1 Special Autonomy and Poverty Reduction Programs in Papua: Does it Works? Julius Ary Mollet, PhD Director of the Center for Poverty Alleviation & Development Studies Papua (CPdP), Cenderawasih University Abstract Poverty has become a central issue for Papua since the province became part of Indonesia. Under the decentralised system, the government played a crucial role in decisions concerning on poverty reduction at the provincial level. Papua is one of richest provinces in natural resources in Indonesia in terms of mining, forestry and fishing resources, which have been exploited by multinational companies that have made a significant contribution to the national economy, but has not benefited Papua. As a result, the economic situation of the people in Papua remains poorly developed and the province has a high poverty rate compared to the rest of Indonesia. This article concludes that the causes of poverty in Pupua are related to education, income earner, poor governance, traditional, the implementation of election. Special Autonomy for Papua seems to be having some little impact on for reducing poverty partly due to the RESPEK program, although there is some criticism in terms of the implementation the program. Key words: Special Autonomy, Poverty and Papua Introduction Papua is one of richest provinces in natural resources in Indonesia in terms of mining, forestry and fishing resources which have been exploited by multinational companies (under Suharto regime) that have made a significant contribution to the national economy but has not benefited Papua. As a result, the economic situation of the people in Papua remains poorly developed and the province has a high poverty rate compared to the rest of Indonesia. Special Autonomy Law (SAL) was introduced to Papua in 2001. The aim of SAL for Papua is to attempts to overcome the issues of economic, social and cultural rights of native Papua society as well reducing poverty for indigenous people. The adoption of the SAL has seen poverty reduction emerge as a priority program for local government. For SAL, the most significant feature was the increased budget allocation for local government. Papua province has promoted four priority programs to reduce poverty, namely education, health, local economic empowerment, and infrastructure. In order to reduce poverty in Papua, local government has introduced a regional development plan for villages (RESPEK) where under RESPEK each village receives US $ 10,000. In fact, the implementation of the SAL in Papua was like a shock therapy. The local government found it difficult to spend the budget for the poverty reduction program in Papua which lead to corruption. This paper highlights some critical issues: the causes of poverty in Papua, implementation of the RESPEK program, and policy formulation to support the development of Papua.