West Java Paradiplomacy through the Healthy City Program

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine the KKS in West Java Province as a subnational paradiplomacy arena toward SDGs implementation, especially Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Methods This study employs descriptive qualitative methodology with secondary document analysis on official local government reports, KKS evaluation documents academic publications and such information on international activities as those reported from the World Health City Forum and World Health Organization (WHO) workshop to determine why municipalities opted for a KKS system. The findings suggests that KKS is not only a health program but also an institutional infrastructure underpinning local governments to perform practical paradiplomacy through horizontal networks among cities and vertical networks with global agents. The KKS represents an exercise in how the SDGs can localise to underpin PRI s, and with it the normativity of paradiplomacy, while two-way policy learning is a demonstrated means that contributes to enhancing health governance and sustainable development at local level. However, the 'impact' of this paradiplomacy is still conditioned by structural obstacles such as policy fragmentation, constrained resource base and the stability of international ties.The article concludes that paradiplomacy through KKS can be a means to enhance the role of regions as global development actors, provided it is coupled with domestic capacity building and sustainable policy integration.

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