was 147 and total enrolled patients, those who signed informed consent forms and met the inclusion criteria, were 85 by the end of the quarter.

Universitas Mataram (UNRAM) sites showed the most progress in research implementation. The team has conducted research protocol socialization to both network hospitals, RSUD Prov. NTB and RSUD Praya, and initiated patient recruitment trials through existing medical records. They plan to recruit real patient by the beginning of October.

The site is currently working on protocol socialization to both network hospitals, RSUD Zainoel Abidin and RSUD Meuraxa. The Banjarmasin site is working to secure its research permit for both participating hospitals, RSUD Ulin and RSUD Ansari Saleh. Meanwhile, the Ambon site is still waiting to receive the -80C freezer it purchased as a prerequisite for involvement in the study.

CCR ARI had trouble with the utilization of the chosen technology for collecting research data, as the internet connection is unstable in many field areas where the CCR works, particularly in Aceh, Lombok, and Ambon. To solve this connectivity issue, CCR ARI considered entering the data via the offline app, however this would likely cause more challenges than it would address. It will continue to work on addressing this issue in the upcoming quarter.

CCR ARI’s activities related to the immunogenicity study to investigate the presence of an immune response to the health treatment and its clinical impact, included implementing a Protocol and Instrument Development workshop. At this stage, the protocol is being processed for submission to UNPAD’s Ethics Committee and the team is currently composing the instrument for the study.

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In addition, UNPAD continued to negotiate the terms of their agreements with private sector partners Biofarma, and Pharmajet. The draft is current under review with UNPAD legal office and will be sent to both parties for their review shortly.

CCR ARI’s short-term trainings included a total of 12 by the end of the quarter. CCR ARI conducted two webinars this quarter to support knowledge exchange with the consortium scholars and the general public. Moreover, CCR ARI conducted a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Material Development to increase the capacity of UNPAD lecturers in developing curriculum for online courses. Following the training, two courses were made available online to UNPAD students, Epidemiology for Graduate Students and English for Undergraduate Students.

b. SMART CITY During the quarter, the SMART CITY team focused on improving their Indonesian affiliates’ system by reviewing their institutions’ policy and standard operational procedures from their Directorate of Research. The SMART CITY team at UI organized 25 research groups among their partner institutions, including 10 groups at UI, three groups at UNPAD, four groups at Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP), four groups in Universitas Udayana (UNUD) and 4 groups at Universitas Sriwijaya (UNSRI). At the same time, SMART CITY focused on executing subagreements with their U.S. affiliates, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Savannah State University (SSU) and Alabama A&M University (AAMU). Meanwhile SMART CITY succeeded in partnering with Universitas Teknologi Sumbawa (UTS) to further support its research activities.

SMART CITY developed the prototype for its situation room to increase the technology readiness level (TRL) on infrastructure, transportation, air quality, and energy consumption monitoring technology on a region scale. This prototype is a set of integrated systems adapted to its environment in the form of digital application.

c. CDSR During the quarter, CDSR conducted trainings in Gorontalo and Yogjayakarta on Building Energy Analyses and Sustainable Renewable Energy Development. Meanwhile the CCR sent scholars to present at four conferences in three countries - , China and Indonesia – with a primary focus on renewable and sustainable energy.

CDSR’s U.S. affiliate, University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB) led a training at UGM for representatives from UGM and Indonesian affiliates IPB, ITB and Universitas Bangka Belitung (UBB).

As mentioned above, another milestone for CDSR was signing an agreement with ITS that will provide access to their maritime laboratories, maritime knowledge products, and experts in maritime studies for supporting the CCR’s hybrid renewable energy research focus.

d. NCSTT NCSTT invited Dr. Robert Van Der Hilst, Head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, from its U.S. affiliate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to ITB to present on best practices in enhancing collaboration among different disciplines, establishing multidisciplinary research centers, and partnering with industry to increase innovation.

As part of NCSTT’s capacity building efforts, Dr. Dominicus Danardono from NCSTT’s Indonesian affiliate member Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) attended the MIT Professional Education course in July, titled Additive Manufacturing: From 3D Printing to Factory Floor. Following the training, Dr. Danardono conducted a workshop to CCR scholars in Indonesia, titles Research Collaboration – Case Study on Mechanical Field to disseminate the knowledge obtained from the MIT course and ensure that others benefited from this professional development opportunity.

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NCSTT also conducted a workshop on Research Establishment with Sustainable Management Strategy on August 8 in Manado. The topics covered included proposal writing and strategies to obtain external research funds, knowledge and experience obtained in MIT PE – the innovation process, and intellectual property policy in higher education. All of these topics are essential to establishing a successful research collaboration with sufficient funds that adopt adequate policies related to intellectual property.

NCSTT also organized and held the 11th Annual International Conference on Fracture and Strength of Solids (FEOFS) from August 26-29. Researchers from Indonesia, Japan, and the UK presented their research results on vehicle structure as part of electric vehicle research. This conference enabled researchers to build their capacity in presenting research progress and creating conference papers.

On September 18, NCSTT the ITB-CEO NET & Echnopreneurship Festival 2018: Orchestrating Innovation Ecosystem through Science and Technology, aimed at establishing strong collaboration among academia, the government, and the business sector / industry sector. This event included key notes by notable individuals in the field, including Jumain Appe, Directorate General Innovation Strengthening, Kemrisktekdikit and Bambang Riyanto Trilaksono, Vice , ITB.

Another NCSTT event of note was a seminar called Female Empowerment on Scientific Writing and International Research Collaboration, held on September 26 at Universitas Pertamina (UP) in . The speakers included The seminar was an exciting opportunity for women researchers to talk about their challenges in the research and academic fields and explore solutions. Speakers included prominent women in the research and technology field.

NCSTT Indonesian affiliate members UNDIP and Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) executed contracts with PT PLN, State Electricity Corporation, and BPPT, Agency for The Assessment and Application of Technology, which will enable CCR’s use of their laboratory and materials. Additionally, Indonesian affiliate UNSRI obtained data from the Department of Transportation to support NCSTT’s research in Transit-oriented Development (ToD).

e. ANBIOCORE In July, ANBIOCORE invited Dr. Christopher Lane from their U.S. affiliate University of Rhode Island (URI) to lead a training to scholars from their coral reef fisheries research cluster from the CCR lead, IPB, and Indonesian affiliate UNRAM on data collection. In addition, URI researchers Dr. Austin Humphries and Paul G. Carvalho conducted field training to the same group in the Lombok Straits.

ANBIOCORE’s veterinary science research cluster invited Dr. Erdogan Mimili from U.S. affiliate Mississippi State University (MSU) to lead trainings on the fundamentals and application of bioethics in animal and fisheries research to CCR scholars in Bogor; scientific communication and proposal writing in international scientific publications to CCR scholars in Aceh; and strengthening research quality through scientific writing and capacity building to CCR scholars in Kupang.

In addition, he led a reproduction and obstetrics presentation at ANBIOCORE’s Indonesian affiliate UGM’s Indonesian Association of Veterinary Reproduction Department, at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, on lessons learned from MSU for Ph.D. students from their affiliate partners. ANBIOCORE optimized the US scholar’s visit by conducting on-going mentoring for PhD students on the research topic and methodology, analysis and proposal and manuscript writing. This benefited the students in finalizing their proposal preparations for the next international conference.

On July 24, ANBIOCORE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BET Cipelang, an animal biotechnology development center specializing in embryo transfers in bulls in Cipelang, Bogor. As a part of their participation, BET Cipelang will provide elite calves for evaluation of their genetic superiority.

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On August 2, ANBIOCORE signed an MoU with BPTU HPT, an animal biotechnology development and breeding center in Indrapuri, Aceh. BPTU-HPT Indrapuri will be responsible for conducting maintenance and production of superior livestock sperm for use at the cattle breeding center at UNSYIAH.

Lastly, ANBIOCORE conducted coordination meetings to discuss research and management with the affiliate members.

II. Other Program Activities that Contributed to SHERA’s Achievements

2.1 Stakeholder Engagement

a. Government of Indonesia SHERA participated in the RiTech EXPO 2018, Kemristekdikit’s signature event to celebrate Indonesia’s National Technology Day (HAKTEKNAS), on August 9-12 in Pekanbaru, Riau. The Ministry invited all CCR leads to participate and exhibit their research activities. The event was attended by officials from the GOI, embassies, local government, researchers, scholars, and private sectors, as well as students. See detailed information in SHERA’s Communication and Director General of Institutional Strengthening Kemristekdikti visits SHERA Outreach Performance and CCRs’ exhibitions during HAKTEKNAS in Riau Report.

b. Private Sector Engagement During this quarter, IIE finalized the hiring process for a Public-Private Engagement (PPE) consultant to support the program in implementing its strategy and cultivating relationships with the public and private sector. IIE anticipates this person begin early in the upcoming quarter.

III. Operations

3.1 Revisions to SHERA’s Grants Process Taking into account learnings from the CCRs’ first year of implementation, IIE spent time reviewing and revising SHERA’s processes and templates for advance requests and documentation requirements for financial reporting, to create increased efficiency. IIE believes that these streamlined processes will help to stabilize CCR leads’ cash flow and streamline expense reconciliations. The will be included in the CCR leads’ award modifications, to be executed in the upcoming quarter.

3.2 IIE Internal Auditor visit Members of IIE’s Internal Audit team visited Indonesia in August as a part of a complete program audit of SHERA. They interviewed the IIE SHERA field team, as well as CCR management at UNPAD and ITB. A high-level summary will be shared with USAID once available.

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3.3 IIEF Modified Scope In order to properly monitor and remain compliant with regulations associated with exchange visitors (EV), IIE has renegotiated the role of its implementing partner, the Indonesian International Education Foundation (IIEF). Through an award modification and budget realignment, IIEF will soon be responsible for processing J1 visas and monitoring these individuals while they are in the U.S. for work under SHERA.

3.4 Project Office Relocation Due to a recent change in ownership of SHERA’s project office in Menara Imperium, IIE identified a new office space at Gran Rubina Office Park. Over the quarter, the SHERA team prepared for the move, which included negotiating the terms under which to break its current lease agreement, selecting a new office space and procuring the services of a company to fit-out the new office space. The team plans to move into the new office space at the beginning of next quarter.

3.5 Visa Requirements for CCR scholars’ Travel to the U.S. SHERA began to process a J1 visa for the first EV who will travel to the U.S. through NCSTT. The EV’s documents have been verified and are now under review in D.C. IIE anticipates that the EV will receive final approval by the end of October. As mentioned above, in future quarters this process will be handled by IIEF.

3.6 Recruitment of MEL Officer IIE is currently recruiting for a MEL Officer to support the program’s data recording and reporting and develop a Management Information System (MIS). SHERA anticipates hiring this position in the upcoming quarter.

3.7 Update to SHERA Performance Indicator The SHERA team conducted a survey to all CCRs to collect data on SHERA’s performance indicator 3.1.2., number of scholars at CCR institutions with increased access to external resources and academic research engines. The survey was conducted in August 2018 with 189 of 237 scholars (79.7%) responding to the online questionnaire. Through this survey, the SHERA team was trying to understand if the program is in fact increasing access to external academic research engines. Of those respondents, 94% reported an increase in access to academic research engines since participating in SHERA.

IV. Challenges

4.1 CCR Program and Operational Capacity From the quarterly meetings and virtual mentoring sessions, it become clear this quarter that more training is needed for the CCRs to understand SHERA’s business process and theory of change. To address this, the SHERA MEL team has noted that these trainings can no longer just involve the MEL staff at CCRs, but must also involve the CCR lead management.

After one year of training on financial and grants management, IIE experienced significant signs that the CCRs have a full understanding of the required information and documentation for financial reporting. IIE acknowledges, however, that additional work is needed to streamline the advance request process. To address this, it has created revised processes and templates to better capture actual cash on-hand. These revisions will be presented to the CCR leads during the upcoming quarter.

Along with challenges encountered across most CCR leads, each had unique challenges, as outlined below:

CCR ARI Due to CCR ARI’s Finance Manager experiencing an illness, they were consistently late in submitting their financial reports to IIE between May-July. This, in turn, impacted their ability to request new

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funds. To address any deficiencies, the SHERA team traveled to Bandung to work with the CCR team directly in August. By the end of the quarter, UNPAD was fully up-to-date on financial reporting.

During this quarter, IIE was notified that UNPAD instituted an unnecessary tax on the most recent advance received. The Vice Rector of Finance confirmed that this was a misunderstanding and that it will be corrected. As IIE is concerned that this deduction will happen in the future, it continues to work closely with the CCR to ensure senior leadership is aware of the purpose of the funds when transferred to the Rectorate account.

SMART CITY In UI’s initial proposal to IIE to implement SMART CITY, it included three U.S. affiliates, University of Florida (UF), UIUC, and SSU. UI experienced difficulty moving their award with SSU through the university for final execution and, after reaching back-out to the university PIC, discovered that this was due to the fact that the PIC had moved to AAMU. To ensure that the research collaboration was not stalled further, UI proposed to split the funding for SSU between SSU and AAMU. Due to the close relationship between UI and the PIC at AAMU, an award between the two was able to be executed soon after. UI, however, is still having difficulty in executing the awards with UIUC and SSU. IIE has discussed this at length with UI and given a deadline of mid-October to execute these agreements or IIE will reallocate the funds.

CDSR Due to consistently incomplete financial reporting leading into this quarter, the SHERA team dedicated time to work with the CCR over Skype during this quarter to address their questions and areas of misunderstanding. IIE is happy to report that by August, all financial reporting was up-to-date and approved.

NCSTT NCSTT experienced challenges procuring equipment needed for their research activity during this quarter. It had not built in the necessary time to seek USAID approval and it experienced its own internal challenges related to ITB’s procurement policies. At this time, NCSTT has received the necessary approvals and the procurement has been finalized, however the Directorate of Finance will not make the payments to vendors, as ITB’s institutional policy states that the equipment must first be tested and technically approved by the user. Only at that time will the payment be made and the procurement considered fully executed. This has greatly extended the timeline associated with their related research activities.

Another challenge NCSTT faced this quarter was related to ITB internal policies that commit any projected funds for payments above IDR 50 Million, including salary, honorarium, researcher allowances, including payments for publication, and purchase of goods and services to vendors. This allows for little flexibility in how funds are spent and greatly lengthens the time associated with reconciling an advance from IIE. It also does not support NCSTT with unplanned activities that are necessary to meet the program objectives. This is not a sustainable process and NCSTT and IIE will need to escalate this issue to the Director of Finance to find a solution in the upcoming quarter.

ANBIOCORE ANBIOCORE has seen turnover with its Finance Managers, which has slowed their financial reporting process. In addition, ANBIOCORE has not finalized modifications to their agreements with both of their U.S. affiliates. This in turn as delayed activities and further slowed spending. SHERA’s Program Director sent a letter to ANBIOCORE leadership stating IIE’s concern and notifying them that new advance funds would not be processed until both modifications are fully executed.

4.2 SHERA Operations IIE continues to seek exemption for the VAT it incurred on the SHERA project’s office rent between April-October 2018. IIE began this process in early June 2018 and only received the necessary

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responses from USAID, Kemristekdikti and State Secretary to continue the exemption process in mid- September.

IIE paid the tax in advance and when it received the letter from the State Secretary, it only mentioned seeking restitution, as opposed to exemption. IIE has received guidance to contact customer service of the Directorate General of Tax Office at Badan dan Orang Asing (BADORA, Foreign Corporate and Individual Tax Service Office and will continue this process in the upcoming quarter.

V. Activities Anticipated for Next Quarter (October - December 2018)

5.1 CCR Bi- Annual Meeting IIE will hold a bi-annual meeting for all CCR leads in , hosted by UGM, in early December 2018. Attendees will include CCR leadership, management, and relevant support staff. The meeting objectives will include sharing successes, lessons learned, and challenges in meeting key targets during CCRs’ Year 2; discussing CCR plans for the upcoming two quarters; and identifying the primary operations-related challenges and breakthroughs.

5.2 CCR Direct Mentoring In the upcoming quarter, SHERA’s MEL team will conduct a training for all CCR MEL team members focused on the program’s theory of change and learning. The training will be a collaboration with SHERA’s Outreach and Communications Specialist in order to record the event and post it to SHERA’s communications platforms to share with stakeholders and the general public.

5.3 Stakeholder Engagement USAID/Indonesia recently changed its country development cooperation strategy (CDCS), which will likely result in changes to SHERA’s KPIs, as well as SHERA’s responsible agency within the GOI. Once more information is received, IIE and USAID will need to work closely to assess the possible impact to the program. Once Kemristekdikti has been informed, SHERA will update the CCR lead’s management on the changes and impact to the program. IIE anticipates that the program’s 2018 – 2019 implementation plan will require further revisions based on this change.

5.4 IIE Home Office Travel IIE’s Controller and Finance Operations Specialist will travel to Indonesia to visit SHERA and IIE’s other USAID-funded projects in October. The Controller will meet with USAID, as well as the USAID project teams to review internal control and fraud prevention and best practices in subrecipient monitoring. The Finance Operation Specialist will meet with all projects individually to review program-specific items. In addition, he will participate in a two-day meeting with the CCR leads.

5.5 USAID Participation in CCR International Conferences SMART CITY Indonesian affiliate UNPAD will hold an international conference, titled 2018 International Conference on SMART CITY Innovation on October 25-26 in Bandung, which will focus on innovations in the planning and urban development sector. The event will be attended by the Governor of West , Ridwan Kamil; UNPAD Chancellor, Tri Hanggono Ahmad; USAID Acting Deputy Mission Director, Betty Chung; SHERA AOR, Jalu Cahyanto, and SHERA Program Director, Prima Setiawan, as well as international speakers, practitioners and researchers from various universities.

Additionally, NCSTT will hold the 5th International Conference on Electric Vehicular Technology (ICEVT) in in October. This event will be hosted by UNS and will bring national and international researchers to share their research progress on sustainable transportation and ideas for future research.

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