SERVICE DELIVERY RECOMMENDATION 6: ESTABLISHING A COMPREHENSIVE

THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 362 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 363 overhaul that the country has experienced since the end of the last century - a decade marked by multiple crises both political and economic. Such improvements in the last decade have no doubt contributed to Indonesia’s recent achievement of ‘lower-middle income’ status in terms of the global rankings. The targeted interventions to protect children, particularly in terms of basic education and health through social safety net programmes and conditional and other cash transfers to offset rising fuel and rice prices no doubt lessened the impact of both the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis.

5.7.1 MDGs PROGRESS REQUIRING SPECIAL ATTENTION

However, at an aggregate level, several MDGs, particularly in terms of health and nutrition and water and sanitation, require special attention and extensive efforts to improve child welfare. Selected MDGs requiring the particular attention of agencies working in child welfare include: • Maternal mortality rates off track • Infant mortality rates per 1,000 births when progress is compared to a 2000 baseline, it is clear this indicator needs special attention • Rates of children under ive with severe malnutrition needs special attention to reach MDG • Assisted births by trained health-care workers needs special attention to reach MDG • Number of females 15-49 years using birth control needs special attention to reach MDG • HIV and AIDS infection rates off track • Proportion of people with access to piped drinking water needs special attention to reach MDG

5.7.2 DISPARITIES

Despite improvements on an aggregate level, particularly in terms of education, some health and nutrition and water and sanitation outcomes, and the various initiatives outlined in this SITAN, yet the impacts have been uneven and wide disparities remain among provinces as well as among districts, and between urban and rural areas, income groups, men and women, girls and boys, and potentially other identity groupings such as ethnicity, which are difficult to analyse due to lack of disaggregated data. In terms of provincial disparities, the indicators relating to women’s and children’s welfare in some areas are at similar levels to some of the poorest countries in the world and are particularly low in comparison to neighbouring Asian countries. For example, Indonesia’s national maternal mortality rate, based on 2007 data, is worse than the rate in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand, and the rates for certain eastern provinces like East Nusa Tenggara NTT and Papua are substantially worse than the national average. Based on the findings in Section 3, several but not all disaster- and conflict-affected provinces still have significant gains to make on some indicators if they are to reach the MDGs, as do many of the newly formed provinces, especially those located in eastern Indonesia in particular Papua, NTT and NTB. In Section 3, newly formed provinces such as West Sulawesi, Gorontalo and Jambi repeatedly featured as the worst performers on key indicators, as did the conlict-affected provinces of Maluku, Papua and Central Sulawesi. The problems associated with rural poverty, informal sector employment and poor access to water and sanitation were also problematic in more densely populated provinces, such as Central Java. Given the geographic size and large populations of some of these provinces in many cases larger than small countries in Asia and Africa, interventions on the part of national and local governments, as well as international and local non-government agencies concerned with child welfare, need to continue to strive to ensure that efforts to stimulate growth, alleviate poverty both income and non-income poverty, and improve child welfare also include initiatives to reduce inequalities and improve equity between groups and regions Indonesia. This is also in line with the UNICEF’s objective of achieving the MDGs with equity in its new policy directives. Using the Human Rights Based Approach to Development HRBAD that has been adopted by most UN agencies provides a useful approach with which to focus interventions and efforts on improving child welfare amongst the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and regions. Regional and inter-group inequity in Indonesia is particularly prevalent in terms of: • Health and nutrition disease, maternal and infant mortality rates, nutrition status, food security, access to medical services and trained medical personnel, hygiene through access to clean water and adequate sanitation, and risk of HIV infection, amongst others. • Education particularly ECD, junior secondary school education, transition rates and early school leaving rates. • Child protection although the absence of data makes it dificult to ascertain where the greatest vulnerabilities exist, and what local factors may account for greater levels of violence in the home and other risks. • Likelihood of disaster affectedness. • Vulnerability to the spread of HIV and AIDS. Disparities exist with regard to: • Geographic location provinces, districts, etc. • Population group - The focus of this report is on the following dimensions since large disparities are associated with each: o Economic status o Gender o Age o Ruralurban location This SITAN has not explored disparities between ethnic, religious, and other identity groupings due to the absence of data. Socio-economic differences and marginalisation or discrimination may occur along such identity group lines. Other research Stewart, 2008 has demonstrated that belonging to politically or economically marginalised groups particularly politically sensitive identities can affect access to public services and other resources that may have otherwise improved the welfare of group members. This includes the resources which may improve child welfare such as health, education, clean water and sanitation, legal aid, child welfare officers, and so on. It can also increase the likelihood of conflict. Religious, ethnic, customary and other identity groups may be concentrated in geographically isolated areas and this may affect access, or political tensions and power divides may also impact on how resources are allocated, in turn affecting child welfare. Therefore, this SITAN recommends the collection of data and further analysis of where such disparities may exist, followed by design of targeted interventions to address these. As is evident from the more in-depth case studies of four provinces in Section 4, even in those provinces that are performing better overall in terms of the main province-level indicators such THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 364 THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN INDONESIA 2000-2010 365 as Central Java, substantial inter-district disparities also exist. This SITAN therefore recommends that: • If government or other agencies are working in provinces that are performing better overall in terms of national indicators of child welfare, then situation analyses should be undertaken to examine inter-district and group disparities in these areas, as well as the policy innovations and challenges which may enhance or constrain improvements. Efforts to improve child rights and welfare should then be focused on the worst performing regions and groups see Section 3 for inter-provincial disparities on particular indicators, and Section 4 for inter-district disparities in education in Aceh, in health and nutrition in NTT, in HIV and AIDS prevalence in Papua, and the associated problems of rural poverty and resulting child migration in Central Java. • If government or other agencies target the worst performing provinces overall, they should be aware that inter-district and inter-group disparities are still likely to be present within these provinces. Again, situation analysis of child welfare should be undertaken examining inter- district and group disparities in these areas, as well as the policy innovations and challenges which may enhance or constrain improvements. Efforts to improve child rights and welfare should then be focused on the worst performing regions and groups.

5.8 RECOMMENDATION 8: STRENGTHENING THE DECENTRALISED

SYSTEM THROUGH LOCAL LEVEL CAPACITY BUILDING AND SUPPORT IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESSES - IMPROVING CONSULTATIVE PLANNING PROCESSES, REGULATIONS, POLICY FORMULATION, PROGRAMME DESIGN, AND SERVICE DELIVERY TO BE PRO-CHILD AND PRO-WOMEN Recommendation for: GoI, UNICEF and other donors to assist the national and local level governments While the legal and coordination framework, national policy guidelines and strategic plans receive continued attention in the RPJMN and in policy instruments at the national level, and have either been established or are the process of being established in Indonesia, this SITAN finds in Section 4 that this does not always translate into strategies, policies, guidelines and practices at the local level. There is therefore adequate scope for systems strengthening, particularly at the district level, through technical assistance in the development planning processes. The discussion throughout this SITAN, but particularly in Section 4, has demonstrated that programme and service delivery at the local level is both a part of the problem of inequity in child rights protection and child welfare, and part of the solution required to improve local conditions. Decentralisation allows for local governments to provide customised programming to address local problems and needs.

5.8.1 AREAS REQUIRING SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING

Section 4 outlined the development planning process. At the national, provincial and district municipal levels, planning processes are undertaken for long-term, medium-term, and annual development plans. They include community consultation and deliberation processes on development musrenbang at the village, sub-district, district and provincial levels, the formulation of five-year strategic plans Renstra for each province and district overall as well as for local government OfficesBureausAgencies, and finally annual work-plans, budgets and policies for each. BAPPEDA the district and provincial planning agencies has a key role in facilitating this process, and budgets and strategic plans must be ratified by the executive and legislative branches of government. Figure 5.8.1 shows how the planning process works and the points at which the voices of children, families and practitioners and their needs and priorities should be incorporated into the social planning process. The evidence presented in Section 4 demonstrates that in some districts in the decentralised context this is uneven, weak or absent. Figure 5.8.1: Weaknesses in the development planning process - Inadequate attention to the needs, priorities and voices of women and children Furthermore, regardless of the resource base available for prioritising children’s needs, a number of gaps and weaknesses were identified in the process of pro-child policymaking and service delivery, which are undermining the intended impact of local level initiatives on child rights and children’s and women’s welfare at the local level in the decentralised context. The key gaps and weaknesses are as follows: Provincial - level musrenbang District and Provincial - level policies and regulations Provincial - level musrenbang District level musrenbang Sub-district level musrenbang Village level musrenbang Village level musrenbang Sub-district level musrenbang District level musrenbang District level Strategic Plans District level Work-Plans and Budget Bureau of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Programmes and services Communities, Women, Children Line agenciesoffice SKPD work-plans and strategic plans Renstra-SKPD e.g., Education, Health, Special Bureaus, etc.