Part I: Introduction

Introduction

The Indonesian government has begun to demonstrate an increased willingness to support better participation of people with disability in the country’s economy and foster inclusive societies. Indonesia has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Article 27 of which endorses the dignity and worth of people with disability where it states:

the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others… includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labor market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities.

Indonesia has yet to put this Article fully into operation. Since 1997, it has enacted Law 4/1997 on Disabled People, passed an implementation regulation 43/1998 and set a one percent disability quota on companies employing more than 100 employees (ILO 2013). Two decades later, Indonesia enacted Law 8/2016 which is considered to be a substantial shift from a long-standing paternalistic view to a more contemporary rights-based view towards disability. This law also raised the disability employment quota to two percent. However, the effectiveness of these disability laws, regulations and decrees, and the extent of their impact on labor market participation, employment and engagement in livelihoods production across the diversity of the disability population in national and provincial levels are unknown.

The Government of Indonesia (GoI) is one of the key players that negotiates and

positions the decent work and employment creation for all agenda . With regards 2 to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both the country’s long-term and medium-term development agendas have an overarching aim to promote

inclusive and sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. This emphasis on employment creation can be extended towards income generating opportunities for marginalised groups, particularly people with disability, and

From Keynote Remarks by M. Hanif Dhakiri, Indonesian Minister of Manpower on the SDGs 2 Conference 2016 in Jakarta http://www.ilo.org/jakarta/info/public/pr/WCMS_452662/lang--en/ index.htm. Accessed 6 July 2018

should be seen as an important change in how government perceives the role of people with disability in the country’s economy and society.

Credible Disability Data Is Critical to Improve Economic Opportunities

Details on Indonesia’s population with disability are scarce and highly fragmentary, severely constraining effective policy responses. In a general sense, it is known that people with disability are at higher risk of falling into and staying in poverty. Women with disability are even more at risk ie., three times more likely to fall into poverty than men with disability (WHO-WB 2011).

The barriers confronting people with disability are universally cited: globally of some 1 billion population with disability, 750 million are of working age, yet their participation in economic life is complicated by less access to skills training, discrimination, low educational attainment or achievement, comparative social isolation, lower earning power particularly if they are women, and working in the unprotected, informal economy.

These general features are likely to apply to Indonesian population with disability and dictate how the government and CSOs address disability employment, ie., through selected vocational training and job placement which are often not aligned with work opportunities and interests of individuals with disability. The lack of precise, up to date data hampers both government and donors in designing responses to increasing the economic inclusion of people with disabilities.

Last year, GoI agencies expressed some interest in better understanding the size, scope and dimensions of how people with disability are included in Indonesia’s

economic life . The Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Manpower and 3 Transmigration and the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas)

have identified the needs for better data to support implementation strategies through their inclusive disability employment and economic participation work plans.

Meeting Minutes between Bappenas and DPOs on Disability Law’s regulation dated 11 August 3 2017.

Donors have signalled a strong interest in prioritising inclusive economic growth, and have encouraged partner institutions to build capacity in order to better

formulate and implement evidence-based policy and engage in deeper 4 collaboration with the private sector in partner countries . As a result, empirical 5

research is needed to inform the development of strategies that will support the GoI in translating its employment policies into reality. Such strategies can be based upon nascent political will, but it will also require further support through additional mechanisms such as: developing an appropriate and functioning legislative framework and encouraging debate, collaboration and contributions of resources from different sectors, groups and organisations.

This research project sought to generate evidence from villagers with disability in two Regencies, in order to understand the extent and type of, and facilitators and barriers to, participation in livelihoods and work for people with disability, in order to inform future actions.

See Australia Indonesia Economic Cooperation Partnership (AIECO) Investment Design Document 4 2017 http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/australia-indonesia-economiccooperation-partnership.pdf. Accessed 1 July 2018.

See Mark Green, USAID Administrator’s testimony on the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request https:// 5 www.usaid.gov/news-information/congressional-testimony/jun-20-2018-administrator-mark-greensfrc-fy19-budget-request. Accessed 1 July 2018.