Pathfinder Roadmap - Indonesia
Indonesia is committed to a transformative agenda to end violence against children. The country’s National Development Plan 2015-2019 (“RPJMN”) includes clear milestones to reduce violence against children and articulates a vision to strengthen the child protection system in Indonesia, including a focus on child protection services and law reform. This Plan also commits government budget to dedicated activities that will help children and their families to be safe. In addition, as a leading country in the global discussions to adopt the new 2030 Agenda, the Plan also references several Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets, including Target 16.2 to eliminate all forms of violence against children.
In January 2016, the Ministry of Coordination launched the Strategy to Prevent Violence in Childhood 2016-2020. This strategy is based on a comprehensive literature review of the evidence on violence against children in Indonesia, inputs from multiple line ministries (justice, welfare, police, religious affairs, among others) and focus groups with local government at sub national levels. It also reflects, to a significant degree, the inputs of thousands of children consulted across the country through online platforms, focus group discussions and various social media outreach activities supported by youth networks. It was designed to support Indonesia’s progress to achieve Target 16.2 of the SDGs, and references new international guidelines on preventing violence against children issued in 2016.
The Strategy aims to accelerate action in five areas:
1. Abolishing all forms of violence against children in all settings in the law.
This includes the revision of regulations that violate children’s protection, national level advocacy and the dissemination of new laws that advance children’s rights (such as the Ministry of Education’s Decree to end bullying in schools) and harmonizing laws that are inconsistent.
2. Changing social norms and cultural practices that accept, justify or ignore violence against children.
This includes partnerships with parents, children, religious and community leaders as well as civil society and the private sector to promote the protection of children.
3. Supporting parenting practices between caregivers and children.
The Government has initiated several pilot programs in parenting, which require review and testing for potential scale up. Examples of these include parenting programs linked to mother support groups and health clinics and those attached to early childhood development centers which are budgeted by the Government to be rolled out in every village in the country.
4. Increasing children and adolescents’ life skills to prevent violence and increase universal access to secondary education. The Government has initiated a social protection scheme to support access to primary and secondary education for the poorest and most vulnerable children. Increased efforts are needed to address secondary school drop-out, including to implement such social protection mechanisms and ensure they reach those who need it most.
5. Strengthening services for victims so that they are free and accessible.
6. Improving the evidence on the situation of violence against children as well as what works to prevent it. This includes investing in rigorous scientific research on the extent of violence against children as well as reliable routine data collection from administrative sources, in addition to frequent program monitoring.
Indonesia as a Pathfinder Country
Based on these national commitments, in March 2016, David Steven, Senior Strategic Advisor of the Global Partnership, visited Indonesia to identify next steps for Indonesia. This included discussions with government ministries, civil society, the UN and young people to consider how Indonesia could play a more international role in championing SDG Target 16.2. (Indonesia as a potential “pathfinder country”). A scoping report was issued in May, subsequent to the issuance of an official letter signed by the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection confirming Indonesia as a “lighthouse country” for child protection and prevention on violence against children in particular.
Following the adoption of the Strategy and as a result of a four-fold increase in budget in 2016, the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection is investing in a national programme to design and roll out a community-based child protection programme, targeting at least 136 villages in 34 provinces. This programme includes efforts to address gaps in victim services, raise community awareness of children’s right to protection as well as empower children through participatory forums such as the Children’s Forums established by the Government in districts and provinces. This programme is based on a study visit organized by the Government of Norway in 2015.
UNICEF continues to provide the Government of Indonesia with technical support to prevent violence against children and support the Government’s new role as a Pathfinder Country. This includes the publication of three key studies on violence against children. First, a comprehensive in-depth analysis of the drivers of violence against children in all settings to provide important baseline information for future interventions. This analysis is complemented by a second study on the drivers of child marriage from community perspectives due to be finalized at the end of the year. Second, a review of national level allocations and expenditure on child protection services to inform future budget advocacy and leveraging. To date, no benchmark has been established setting a minimum requirement for budget allocations for child protection work in Indonesia. Thirdly, in July, the Government will publish the first public report on child marriage trends in Indonesia, which will provide an important baseline for addressing Target 5.3 of SDG 5. In addition to these publications, UNICEF is also partnering with government and other UN agencies for improved baseline data collection for measuring progress against other SDGs, including Goals 4, 5 as well as Goal 16. Data collection for Indonesia’s first Violence against Women Survey (‘Survey on Life and Health Experiences of Women’) is underway together with UN Women and UNFPA. The Global School-based Health Study, which includes questions on violence in school, has been finalized together with WHO and results are to be published later this year. A lessons learned analysis of the experience of conducting Indonesia’s 2013 national prevalence survey on violence against children in 2013 is now being finalized. This study will provide important recommendations for a second prevalence survey in 2018 by the Government of Indonesia, which has already been included in government planning and budgeting.
Putting these study findings into practice, UNICEF is now supporting the Government to design two pilot interventions to address violence interventions in selected districts. These pilots will focus on addressing bullying and child marriage as priority themes given the high prevalence of these forms of violence in Indonesia. They are attached to a rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework to inform future roll out and sustainability with Government budget. UNICEF is also providing technical and financial support to pilot the integrated services initiative in 5 districts, including through cost-sharing with local government authorities. A partnership with the Indonesian Scouts (“Pramuka”) is being finalized, with a focus on social outreach campaigns with and for young people raising awareness of children’s right to protection from all forms of violence. This partnership is expected to reach a minimum of two million children and young people across the country. Finally, UNICEF has facilitated a number of South-South exchanges in the region to encourage information sharing of good practices in programme design and monitoring. Most recently, a government delegation of education and protection ministries in Indonesia visited UNICEF Philippines to discuss experiences in implementing parenting programmes. UNICEF also supports the Ministry of Welfare and the National Statistics Office to attend a regional meeting in China to share experiences in conducting violence surveys.
Civil society partners have been active in the design of the Strategy to Eliminate Violence in Childhood 2016-2020 and some will be represented at the launch in New York in July. A loose network of partners including Save the Children, World Vision, Plan, as well as the Child Protection Center at the University of Indonesia have also come together to consolidate inputs to the Government proposing support for future implementation of the Strategy. This support will be aligned to Indonesia’s participation in the Global Partnership as a Pathfinder Country.
As a Pathfinder country, Indonesia will need to initiate a number of steps to fully implement its national Strategy to Eliminate all Forms of Violence in Childhood 2016-2020 and establish a solid foundation for achieving SDG Target 16.2.
The first priority is to finalize a roadmap on implementing the National Strategy. The roadmap is expected to be finalized in September 2016 and will focus on/include:
- Establishment of a Board to coordinate the implementation of the National Strategy.
- Ensuring that all relevant national ministries and agencies are aware and align the programmes to the National Strategy with sufficient funding.
- Ensuring that provincial and district government are aware of the national strategy and adopt priorities for sub-national programmes.
- Identify key indicators for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the strategy.