SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILD PROTECTION: PROVINCIAL LEVEL INITIATIVES

THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 322 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 323 Box 4.5.5: Coordinating Team for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection TKP2PA, Tim Koordinasi Pemberdayaan Perempuan dan Perlindungan Anak Function: Coordination of various provincial technical implementation units working with women and children, as stated in their core tasks and responsibilities. Implementing Agencies: The Bureau of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning, the Ofice of Education, the Ofice of Health, the Ofice of Social Affairs, the Office of Manpower, Transmigration and Population, the Office of Community Empowerment, the Office of Agriculture, the Regional Development Planning Agency BAPPEDA and the Community Empowerment Board Bapermas. A practitioner’s view: “The Coordination Team has yet to function optimally and is currently limited to an advisory role. Case handling is still carried out through Integrated Service Units PPT. …Coordination between the provincial and the districtmunicipal level often stalls. Therefore, provincial PPT staff often end up directly handling cases of violence at the district municipal level.” Source: Interview with NGO staff, Semarang, 18 June 2010 Despite the challenges, even setting up the Bureau and the task forces as described has required the commitment of the provincial level leadership. Both the Commission for Victims of Gender-Based Violence and Violence Against Children and the Coordinating Team on Women’s Empowerment and Child Welfare Protection were instituted with the backing of the Deputy Governor the Coordinating Team is actually chaired by the Deputy Governor. According to staff at the Bureau, the strong support of the Deputy Governor for child welfare is crucial for the success of the Bureau in advocating child-centred policies to agencies and to districts municipal governments, such as the establishment of Integrated Service Units in each district municipality. 535 4.5.6.3 Challenges Authority The Bureau of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning conducts regular coordination and advocacy activities with sectoral agencies and NGOs with the backing of official letters and other relevant documents signed by the Deputy Governor 536 , although some CSOs argue that not all local level government offices have responded. 537 For example, the Deputy Governor has instructed all government agencies to conduct at least two women’s empowerment and gender mainstreaming activities each year, but as yet not all agencies have adopted this approach. 538 In another example, one child was facing prosecution and was prevented from sitting the national exams as a consequence. The Deputy Governor approved the request for the child to sit the exams and sent a letter to the Head of the Ofice of Education, but the Head didn’t give permission for the child to sit the exam. 539 Inter-agency coordination and capacity Coordination and capacity is a key issue at both the provincial and districtmunicipal level in Central Java given that child welfare has been made a key priority in the province, and new government agencies and CSOs are being created at both levels. However, each tend to focus on a particular aspect of child welfare, whereas often child protection issues in particular, special protection need to be viewed holistically across sectors. The creation of new agencies, or new tasks and functions of existing agencies, similar to the case of NTT, has been met with the problems of both field staff and office staff having insufficient capacity and training across sectors to manage service delivery for vulnerable children. They also have insufficient skills in some cases to manage problems with child welfare that are multidimensional and may simultaneously involve aspects of health, education, justice and legal awareness, family support, poverty, and so on. FGD respondents and interviewed agency staff stated that this is a problem in Central Java, not just for government but also for CSOs working with children. A further problem cited in FGDs with policymakers and practitioners at both the provincial and districtmunicipal levels of government is the difficulty of dividing up different tasks and functions tupoksi related to child protection amongst all the relevant agencies. This was discussed in the case of tackling the pervasive problem of malnutrition in NTT and will not be further elaborated in detail here. Suffice to say that women’s empowerment and child protection issues cut across several agencies including the coordinating Bureau at the provincial and district levels, and the Ofices of Social Affairs, Manpower and Transmigration, Education, and Health, as well as the government administration and the Bureau of Social Empowerment. The delegation of tasks and functions is defined by the BAPPEDA and is approved by the regional secretary and by a Governor’s Decree each year. Difficulties emerge when tasks and functions are transferred between agencies, and their perceptions vary on how to address problems for children living on the streets. There are also problems of agencies competing for authority to secure operational budgets, or replicating the tasks conducted by other offices. 540 While there is commitment from the provincial government to improving child protection in Central Java, the process of building institutions and programmes is still underway in this province, as with many other provinces in Indonesia. CSOs are either working in partnership with government or supplementing government services while the system strengthens under decentralisation, due to the weaknesses in child special protection in practice in Indonesia, as was outlined in Section 3.5. As one respondent put it, despite the commitment at the provincial level to child protection, there is some way to go in achieving impact for women and children: “I haven’t really seen the impact of child protection programmes in Central Java. Many of these programmes are full of holes, meaning that they have not been wholly implemented. For example, one of the programmes intended to handle children in conflict with the law is not running well. It seems like NGOs actually play more of a role in child protection than the government does. The NGO approach to children living on the streets is much more humane and our actions more direct. For example, NGOs clearly have more activities aimed at reducing sexual exploitation of children and improving the welfare of children with HIV. Even though the current deputy governor has prioritised child protection, NGOs have not really seen a signiicant change from the policies of the previous deputy governor. Just more of the same. 535 Interview with staff of the Provincial Bureau of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning 22 February 2010 536 Interview with the Head of the Provincial Bureau of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning 15 June 2010 537 Interview with staff of an NGO in Semarang, 15 June 2010 538 Ibid. 539 Ibid. 540 Provincial FGD 14 September 2009; confirmed by staff of the Surakarta Office of Social Affairs, Manpower and Transmigration 23 March 2010 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 324 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 325 “Actually, the number of child protection programmes went down after the passing of the regional law on child protection. The motivation of [the provincial government] to fight for child protection immediately subsided; as if they simply let the ball go after they got it to start rolling. Our NGO is a member of a working group handling children in conflict with the law. The Bureau of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning is meant to lead this working group, but these last few years there has been no coordination with the Bureau. Each institution does its own thing, and the Bureau just lets it happen.” Interview with staff of a local NGO in Semarang that focuses on child protection issues, 15 June 2010 Coordination between different levels of government and scale of the problem One of the greatest challenges for the provincial government in Central Java is evidently ensuring inter-agency coordination at the provincial and district levels, and ensuring that the relevant bodies of government give due attention to the ILCP, as discussed in Sections 1 and 3.5 of this report. Staff of the Provincial Office of Social Affairs argued that the provincial government has made some efforts to provide educational programmes for children living on the streets, but that the scale of the problem is beyond their capacity. 541 Geographical scale and population density in some districts have both added to the difficulties of working with some district governments. 542 For example, the provincial government argues that there have been better efforts in Sragen district in tackling the problem of children living on the streets compared to Semarang municipality, which has a much larger population and larger numbers of children living on the streets compared to Sragen. Even in Surakarta where the Child-Friendly City is being piloted, round-ups of children living on the streets are sometimes conducted by the civil service police Satpol PP in cooperation with the municipal police, hospitals, and the Office of Social Affairs. 543 Yet the provincial government argues that districtmunicipal governments are better placed to deal with local issues and evidence-based policymaking. A staff member of the Provincial BAPPEDA stated: “If the policy comes from national and provincial level of government, the city government merely deals with administrative affairs. But if the policy is initiated by the city government, such as in the policy providing scholarships for poor students, the city government will conduct a survey before implementing the policy.” 7 September 2009

4.5.7 INNOVATIONS AT THE DISTRICTMUNICIPAL LEVEL: THE CHILD-FRIENDLY CITY POLICY IN SURAKARTA

At the district level, efforts to improve child protection in Surakarta municipality demonstrate that with the political will to create a conducive regulatory and policy environment, backed by budget commitments and other initiatives, positive changes are occurring under decentralisation albeit with the challenges of institutional strengthening and capacity for service provision which have been discussed in the previous case studies. In beginning to establish the Child-Friendly City in Central Java, the Surakarta municipality hopes to establish best practices in terms of approaches towards children living on the streets in Indonesia. Such a policy indicates that efforts to work towards comprehensive child protection, incorporating appropriate responses and preventive measures, can and do take 541 Interview with government representatives who participated in the provincial FGD 14 September 2009 542 Ibid. 543 Ibid. place in decentralised Indonesia. Surakarta Solo was selected as a pilot project for developing a Child-Friendly City in 2006. To implement this policy, Surakarta formed a team responsible for developing an action plan and achievement indicators of the Child-Friendly City in 2008, comprising around 50 institutions, including government agencies and NGOs. These stakeholders were integrated into a cross-institutional forum called the Commission for the Protection of Women and Children KPPA, Komisi Perlindungan Perempuan dan Anak. 544 One particular responsibility of this team has been to provide an action plan on women’s empowerment and child protection as a reference for the Surakarta government agencies, institutions, and NGOs in conducting their activities. 545 The action plan to implement the Child-Friendly City has recently been established through Mayoral Decision No. 05408-E12009. As we have seen in previous case studies, the first step under decentralisation to improve child welfare is to establish an appropriate regulatory and policy environment, which requires the political will of local leaders and enactment in local regulations. These steps have been taken in Surakarta municipality. The action plan aims to improve both the regulatory environment and service provision holistically by considering many of the aspects of maternal and child welfare discussed in this report including health, HIV awareness, education, vulnerability of children living on the streets, and special protection, and by increasing child participation in policy- and decision-making see Box 4.5.6. In total, approximately IDR 19 billion has been allocated to different agencies for child protection programmes in Surakarta 546 , and IDR 1.2 billion was allocated for child protection at the provincial level in 2010 in line with the prioritisation of child protection in the RPJMD. 547 Box 4.5.6: Surakarta Municipal Action Plan for the Development of a Child-Friendly City The Surakarta Municipal Action Plan for the Development of a Child-Friendly City RAK- PKLA, Pengembangan Kota Layak Anak 2009-2015 is stipulated in Surakarta Mayoral Decision No. 05408-E12009. The Action Plan covers the following four sectors: Health: • Providing health insurance for children • Issuing regional regulations on building a healthy environment for children • Specifying a children’s health budget allocation in the Surakarta municipal budget • Increasing quality and quantity of services provided through integrated health posts posyandu, and of health post staff and health office staff • Improving health services for expectant and new mothers • Increasing the number of children under ive years of age receiving health services at health posts, health clinics and hospitals • Increasing the number of babies being exclusively breastfed • Increasing the number of school-age children receiving health services • Establishing children’s health facilities in health clinics and hospitals • Improving the provider-recipient ratio in the health sector 544 Information gathered from the Data and Analysis Section, Child Social Problems Policy, Child Protection Department, Surakarta municipal government 20 August 2009 545 Ibid. 546 FGD with policymakers in Surakarta municipality 8 September 2009 547 Interview with the Head of the Provincial Bureau for Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning, Central Java 22 February 2010 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 326 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 327 • Promoting prevention of HIV and AIDS and drug abuse, and improving access to information on adolescent reproductive health • Developing a municipal contingency plan for handling health crises after a natural disaster • Increasing the number of health workers trained in dealing with cases of child abuse in health clinics and hospitals • Increasing the number of children health workers PMR, Red Cross for Teenagers, paediatricians, and school health posts • Issuing regulations on establishing breastfeeding stations in public buildings • Increasing the number of breastfeeding stations in ofices, public buildings and other public spaces • Issuing regulations on day-care facilities • Ensuring healthy dietary habits in children • Conducting monitoring and evaluation of children’s health programmes Education: • Developing a thorough database of school-age children and school attendance • Issuing regulation on free compulsory education for children • Allocating 20 per cent of the provincial budget for children’s education • Increasing access to early childhood education opportunities and facilities • Providing a security guarantee for children travelling to and from school • Developing suficient play areas for children at the village level, and in public service buildings at the municipal level • Establishing public libraries for children including use of mobile libraries at the village level • Establishing a Museum of Children’s Creativity • Ensuring a learning process that adheres to the principles of PAKEM: Active, Creative, Effective and Enjoyable Learning Pendidikan Aktif, Kreatif, Efektif dan Menyenangkan • Conducting monitoring and evaluation of education programmes Protection: • Upholding existing regulations on birth certiicates • Establishing clear mechanisms, guidelines and procedures for issuing birth certiicates • Disseminating information on the free birth certiicate programme and increasing the percentage of children with birth certificates • Improving the scope and quality of services provided through the Integrated Service Unit for Surakarta Women and Children PTPAS, Pusat Terpadu Perempuan dan Anak Surakarta, training and building capacity of PTPAS staff, coordinating within the Subosukawonosraten region • Issuing regulations on child protection • Increasing municipal budget allocations for children’s programmes • Establishing database on children receiving special protection • Establishing a pool of social workers to work exclusively with children • Establishing a special service called Women’s and Children’s Services PPA, Pelayanan Perempuan dan Anak • Establishing a ‘Tesa 129’ Child Help Line • Implementing a restorative justice system for children in conlict with the law • Decreasing the number of children in conlict with the law • Fulilling service standards and providing legal protection to children in conlict with the law • Establishing a rehabilitation system for children in conlict with the law • Establishing a database on children employed in industries included in the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention • Devising an action plan to eradicate violence against children • Documenting the situation of violence against children, sexual exploitation of children, and child trafficking in Surakarta • Planning and implementing programmes designed to eradicate sexual exploitation of children and child trafficking in Surakarta • Establishing a coordination mechanism between technical implementation units, organisations and other institutions focusing on eradicating violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking of children • Issuing regulations on protection of women and child victims of violence • Establishing a mechanism for tackling and eradicating child traficking • Establishing a database mapping children living on the streets • Establishing a mechanism for coordination among technical implementation units, organisations and other institutions focusing on children living on the streets • Planning speciic programmes targeting children living on the streets • Establishing child-friendly and appropriate health and education facilities for children living on the streets • Developing an integrated system of dealing with the issue of children living on the streets • Building public facilities for disabled children • Providing opportunities for disabled children to receive an education suited to their needs • Providing adequate health services for disabled children • Establishing a database of abandoned children • Establishing a mechanism for handling abandoned children • Building public facilities for abandoned children • Supervising the management and operation of orphanages • Developing a periodic report on orphanages and foster homes for abandoned children • Monitoring the media • Monitoring and evaluating child protection programmes Participation: • Devising a mechanism to include children’s participation in the development planning consultation processes musrenbang • Involving children in the musrenbang process at the village and municipal level meetings, especially on matters that directly concern children • Increasing children’s participation rates in Surakarta • Developing a network of children’s forums in Surakarta, involving groups of marginalised children, in all sectors • Issuing regulations and allocating budget for a children’s forum • Expanding opportunities for children’s participation in school, family, community and decision-making Source: Surakarta Municipal Action Plan for the Development of a Child-Friendly City RAK-PKLA, Pengembangan Kota Layak Anak 2009-2015 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 328 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 329 In addition, the Surakarta Municipal Government, which has the authority under decentralisation to directly implement policies and programmes which cater to local needs, has launched several programmes in child protection to support the Child-Friendly City policy, including: 1. Rehabilitation houses for children and women victims of violence, sexual exploitation, abandonment and human trafficking 2. Child-friendly correctional facilities 3. Child-friendly orphanages 4. Provision of adequate health facilities for children with special needs disabled children 5. Support for halfway houses and foster homes Furthermore, in order to develop Child-Friendly Villages, the local government has sought the commitment of the heads of sub-districts and villages. Starting in 2008, the municipal government included 51 villages in the Child-Friendly Village Programme and, in order to increase commitment, introduced the programme at sub-district and village level through training in participatory approaches to policymaking i.e., public consultation to identify problems, opportunities and needs and problem solving, and also appointed local facilitators for programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 548 The discussion under the next subheadings elucidates some of the innovations in policy approaches, as well as the challenges for implementation in some cases in conjunction with local CSOs as the institutional environment and service provision capacity strengthens. 4.5.7.1 Districtmunicipal government initiatives supporting the Child-Friendly City: Integrated Service Units for Surakarta Women and Children PTPAS, and the Family Welfare Consultation Unit LK3 To coordinate child protection in Surakarta at the district level, in 2008 the Office of Community Empowerment, Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning BP3AKB, Badan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Pemberdayaan Perempuan Perlindungan Anak dan Keluarga Berencana was established. Within this Office sits the Integrated Service Unit for Surakarta Women and Children PTPAS, Pelayanan Terpadu Perempuan dan Anak Surakarta, which was previously coordinated under the Community Welfare, Women’s Empowerment and Family Planning Agency Dinas Kesejahteraan Rakyat Pemberdayaan Perempuan dan Keluarga Berencana. The Integrated Service Unit is a consortium of several institutionsorganisations that work closely on issues related to women and children and provides services for women and children who are victims of violence, in accordance with core functions and responsibilities. This Unit is similar to the Integrated Service Unit at the provincial level, and aims to coordinate law enforcement agencies, NGOs, hospitals, government offices, private sector and community based organisations see Box 4.5.7. 548 Interview with a staff member of the Office of Community Empowerment, Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning, Surakarta 30 June 2010 Box 4.5.7: Integrated Service Unit for Surakarta Women and Children PTPAS, Pelayanan Terpadu Perempuan dan Anak Surakarta Target: Women and children who are victims of violence Mission: To empower and provide protection for children who are victims of violence and women who are victims of gender-based violence; to provide optimal medical, counselling, legal and rehabilitation services. Aims: To strengthen the safety network for women and children who are victims of violence; to simplify administrative procedures for managing these cases; to lobby for a larger government role in protecting and providing services for women and children; and to motivate the public to adopt and support preventive measures against gender-based violence. Main programmes: Victim care; organisational development; policy advocacy; public awareness campaigns; information management and documentation. Members: Office of Community Empowerment, Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning Lead Coordinator, Women’s Solidarity for Humanity and Human Rights SPEK-HAM, and staff of the Bhayangkara Polwil Surakarta Polyclinic, Dr. Moewardi Public Hospital, Surakarta Police, Surakarta Ofice of Health, Kakak Foundation, Advocacy for Community Transformation ATMA, Central Java Talenta Lemhanas Aisyiyah Foundation, Social Analysis Research Institute SARI, Krida Paramita Foundation YKP, Surakarta Development Planning Agency BAPPEDA, and Fatayat NU. Services are provided to victims who come to the Unit directly and to those whose cases are reported to the Unit by community members. Source: Interview with the Head of Child Protection Unit, in the Office of Community Empowerment, Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning, 30 June 2010 To further support children living on the streets and reduce the vulnerabilities they face, the Surakarta Municipal Government is in the process of establishing the Family Welfare Consultation Unit LK3, Lembaga Konsultasi Kesejahteraan Keluarga, which will sit within the Surakarta Office of Social Affairs, Manpower and Transmigration Dinsosnakertrans, Dinas Sosial Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi. The Unit will consist of doctors, psychologists, teachers and community leaders. The Office is currently developing this institution as one means of addressing the issue of children living on the streets. In handling children living on the streets, they aim to avoid punitive and abusive approaches such as raid operations, and instead emphasise a more humane approach in collaboration with halfway houses and foster homes in Surakarta. The city has already established a foster home that houses abandoned and poor children as well as children living on the streets see subsection 4.5.7.3. A city halfway house is currently being established as at present there is only an NGO that provides this facility see next subsection 4.5.7.2. As the Head of the Ofice of Social Affairs, Manpower and Transmigration has explained, “Our department also hopes to establish a learning centre - as opposed to a formal school - that enables children living on the streets to remain comfortably within their community and their environment. Skills gathered from the foster home can then be practiced at these centres. Many children living on the streets would simply run away from foster homes because they feel distanced from their community.