Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a policy-based loan worth US$ 500 million or IDR 7.7 trillion to strengthen human resources and increase labor productivity.
This loan is the second of three subprograms under the ‘Boosting Productivity through Human Capital Development Program’ as a continuation of the success of the first subprogram approved in 2021.
“This program is ADB’s commitment to continuing close, long-term cooperation with the Government of Indonesia to help build resilient and responsive health, education and social protection systems that can stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty,” said Jiro Tominaga, ADB Director for Indonesia, quoted in the ADB release, Wednesday (15/11/2023).
“Reversing the setbacks in human development and productivity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is one of our priorities in helping our developing country members,” he added.
He said that the Program for Increasing Productivity through Human Resource Development encourages the integration of reforms in the fields of education, skills development, health and social protection in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These various reforms have helped strengthen financing policies and monitoring of SDGs implementation, including the establishment of 11 new SDGs centers in Indonesia. The centers will further localize the SDGs through research and education, outreach, and policy advice. The government has provided performance-based fiscal transfers to various local government units as incentives for achieving the SDGs.
To increase educational attainment, skills upgrading, and skills retraining, the government implemented market-responsive skills development programs for unemployed youth and adults.
This includes JobStart and Pre-Employment Cards for skills development programs to provide market-responsive training to unemployed youth and adults.
In addition, more than 30,000 teachers, the majority of whom are women, have been trained as ‘learning leaders’, as part of the Teacher Mobilization program, while 2.9 million teachers have been given access to the Guru Mobilizer digital platform which provides teaching and learning resources via smartphone. , laptops, and desktop computers.
Furthermore, the Indonesia Cyber Education Institute has created an innovative digital credential system for its international standard and market-oriented higher education online classes. More than 2,500 students, most of them women, have earned digital credentials and strengthened their transition from school to the workforce.
In increasing access to health, the government has laid the foundation to strengthen and transform the primary health care system, thereby encouraging health promotion and community empowerment, as well as expanding community-based maternal and child health care.
The government has also improved the delivery of social protection services to poor and vulnerable groups through measures to implement the unemployment benefits program and strengthen the implementation of the conditional direct cash assistance program.
The Program for Increasing Productivity through Human Resource Development is in line with the government’s Indonesia Vision 2045, which prioritizes human resource development. The program is also aligned with ADB’s country partnership strategy for Indonesia, 2020-2024, which includes improving prosperity and strengthening resilience. This program complements ADB’s other investments in the humanitarian and social sectors in Indonesia.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, and continues its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Founded in 1966, ADB is owned by 68 members-49 of which are in the Asia and Pacific region.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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