William Palitondok Sabandar

 

His Journey

Straight after the completion of his PhD in development in early 2005, he joined the Indonesian Agency for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Aceh and Nias (BRR Aceh-Nias). As the Director of Nias Recovery, he led a group of humanitarian workers and development professionals in charge to implement the post-disaster reconstruction of Nias Islands, one of the most underdeveloped region in Indonesia with more than 700,000 population. The challenge of rebuilding Nias Islands was far greater than simply rebuilding thousands of damaged houses, schools, clinics and other infrastructure reconstruction of Nias Islands, one of the most underdeveloped region in Indonesia with more than 700,000 population. The challenge of rebuilding Nias Islands was far greater than simply rebuilding thousands of damaged houses, schools, clinics and other infrastructure. It went beyond the reconstruction mandate to address underdevelopment issues of the region. The area affected by the earthquake was about 5,000 km² where the majority of the population was vulnerable and inaccessible to many social and economic facilities.  After three years, a very significant progress has been achieved. Nias now is in the good shape to move from the recovery to sustainable development process. The work in Nias, of which he directly manage USD 350 million reconstruction projects and coordinating about USD 250 million projects from various stakeholders from local government to national and international donors have greatly shaped his knowledge, leadership capability, skills and professionalism in development practice.

 

His experience in Nias was enriched by his previous works as transport engineer and project manager in Maluku Province of Indonesia. In Maluku, he led the design and supervision project for strategic road and transport development for 5 years. He was also assigned to chair a road planning and design section in the Maluku Province Bureau of Public Works for 2 years.

 

He has strong educational background anchored in transport engineering/planning and development economics/geography. His PhD thesis examines the linkage between transport improvement and the rural economy. He found that transport is important but not sufficient to promote the rural economy. Transport development must be designed to promote accessibility and mobility of the rural population. On the other hand, programs on economic development must provide enough opportunities for rural community to participate in development.

 

Publication and Award

 

2007	Asia Pacific Viewpoint (refereed journal), August 2007, Volume 48, Issue 2, pp. 200-218: Transport and the Rural Economy: Institutions and Institutional Change in Ambeso Village, Indonesia
2004	International Rural Transport Workshop, Pontianak, Indonesia Improving Accessibility and Mobility of Riverine People: Lessons from Beraur Communities of Papua, Indonesia
2003	NZ Geogragraphy Society Conference, Auckland, New Zealand Why Transport Development Does Not Benefit Rural People: The Case of Tana Toraja District, Indonesia
2002	NZAID Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand Achieving A Pro Rural People Transport Policy: The Case of Indonesia
2002	International Workshop on Improving Rural Mobility, Radjasthan, India Local View on Rural Transport: Lessons from Indonesia
October 2001	Winning Colin Relf Award from International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD), London, as the most inovative research in rural transport Rural Transport: An Examination of the Links between Concepts and Impacts (Case Study of Indonesia)
November 2000	Indonesian Conference on Road and Transport (KNTJ) VI, Jakarta Mengukur Efektifitas Penanganan Jalan terhadap Pengembangan Suatu Wilayah (Assessing the Effectiveness of Road Improvement in Regional Development)
December 1999	21st Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research, Brisbane, Australia Optimization Methodology for Determination of a Regional Transport Network
November 1996	1996 International Road Federation Asia Pacific Regional Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan The Concept of Integrating the Intermodal Transportation System in Maluku Province, Indonesia

 Personal Info

Date of birth.......................................................................4th November 1966

Place of birth.......................................................................Makasar, Indonesia

Stastus..................................................................................Married, has 3 kids

Name of wife.......................................................................Valentina Ismetiah Bitticacca

 

Education

 

Feb 2001 – March 2005	PhD: Department of geography, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Thesis: Transport Development and the Rural Economy: Insights from Indonesia
Feb 1999 – Mar 2000	Master of Engineering Science: Civil Engineering, majoring on transportation University of New South Wales, Australia Thesis: Optimization of Regional Transport Network: The Case of Maluku Province, Indonesia
Jun 1985 – Dec 1990	Bachelor of Civil Engineering, majoring on transportation University of Hasanuddin, Indonesia

Books or Published Report (as the main author)