UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNDP, UNHCR, UN WOMEN, WFP, WHO

Indonesia has built a solid foundation of social protection, but strengthening these systems is more important than ever as the impacts in the country of the war in Ukraine—like the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic—continue to be felt most by those already most at risk of being left behind.

The UN supported the Government in developing a draft regulation enabling more effective targeting of resources, as well as new guidelines on child- and gender-responsive social protection programmes. It also contributed to the passage of new regulations on climate and disaster-responsive villages and successfully advocated for allocating 40% of village funds expenditure to unconditional cash transfers and cash-for-work programmes.

With the Government and civil society organizations, the UN ensured that the most vulnerable populations could continuously access health, social, and rights protection services during COVID-19 and other emergencies, reaching 21,888 vulnerable people. UN-led interventions included providing cash voucher assistance for accessing sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence support services, and dignity kits for survivors and pregnant women, as well as for people with disabilities.

The UN helped enhance the protection of children, supporting the establishment of Social Work Learning Centers in 11 provinces, and used various platforms to reach more than 600,000 children with mental health and well-being messages. After the Cianjur earthquake, it helped provide lifesaving mental health and psychosocial services.

Indonesia, with UN support, is developing a standardized framework on the functioning of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and has augmented this with a series of related workplans.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: FAO, IFAD, OCHA, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP

Stunting, caused by undernutrition and frequent infections early in life, is a persistent issue in Indonesia, but coordinated governmental and UN action has led to marked recent improvements.

The UN continued to support the Government’s ambitious child stunting reduction targets, including through a project supporting sub-national efforts in designing communications initiatives promoting attitude and behavioural changes. A subsequent nationwide social media awareness-raising campaign reached more than 15 million people.

To safeguard food security, the UN and the Government continued to scale up the availability and affordability of fortified rice. Meanwhile, the UN helped develop the National and Strategic Action Plan for Family Farming (NAPFF), and the government organized national and sub-national consultation meetings on family farming in Indonesia.

To strengthen nutrition education, the UN and the Government digitized nutrition education materials, then made them available online and embedded them in child-focused podcasts, webinars, and web-series. A UN study generated evidence on the importance of cross-sector collaboration for the nutrition of school-aged children.

The UN also continued efforts to integrate early childhood development (ECD) activities into interactive learning curricula on infant and young child feeding counseling for health providers, which were rolled out in 12 provinces. It produced recommendations for enhancing local use of Food Security and Vulnerability Atlases, supported child wasting prevention and treatment services, including scaling up the “family-led MUAC” approach to the prevention of wasting across 25 districts. Moreover, it continued to support the Aksi Bergizi multisectoral gender-responsive adolescent nutrition programme across 130 districts.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: IOM, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCHR, UNICEF, WHO

Indonesia has now lifted all pandemic-related restrictions and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to no longer constitute a public health emergency. However, the pandemic starkly revealed the pressing need for reforms to close gaps in the global health sector.

The UN is playing a critical role in Indonesia’s National Health System Reform Agenda, including supporting strategic planning and improvement on issues including healthcare quality, vaccine manufacturing, anti-microbial resistance and detection and reporting of substandard and falsified medical products.

Indonesia, aided by UN agencies, distributed over 434 million COVID-19 vaccination doses, with the UN’s digital application, SMILE, helping ensure equitable access to quality health services. The UN also supported plans to digitalize medical waste management and medical and laboratory logistics in health facilities, and Indonesia signed an initiative to channel US$21 million to the UN for strengthening its genomic laboratory surveillance network. Meanwhile, UN assistance in procuring laboratory equipment has delivered 50% cost-savings.

The UN continued to support malaria control efforts, which contributed to the elimination of malaria in 362 districts of high-burden provinces in 2022. UN assistance in Indonesia's national child immunization catch-up vaccination campaign helped target more than 36.4 million children with DPT-HB-Hib and Polio vaccines, as well as respond to a polio outbreak in Aceh.

The UN expanded support for Indonesia’s national adoption of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV self-testing (HST), while various UN interventions are also helping improve health services for vulnerable populations or in communities in need of targeted support.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO

Reducing maternal mortality is a critical global health goal prioritized by both Indonesia and the UN. Despite national and global progress, however, much remains to be done. Decreases in essential health service coverage for children, pregnant women, and mothers, meanwhile, were among the many health impacts of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Continued investment, including in access to quality prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, and emergency obstetric care, is critical.

Indonesia has reduced the maternal mortality ratio from 359 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 189 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 and has targeted reducing the number to 183 deaths per 100,000 by 2024, while at the same time reducing the infant mortality rate to 16 deaths per 1,000 live births.

The UN continues to support efforts to improve access to quality maternal and neonatal care, and in 2022, made progress towards improving care provision during pregnancy, and during the intrapartum and post-natal periods. This included by supporting the newly established National Committee on Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) and development of new MPDSR guidelines. The UN also supported Indonesia in updating its basic emergency obstetric and new-born care guidelines through technical assistance in establishing an integrated monitoring dashboard for maternal, new-born, child, and nutrition data.

Similarly, it helped update national guidelines for low-birth-weight care at the primary healthcare level, including for children born to HIV-positive mothers. A pilot implementation of the guidelines was conducted in 12 districts with a high burden of low birth weight.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: UNICEF, WHO

Despite handwashing with soap being one of the most cost-effective interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with enteric and respiratory infections, 50% of Indonesians above 10-years-old do not do so at critical times. The UN is working with the Government to promote handwashing with soap and other interventions to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

The UN assisted with developing several WASH-related policy documents, including a draft of new national guidelines for water safety plans benefiting 522 water providers and a draft of regulations on management of environmental health risks, which became law in February 2023. It also supported the development of waste management and WASH in Indonesia’s healthcare information system, allowing 13,617 hospitals and Puskesmas to better monitor the status of water, hand hygiene, sanitation, waste management, and environmental cleaning.

After a 2021 survey revealed that faecal matter was present in 69% of Indonesian drinking water sampled, the UN assisted development of a Roadmap for Safely Managed Drinking Water and policy briefs on the potential and challenges of non-piped water.

It also supported Government efforts to eliminate open defecation across Indonesia, piloted an inspection tool assessing household sanitation conditions in six districts, and launched an awareness campaign on the need to de-sludge household septic tanks that reached more than 80 million people.

To improve WASH in workplaces, the UN helped the government research 243 private sector companies. This research found a lack of separate toilets for women, of adequate facilities for menstruation, and of disability-friendly toilets.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: IOM, ITU, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF

The COVID-19 pandemic was hugely disruptive to children’s education in Indonesia, with related school closures and interrupted school re-openings continuing well into 2022. However, joint UN and Government efforts helped mitigate this and restore young people’s access to education.

The percentage of children attending the first grade of primary school after receiving early childhood education declined slightly in 2022, but remained above the Government’s annual target. Primary and lower secondary school completion rates also exceeded targets. However, senior secondary school completion rates fell short.

The UN provided technical assistance to the Government in developing references for schools to ensure student safety when resuming in-person teaching, while providing vital support for data collection on teacher vaccinations and school reopening, as well as advocacy workshops promoting safe school practices. The UN continues to support governmental efforts on school attendance and educational attainment, especially for those most at risk of being left behind. In 2022, 11 of Indonesia’s most disadvantaged districts ran a UN programme to assist vulnerable young children in accessing quality early learning and development services, while the Early Grade Learning (EGL) programme operated in 23 districts.

To improve the quality of EGL teaching, 1,072 teachers and 195 principals received UN training as part of an emergency curriculum responding to the COVID-19 learning crisis. The UN also supported Indonesia’s expansion of provisions to address out-of-school children (OOSC), resulting in assistance to around 10,300 OOSC and 65,700 children at risk of dropping out of school.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, OCHA, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN Women, WFP, WHO

Indonesia passed two pieces of legislation in 2022 that will have a significant impact on human rights: the Sexual Violence Crime Act, and the Revised Criminal Code, which was adopted in December 2022.

The former re-enforces Indonesia’s commitment to eliminating sexual violence and draws on longstanding UN support for Indonesian women and child rights. The latter, however, raises concerns among campaigners for the rights of women and people living with, or at increased risk of, HIV. The UN helped ensure community engagement on drafting the revised code so as to not adversely impact HIV and gender equality programs. It also established a new partnership to strengthen police capacity to respond to violence against children and women.

The UN has been helping Komnas Perempuan and MOWECP leverage data collection and analysis capabilities to prevent Violence Against Women (VAW). Additionally, it launched a study on femicide that contributed to recommendations on improving data collection. At the sub-national level, it supported local health authorities in enhancing service provision to victims of violence against women and advocated for women and girls living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

To minimise rights violations faced by People Living with HIV, the UN helped promote the use of a specialised reporting channel that will strengthen feedback mechanisms in HIV services and help protect the rights of vulnerable populations. Finally, the UN conducted Indonesia’s first-ever analysis of gender inclusivity in the country’s film sector, which led the Recommended Action Plan to Achieve Gender Equality in Indonesian Cinema.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UN Women

Indonesia regards itself as a transit country that attempts to protect refugees but welcomes them only for a finite period. The UN in Indonesia continues to advocate for the inclusion of refugees in state policies and to ensure their fundamental rights are upheld. This has led to the creation of Government task forces to coordinate the handling of refugees being established in six provinces and 13 cities or districts .

UN efforts are helping increase refugee children’s access to education, and by the end of 2022, 712 refugee children and adolescents attended school while a further 385 accessed early childhood education. UN advocacy resulted in the authorisation of some refugees to access internships or job trainings with local businesses, progress on the birth registration of refugee children, their inclusion in a rapid polio immunization programme, COVID-19 vaccinations, and a pilot scheme designed to reduce the barriers refugees face in accessing quality healthcare.

The UN helped draft a road map on the gender-responsive placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers, as well as organising a conference that brought together representatives from eight ASEAN countries to discuss safe migration and decent work in the fishing and seafood processing sectors.

It also continues to support Indonesia's efforts to combat the trafficking of persons, including through pushing for legal revisions incorporating new trends in technology and online trafficking. The UN also trained 89 judges, legal practitioners, and paralegals on adjudicating trafficking cases, as well as 162 members of anti-trafficking task forces, and other government officials.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: UNDP, UNODC, UN Women

Indonesia’s efforts to prevent violent extremism have a profound influence throughout the region. As such, successfully implementing the 2021 National Plan of Action on Preventing Violent Extremism (NAP/PVE) has been a key priority for both the Government and the UN.

The UN supported Indonesia in doing so on several fronts, including establishing two coordination mechanisms and refining the monitoring and evaluation process for the plan’s implementation. Alongside the Government, the UN initiated local implantation in five target cities, with a view to nurturing local ownership of counter-terrorism interventions and ensuring their sustainability.

Meanwhile, it collaborated with Indonesia on a series of background studies to support the incorporation of religious moderation and PVE into Indonesia's next National Medium-Term Development Plan. While continuing to support the plan’s adoption at the local level, the UN also ensured that the authorities and communities consider gender perspectives. It contributed to upskilling religious leaders, government officials, youths, and civil society organizations on promoting gender equality and peace in six provinces, as well as the development of relevant policy recommendations.

Disrupting the financial flows of criminal networks is critical to preventing violent extremism and UN programmes engaged almost 3,000 participants from public and private sector organisations in various training and awareness raising activities designed to enhance skills and knowledge on anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, investigation and prosecution involving crypto assets, and other aspects of countering financial crime, as well as engaging 68 companies in anti-corruption efforts.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: IOM, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women

The Peace Hub in Jakarta is the world’s first dedicated platform for the UN, national security forces, and NGO partners to share PVE resources. A UN evaluation of GUYUB, a flagship Peace Hub programme that formally ended in 2021, showed that it had directly or indirectly benefitted 140,000 people from vulnerable target communities, and supported women’s leadership in PVE through the establishment of Peace Villages. In 2022, the UN finalised and published an interactive digital storybook to highlight the stories of women across four East Javan Peace Villages.

The UN supported the participation of 628 people at the Indonesia Women Ulamas Conference and engaged 968 people and 36 online media organisations in PVE awareness-raising activities. The latter contributed to 5,500 media articles, short videos, social media posts, and memes that generated about 26 million social media views combined.

To promote a whole-of-society PVE approach, the UN helped conduct training sessions for police officers to strengthen their capacity to engage with the community in PVE efforts, as well as a workshop for youth peace ambassadors.

The UN developed a report on the community-based supervision and treatment of violent extremist offenders and helped conduct training of trainers sessions for parole and probation officers on violent extremist prisoners. It also helped design a half-way house facility to enhance the social rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremist prisoners, and collaborated on the design and dissemination of training modules for faith professionals to support violent extremist prisoners' disengagement during the rehabilitation and reintegration.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNODC, UNOPS, UN Women, WFP

Indonesia is among the ten countries in the world with the highest absolute number of child marriages. However, UN and governmental efforts have helped gradually reduce rates. This progress has been bolstered by the UN’s Better Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All in Indonesia (BERANI) programme, which benefitted 1,500 children in schools and non-formal education centres. The UN also supported the Government in the development of the National Strategy for the Prevention of Child Marriage Implementation Toolkit.

The UN helped the Government reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to all forms of violence. This included ensuring the continuity of reproductive health services, and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention services during emergencies. In 2022, UN training increased the capacity of 339 government officials and other service providers to prevent and respond to GBV. Separately, UN training on referral and coordination mechanisms for victims of GBV and trafficking reached 420 frontline service providers, while it increased the capacity of 165 frontline officers and developed new referral pathways for handling GBV among refugee populations.

The UN’s ROOTS bullying prevention programme trained more than 150,000 children and adolescents, and 13,500 teachers to prevent and respond to violence and bullying. Meanwhile the UN leveraged partnerships with local governments in over 109 districts and cities, and 276 villages to strengthen the provision of comprehensive child protection services.

Finally, the UN helped promote freedom of expression and enhance journalists’ safety, including through a three-day training course and collaboration with civil society organizations.