Mark Gilbert, PhD
Mark Gilbert’s career as a local government specialist included work as a practitioner, an international consultant, and an academic. Highlights included twelve years as CEO of a provincial crown corporation, two years as a financial advisor on a post-apartheid local government capacity-building project in South Africa, a twenty-year involvement in public sector reform in Indonesia, and a professorship at Dalhousie University. He served as a national director of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) for six years and a board member of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada for three years. He served as co-chair, and later academic advisor, to the GFOA Committee on Canadian Issues. Dr. Gilbert holds an MBA and PhD and has published articles in academic journals and professional association publications. He has also contributed to projects in Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, West Africa, Oceania, and South Asia through short term assignments. He has travelled extensively throughout the Indonesia archipelago and feels at home there. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Mark's book, Inside Indonesia's Big Bang will be coming out in January, 2026.
Mark's Book
Inside Indonesia's Big Bang
What is a BIG BANG in governance all about? How could two countries as different as Canada and Indonesia start and maintain a twenty-year partnership to improve public services in Indonesia? This book answers these two questions by going back to 1994 when four Canadians representing the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) made their first appearance at the main office of the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs. Initially it was all about timing. Indonesia wanted to grow its economy by speeding up its government regulation approvals, Canada wanted to share knowledge and build relationships with nations aspiring to middle income country status.
The cooperation began with a focus on administrative decentralization. It evolved quickly in 1998 when fallout from the Asian financial crises led to the resignation of long-term President Suharto. His successor promoted political decentralization using a big bang approach. Legislate now and work on implementation later. Suddenly local governments had new powers and responsibilities for which they were unprepared. Canada has had a decentralized governance system from it’s beginning and IPAC was willing to share this expertise. The next step in our cooperation was to help local government elected officials to understand their roles, responsibilities, and restrictions. Then we could move on to service improvement and financial concerns. There were interruptions – economic, political, natural disasters, but the reforms and a Canadian contribution moved forward.
Inside Indonesia’s Big Bang offers a first-person account of the Indonesian and Canadian government sponsored cooperation involving the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs, IPAC, the Province of Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University. It reveals how the partnership influenced Indonesia’s transition to decentralized governance and public service provision, and how the peer-to-peer approach between the two countries provided opportunities for learning, adaptation and friendships.