"Today we
must shift [...] from consumption to investment: Investment in our
infrastructure, investment in our industry, but most importantly investment in
our human capital, the most precious resource of the 21st century"
President Joko Widodo[1]
Budi, a Jakarta boy born today in the Bantar
Gebang slum could reach age 5 with a healthy start in life in 2020 and be a
successful high school student by 2030. Grace, a young girl from rural Papua turning 13 today and coming of age with a
high school diploma in 2020 could head a green technology start-up by 2030 on
her way to becoming one of the future leaders of her country.
This can be the future of a growing number of
children in a prosperous 2030 high-income Indonesia. This reality can endow Indonesia
with its future entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, teachers, CEOs, religious
leaders and social workers.
Based on current realities, the prospects
of Budi and Grace could look radically different. Both born to poor parents,
they have low chances of evading poverty. Budi faces one chance in 25 to die
before age 5, and one chance in 3 to be stunted
in his first days of life affecting his brain capacity, future skills and earning prospects. Grace has one
chance in 6 to be married before 18 to then drop
out of school and become a teen-mom. Both
children’s exposure to child poverty, malnutrition, poor health, low quality education, and violence have costs to their bodies, brains, and to
Indonesia’s economy now and in the future. In a context of increasing
inequalities, all these drivers also increase the risks of disenfranchisement
and social detachment that could threaten the stability of the Indonesian
society.
Which path
Budi and Grace find themselves on will depend on Indonesia’s ability to
transform the vicious cycle of deprivation into a virtuous circle of
prosperity. This is achievable, but requires changing mindsets to
see children, their rights and
well-being, as foundational to the advance of Indonesia. It requires investing
in Indonesia’s most deprived children as a pathway to sustained economic growth
and prosperity for the road to 2030.
The political
commitment to invest in a better future for children is sealed in the country’s 2015-19 medium term development plan.[2]
This plan also integrates the new international goals for the people and the
planet, the sustainable development goals (SDGs), that all countries will soon
pledge to achieve by 2030. And the plan captures the President’s vision for change:
Nawa Cita...
This document
shows how investing in Indonesia's children contributes to the Nawa Cita and presents a 9-point roadmap to turn existing
commitments into a better future for all children in Indonesia. This roadmap
has a level of ambition aligned with the high-income country status Indonesia
will have in 2030. It goes above and beyond international targets such as the
SDGs. It makes the most marginalized visible as a
first step towards inclusivity.
Its level of ambition is in synch with the aspiration to lift and sustain
national prosperity.
Today
Indonesia is the poster child of rapid economic development. With the 16th
largest economy in the world and the lowest level of economic volatility of all
richest countries,[3] today’s
prospects are bright. But with the second highest number of people without
sanitation facilities and the fifth highest number of stunted children in the
world, these prospects may not materialize.
An ambitious
children agenda offers an opportunity for Indonesia to level up its economic
and social indicators simultaneously while contributing to regional and global
progress.
When leaders formally adopt the SDGs at the September
2015 United Nations General Assembly, Indonesia could be the first country
whose national development plan incorporates the new SDG targets with a bold agenda for children at its core.
When ASEAN
countries join the new Economic Community in December 2015, they will face the
unique situation of designing national strategies to reach the SDGs in a
context of greater economic integration. Indonesia could become the country
that leads not only by the weight of its
economy, the size of its population and the clout of its moderate Muslim influence, but also by the quality of its child
indicators, the ultimate measure of a prosperous society.
When the
world takes stock of progress towards the SDGs in 2030, Indonesia’s advances
will be significant. With the growth of its population and its economy,
Indonesia’s progress will also move the needle regionally and globally. Equipped with an ambitious roadmap for children,
Indonesia’s footprint will matter for global progress towards international
goals and could position Indonesia as
the global powerhouse for change China was for the MDGs.
A 9-point roadmap for children:
1. Prosperity
should start from the “periphery” and all
children should be accounted for
Indonesia has one the fastest
growth of inequalities in the region.[4] Disparities
have a geographical dimension. A child born in a rural area is twice more
likely to be involved in child labor than a child born in an urban area. Tanah
Papua accounts for 1% of the population but has an HIV/AIDS prevalence 15 times
higher than the national average. Disparities also have an economic dimension. A
13 year old from a poor household is 4 times more likely to be out-of-school than
one from a rich household.
Evidence from around the world
clearly shows that there is no sustained growth without reducing inequalities.[5] Specific
policies should thus prioritize and accelerate progress for the most
marginalized children and young people in the geographical and economic
'peripheries'.
The most excluded and
marginalized, standing at the “peripheries” of society are often not visible
because they are unaccounted for. Today
over a third of Indonesian children under 5 are not listed in official records.[6] This stands in the way of their access to
school and health services, their
benefiting from social programs and being protected from child marriage, while locking them in a status of
deprivation and exclusion.
In 2030, all children in
Indonesia should be accounted for and their births registered with civil
authorities.
2. No child should live in poverty in a
middle-income country
Today, 13.8
million Indonesian children live under the national poverty line of 300,000 IDR per month. This is equivalent to an extreme poverty rate among children of 14.5%. By SDG standard, this
number should be zero in 2030. Getting to zero in Indonesia would require a
particular focus on those groups of children and geographies most lagging
behind.
Most countries use two poverty lines
to differentiate between extreme
poverty and poverty. Indonesia only use
the former, but eradicating extreme
poverty is not ambitious enough for a middle
income country. By doubling its current national poverty line, Indonesia
would broaden the ambition of its poverty eradication efforts. Under such
standards, 1 in 2 Indonesian children are
poor. Setting the target to halve child poverty rate under this line by 2030
would not only be ambitious, it would
make Indonesia one of the rare countries with a specific child poverty reduction objective.
Investing in a cash grant system
that supports primary caregivers of poor children with no strings
attached is the way to reach this objective. South Africa started making such
investments in 1998 and reduced child poverty by 10% point in the following 10 years.[7]
A similar shift is possible for Indonesia. Not only will it benefit the
children targeted today but it will also benefit their children tomorrow,
maintaining investments in human capital for the next generation.
3.
No mother
should die giving birth and no child
should be stunted
The global
estimate of maternal mortality in Indonesia is 359 per 100,000 live births but recent survey data indicate a much
higher figure. Moreover, 37% of children are stunted. Children in the poorest
households are almost twice as likely to be stunted as those in the wealthiest
families and three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday,
calling for a particular focus of efforts on the bottom quintile. Stunting has lifelong consequences.
It is associated with poor school
performance, reduced productivity and reduced income-earning capacity, and increased
risk of adulthood overweight and non-communicable diseases.
In line with
the SDGs, Indonesia should end all forms of malnutrition and the preventable
death of mothers by 2030. These objectives should be further specified (e.g.,
numerical targets for neonatal and child mortality, multiple measures of
malnutrition) to capture bolder international standards. They should also
reflect the increasing predominance of non-communicable diseases in Indonesia
and other middle income countries, e.g.,
obesity and air pollution-related afflictions.
A rapid rise
of non-communicable diseases and the high costs of their treatment puts public
health care services at risk of becoming unaffordable. Preventive care and the
reduction of high risk behaviors early in
life are therefore critical.
Solutions to
get there include strong investments in the continuum of care with a particular
focus on the first 1000 days of life of
all human beings, and the delaying of childbearing
(itself connected to child marriage). Sri Lanka exemplifies how with
investments in health systems and human resource capacity this can be done.
4. No child should live in fear in a tolerant
and peaceful country
Children are caught
in a cycle of violence in Indonesia where they study, live and play. At school, 36 million of children experience
physical attacks by their peers and 85%
of school students report physical punishment by a teacher. At home, between
11-22% of young women are beaten, raped or emotionally abused by their
partners. This means that of 360,000 the
child brides that marry every year in Indonesia, between 30,000-80,000 are at
risk of being abused by their partners. Children who witness parental violence
in their home are more likely to bully other children at school, experience
depression and commit violence against their partners as adults. They are also
more likely to drop out of school, be pushed to commit crimes and risk
exploitation. Up to $194 billion USD or roughly 2% of GDP is lost as a result
of violence in childhood in East Asia[8]
in a single year.
In line with
the SDGs, Indonesia should reduce
violence of children by 2030; and end all forms of child labor and harmful
traditional practices like child marriage by 2025. Beyond these targets,
Indonesia should consider special measures for those children more likely to be
victims of violence and abuse: migrant and refugee children, children in
institutions and children of religious minorities.
Violence in
childhood is not a legal problem but a social one. Indonesia's principle of gotong royong,
community togetherness, can be transformative to end violence. Investments must
be made into parenting programs that help
mothers and fathers cope with stress and
practice non-violent discipline at home. In Turkey, a mother’s outreach project
reduced home physical punishment by 73%. Cash transfers to poor families, anti-bullying
programs in schools and more trained social workers are also known to reduce
violence.[9]
And religious and community leaders, together with parents, must stand together
to report violence and champion peace.
5.
All children should benefit from
early childhood and early preschool education
Only 16.7% of children receive
early childhood education and only 60%
receive pre-primary education in Indonesia. While we know that education is
critical to breaking the cycle of poverty, evidence also suggests that
investing in quality education is a cost-effective way to improve
adult health and productivity. It also empowers women, reduces violence, and promotes
environmental sensitivity.
Early childhood and adolescence
are two critical windows of opportunity.
During early childhood, fast-paced brain development molds the future
emotional and learning capacity of human beings. During adolescence, emotional
stability, identity boundaries and societal expectations are in flux before
they consolidate into adulthood’s value, perceptions
and skills. Indonesia should seek to level the playing field from day one,
hand-in-hand with a focus on adolescents. Investments in these two transitional
phases of human development can help harness the potential of the Indonesian demographic
dividend.
Indonesia should provide all children with publicly-funded
early childhood development and one year of preschool by 2030. Indonesia should
also invest in its adolescents, their education and skills, to avoid growing a cohort
of disenchanted youth. It should also engage adolescents in developing policies
and delivering services that improve their lives. These ambitious objectives
will be a fundamental contribution to a smart, healthy and prosperous
Indonesia.
6. Strengthen
the resilience of people and systems
Indonesia is one of the world’s
most disaster-prone country with high
occurrence of floods, landslides, strong winds, and drought, all magnified by
climate change. Children, especially the most disadvantaged, suffer the impacts
of these shocks and crises disproportionately. Policies and investments should
help children develop and thrive by reducing exposure to, minimizing the
consequences of, and helping them recover from shocks and crises while making
their support-systems bounce back better.
Services delivery is also challenged by the frequency of
disasters the country is exposed to. Even
the most efficient social delivery systems can fail when crises hit. Strengthening
the resilience capacity of these systems and of those in charge of making them
work should be a key priority. Incorporating
critical thinking, problem-solving skills, empathy and confidence into
education curricula and government staff trainings
would strengthen the human dimension of resilience. Designing service delivery
chains capable of adapting through crises would strengthen the physical
dimension of resilience. This means, for
instance, a social protection system with the capacity to expand and contract
with the seasonality of droughts and floods, and with the capacity to deploy
temporary cash transfers to those impacted by disasters.
7.
Leverage
the entire data ecosystem to support service delivery and monitor progress
Indonesia is rich in data, from
statistics generated by household surveys to perceptions captured by social
media. Yet some gaps exist for certain
issues or certain populations, e.g., children with disabilities. They should be filled. The quality of data generated, e.g.,
by household surveys, should also be improved to increase its validity in view of regional and international standards.
Making sure that data and the data
revolution benefit children will entail
making data transparent, accessible and more inclusive to capture those who are
still uncounted, using innovations to speed up data flows, tapping into new
sources of data and making sure that data inform policy.
Two ideas to further explore:
Extract
more from existing data to better inform policies and service delivery. There is plethora of information on children contained in the hundreds of documents
produced to guide and report on national and sub-national plans and policies. Testing
the usefulness of text mining, including natural language processing and
semantic mapping on this enormous amount of existing text could help the
government make better use of its own
information base to inform its policy and operations. This
could help address
some of the bottlenecks generated by a highly decentralized system.
Combine data and
analytical tools to increase efficiency. New
approaches to data collection and analysis can lead to spending less on programs
that don’t work – and focusing resources on programs that lead to results. It
can also increase the frequency of data (e.g., perception data collected by
mobile phone) used to monitor progress towards national and international
goals. Indonesia should explore possible innovations through the whole data
spectrum: in the most robust data methods, like household surveys; in ‘good
enough’, real-time monitoring of action on barriers and bottlenecks and youth
feedback/participation; and in using ‘big data analytics’ to achieve new
insights.
8. Institutionalize youth engagement to drive change
through social accountability
Indonesia has
one of the world’s youngest population profiles. Engaging young people in
public policy making could be the best defense against more people becoming
disenfranchised and disconnected from the public debate. Indeed, engaging them early and often will
create a life-long engaged citizenry.
Starting from
existing youth platforms, strengthening civic
engagement of children and young people in different parts of the country could
shape a social infrastructure. This is a
concrete illustration of building a system of change from the periphery:
empowering people who do not traditionally have a voice to have greater say in
decisions that affect their lives. Such a platform would provide young people
with the power to hold decision-makers to account. ICT tools could help
facilitate such engagement, but they are only a start. Decision makers would also need to build the
capacity to receive and take action on youth feedback.
Two ideas to
further explore:
Build a digital infrastructure of young people for young
people.
Using mobile technology and building on a partnership with the scout movement,
a broad platform of existing youth associations and movements should be created
to capture youth voices and ideas on what is working, where and why. It could also be
used by young people to monitor progress towards national and international
goals that matter to them.
Leverage social media. In the Indonesian context of high social
media saturation, opening up space for dialogue via social media can
incorporate more voices. We know that
such an approach will leave some people out; but we also know that in some
cases, people are left out when these tools are not employed. Understanding social
media for 2-way communication could contribute to strengthening the government’s
relationship with children and youth beneficiaries.
9.
Leverage
private investments for children
Indonesia has
one of the lowest levels of public health expenditure in the world (1.2% of
GDP). Budget allocations should match the level of ambition sets forth to strengthen
human capital. Many options are put forward to increase public investments in
social services, from increasing excise
tax on tobacco to phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies.[10]
Businesses
and investors should also be enticed to contribute to the future of Indonesia
for their own benefit. Businesses will
need the skilled and healthy workforce that early investments in education and
health can provide. Investors will need the consumers. More socially responsible
businesses and impact investments could move the needle for pro-children
investments while changing the mindset of large numbers of workers and
consumers.
Two ideas to
further explore:
Promote
the child rights and business principles throughout the Indonesian economy
(investments and transactions) from risk assessments and credit rating agencies
to sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. Promoting these principles in the social
safeguards that should accompany growing infrastructure investments would make
a substantial difference. Appointing private
sector champions to promote child rights in their respective industries,
boardrooms and reporting could be a first
step in this direction. The government should also lead by example and
integrate child-friendly principles in its own
investments and procurement.
Tap
into Islamic finance and charity. The coinciding growth of the Sukuk market and of impact investment could be
turned into a big asset for Indonesian children. The principles behind
social impact investment are compatible with the Sharia principles of Islamic
finance. So one instrument could be used to strengthen the other. To demonstrate this potential and lead the way in
these relatively unchartered territories, the Indonesian government
could pilot a child impact Sukuk. In
parallel, incentives should be put in place to channel a growing amount of Zakat towards child-focused investments.
If implemented,
this 9-point roadmap for children would benefit many Budis and Graces in
Indonesia. It would also benefit Budi’s and Grace’s children. And it could
benefit other children in the world, should Indonesia promote this trailblazing
initiative with other countries. The SDGs are universal: all countries will have
to translate and tailor them to their national realities. Indonesia should use
this 9-point roadmap to showcase how it is done and help shape a global SDG
delivery architecture that benefit children now and in the future.
[1]
Opening speech by the President of Indonesia at the 2015 World Economic Forum. Available
online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PETHFfo4L4
[2] National Medium-Term Development
Plan - the Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional ("RPJMN")
2015-2019.
[3] McKinsey.
2014. Unleashing Indonesia Potential.
Available online at: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/asia-pacific/the_archipelago_economy
[4] The
World Bank Group. 2014. Indonesia: Avoiding the trap. Development Policy Review, 2014. Available online at: http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/EAP/Indonesia/Indonesia-development-policy-review-2014-english.pdf
[5] UNICEF.
2015. A Fair Chance for Every Child. Available
online at: http://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/A_fair_chance_for_every_child-22May2015.pdf
[6]
According to the 2013 national household survey, the Susenas, just over 60% of
children 0-5 years have birth certificates.
[7] Department
of Social Development, Republic of South Africa. 2011. Impact evaluation of the Child Support Grant in South Africa. Pretoria,
19 July 2011. Powerpoint presentation.
[8] Fang, X., Fry, D.A., Brown, D.S.,
Mercy, J.A., Dunne, M.P., Butchart, A.R., Corso, P.S., Maynzyuk, K., Dzhygyr, Y.,
Chen, Y., McCoy, A., & Swales, D.M. The burden of child maltreatment
in the East Asia and Pacific region. Child
Abuse & Neglect, 42, 146-162.
[9]
For more information about evidence-based interventions proven to reduce
violence against children, see for example: http://www.withoutviolence.org/solutions/
[10]The
World Bank Group, Op. Cit.
