UN entities leading the delivery of this output: UNDP, UNESCO, UNIDO

The Indonesian Government is committed to implementing the circular economy, an economic model that optimises the use of resources and designs products to be as efficient as possible. At the policy level, the UN supported Indonesian efforts to advance a circular economy roadmap through undertaking various studies, as well as by developing a teaching module to support incorporating circularity into development planning.

In parallel, UN partnerships with private sector companies enhanced awareness of the importance of circular economy strategies across business operations. A UN and government assessment, for example, found circular economy interventions could have the greatest impact on the palm-oil processing industry in green recovery terms, and accordingly assessed the potential of various circular economy prospects in the industry.

The UN typically supports the Government in line with these principles, including various initiatives encouraging circular economic development. In the fisheries sector, more than 7,000 people attended UN training on good farming practices and other topics. Meanwhile, the UN organized an international conference to accelerate the development of eco-industrial parks.

In 2022, the UN also launched a programme that aims to support the Government in implementing a roadmap towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Renewable energy generation is at the heart of the circular economy, and the UN offered the West Java Government technical support with a low-carbon development plan, supported other local governments, and served as a low-carbon development model itself by installing 992 solar systems in 25 villages and 21 village-owned power generation enterprises.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF

COVID-19’s impact on education and training in Indonesia went beyond school closures to include interrupting life skills programmes enabling full participation in the 21st century knowledge economy, and the skills system underpinning pathways to decent work opportunities for millions of adults and young people. The UN oversees a range of initiatives designed to make up ground lost due to the pandemic.

The UN’s digitalization of its Life Skills Education (LSE) module for students helped disseminate the learning methodology among 9,128 teachers since the programme’s 2020 launch. Meanwhile, the Adolescent Kit for Expression and Innovation, was expanded to support learning recovery linked to COVID-19 learning losses, and 7,437 adolescents developed 21st century, digital and entrepreneurship skills through an adolescent engagement programme.

The UN is working closely with the Government to support the improvement of Indonesia’s skills system, including assisting in establishing Sectoral Skills Committees under the national vocational education system, which will play a critical role in anticipating needs in different sectors and guiding skills development training and education in response to those needs. It also supported the development of the Blue Economy Roadmap, by conducting skills development mapping across maritime logistics and international trade, seafaring, and shipbuilding.

Meanwhile, the UN collaborated with civil society organizations to enable 100 People Living with HIV and from Key Populations to participate in UN-led skills training in digital marketing and fashion design, while 2,063 people received UN training in entrepreneurship and business development through the COVID-19 response project in employment and livelihood.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNOPS

Better nutrition and a spectrum of other development outcomes rely on strong food systems. The UN is implementing a range of interventions supporting Indonesian efforts to shore up food systems across land management, agriculture, smallholder farming, and the fisheries sector.

In 2022, the Government endorsed UN guidelines as part of a National Action Plan to control Anti-Microbial Resistance and implemented UN recommendations to prevent the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease. The UN also supported the Government’s integration of livestock evacuation into disaster management efforts, in order to reduce human and animal casualties as well as economic losses. Additional UN initiatives supporting strong food systems included promotion of a pan-Asia campaign designed to benefit smallholder farmers and develop green value chains and support restocking of tens of thousands of endemic Indonesian fish.

The UN collaborated on 12 adaptive research studies, and trained 396 public extension workers in administration and modern science-based farming in 2022. Meanwhile, 5,280 households attended UN workshops aimed at building understanding of basic nutrition for children.

In the fisheries sector, the UN conducted a series of activities designed to streamline and harmonize quality assurance and safety systems, including 11 awareness-raising campaigns and 68 skill development activities. The Government’s also adopted five new UN policy recommendations for seafood quality assurance standards.

The UN implemented a project on consumer online dispute resolution designed to improve international trade and electronic commerce in Indonesia, and organized a three-day training workshop on consumer dispute resolution.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: IFAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOPS

The UN in Indonesia’s 2022 LNOB study found living in a remote or rural area to be among the largest risk factors contributing to a person or community being left behind. With World Bank data suggesting almost 43% of Indonesia’s 270 million population live in rural areas, the UN is working to support local economic development, including for some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens on remote islands and in coastal communities.

The UN led a range of interventions designed to assist the economic recovery of communities living in and near the Takabonerate – Kepulauan Selayar Biosphere Reserve (TKSBR) impacted by COVID-19, while also facilitating the recovery of local coral reef ecosystems. This included training on coral transplantation for members of the local community, and on training and business capital for salt production and dried fish processing.

Many small island economies depend on fishing and fisheries. Focusing on shrimp, seaweeds, catfish, milkfish and pangasius aquaculture value chains, the UN organized 79 capacity-building activities involving over 6,500 participants from the Government and fish processing companies. These activities brought economic benefits for fish and seaweed farmers, as well as improved access to markets and finance.

The UN also strengthened the Blue Economic sector by enhancing the compliance capacity of SMEs with market requirements, creating a culture of quality, and improving the standard of infrastructure, institutions and service providers in the fisheries sector through implementing the 15 Good Aquaculture Practices, which have been adopted by 2,600 fish and seaweed farmers.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: FAO, IFAD, ILO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOPS

At a macro level, Indonesia’s economy has proved resilient to the impacts of COVID-19 and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. However, most MSMEs lack the financial resources that enabled larger companies to weather the turmoil. Building the capacity of local players to compete in the international market not only increases their reach and profitability, but instils greater systematic resilience to economic shocks.

In 2022, the UN continued to assist Indonesia’s MSME sector to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build institutional strength through collaboration with the Government. One project across three metropolitan areas prioritised MSMEs in sectors identified as having significant potential to accelerate circular economy development. There, the UN supported 1,293 MSMEs in obtaining Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) packages that encouraged the adoption of safe business practices during the pandemic. It also supported 361 MSMEs in incorporating indicators related to circular economy performance in their company profiles and business models.

To ensure this support continues, the UN produced and distributed a module designed to increase MSMEs’ capacity in sustainable business, which was ultimately integrated with the Government’s and the MSMEs Associations’ online learning platforms.

In the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector, the UN helped MSMEs access financing to support transition to non-mercury-based mining methods by facilitating the signing of lending arrangements. Meanwhile, it aims to boost the potential of youth-led businesses in Indonesia through interventions to enrich the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, ITU, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNHCR, UNOPS, UN WOMEN

Despite more Indonesian women workers having a college or university degree than their male counterparts, the UN estimates that they earn 23% less.

Since 2020, a total of 177 companies in Indonesia have signed up to the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which are designed to promote gender equality in the workplace and wider community. Two of those signatories, Gojek and Body Shop Indonesia, reported implementing WEPs-related action plans, while more than 500 women entrepreneurs received UN-led training in entrepreneurial and digital skills with a gender perspective.

Meanwhile, the UN and its partners supported the Government in integrating gender equality into guidelines on women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, on digital transformation for women, and on a national strategy for women’s financial inclusion.

To promote family-friendly workplace policies, the UN conducted a study of more than 4,500 working parents, which aided the government in understanding how employers implement policies towards routine immunization and led the UN to recommend that working mothers receive more than 24 weeks of maternity leave.

The UN also continued to advocate for business actions that advance child rights. Through a government partnership, it trained 124 officials and 12 business leaders on how to mainstream children’s rights in business strategies. It also brought together stakeholders for a programme that helped participating firms improve working conditions, and it supported the development of standard operational procedures for preventing and mitigating gender-based violence in seven palm oil enterprises. Finally, a UN project supported by Japan helped 1,523 workplaces conduct COVID-19 risk assessment services.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, IOM, ITU, UNDP, UNHCR, UNOPS, WHO

Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and adopted the Child Protection Law in 2002, which stipulates universal and free birth registration. The UN is committed to assisting Indonesia in reinforcing these frameworks, including through joint dialogue that led the Government to reaffirm the responsibility of local civil registries to issue formal notifications of refugee children’s births.

Joint UN advocacy contributed to 8,162 refugees receiving two doses of COVID-19 vaccination, and to refugee children being immunized in a polio outbreak response programme. Meanwhile, the UN supported workshops teaching 53 refugees to become digital literacy and safety trainers. It also provided humanitarian assistance to 8,461 refugees and asylum seekers in 2022, accommodation support to 7425, and resettlement and reintegration services to 999 refugees. General health and psychosocial support included referrals for over 49,000 health visits.

The UN continued to support the Government in developing Indonesia's first initiative on comprehensive labour migration information, as well as contributing to reducing the impacts of COVID-19 on, and fulfilling the essential services and livelihoods for vulnerable migrants. This included through supplying 14,000 hygiene kits to Indonesian migrant workers, and economic empowerment assistance to 800. UN support for returning Indonesian migrant workers gave 1,298 migrant workers authoritative information on employment, training, health, and social services.

Meanwhile, the UN established permanent coordination structures to resolve issues facing migrant workers, and led training sessions for 630 Government officials, employers, human rights institutions, and civil society representatives on gender-responsive policies and services for women migrant workers.

UN entities leading the delivery of this output: ILO, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNHCR

2022 marked ten years since the establishment of the UN and International Finance Corporation’s joint Better Work Programme in Indonesia, which strives to improve working conditions and competitiveness in the export garment sector and is now operational at over 200 participating factories, benefiting nearly 400,000 workers.

The programme has consistently impacted change at multiple levels. In individual factories, it provides interrelated services that support the continuous improvement of working conditions and the factory’s competitiveness. Staff provide specialized training and advisory services to factories, which include helping to establish worker-manager committees to promote dialogue, eliminating non-compliance with labour and safety standards, and promoting joint-problem solving. The programme also provides yearly unannounced assessments of factory conditions, that measure compliance with UN core labour standards and national legislation.

To guard against discrimination at workplaces, the UN and the Government developed a self-learning course on HIV prevention in the workplace, which includes modules on non-discriminatory policies and internal referral systems. Representatives from more than 100 companies took part in the self-learning course in 2022. Meanwhile, although there is currently no legal framework for refugees to work in Indonesia, the UN continues to advocate for the participation of refugees in skills training activities.

The UN helped support the government in revising draft legislation on business and human rights, and contributed technical expertise towards the G20 Policy Note on Gender Mainstreaming. It is also engaging with the Government to ensure the design of Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara, is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.