ADB Disburses Loans Of 500 Million US Dollars Strengthening Indonesian Human Resources

Director of ADB for Indonesia Jiro Tominaga. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a USD 500 million policy-based loan to strengthen human resources and increase labor productivity.

Director of ADB for Indonesia Jiro Tominaga revealed that the loan is the second of three subprograms under the Productivity Improvement Program through Human Resources Development (Boosting Productivity through the Human Capital Development Program) as a continuation of the success of the first program approved in 2021.

This program is ADB's commitment to continue long-term close cooperation with Indonesia to build a strong and responsive health, education and social protection system so that it can stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty.

"Inverting the decline in human development and productivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of our priorities in helping our developing country members," he explained in his official statement, Thursday, November 16.

Tominaga revealed that the Productivity Improvement Program through Human Resources Development encourages the combination of reforms in the fields of education, development of skills, health, and social protection in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

These various reforms have helped strengthen financing policies and monitor the implementation of SDGs, including the establishment of 11 new SDGs centers in Indonesia.

These centers will further localize SDGs through research and education, outreach, and policy advice.

The government has provided performance-based fiscal transfers to various regional government units as incentives for the achievement of SDGs.

To improve the achievement of education, improve skills, and retrain skills, the government implements a skills development program that is responsive to the market for young and unemployed adults.

This includes Job Start and Pre-Employment Cards for skills development programs to provide market-responsive training to young and unemployed adults.

In addition, more than 30 thousand teachers, the majority of whom are women, have been trained, as part of the Mobilizing Teacher program.

Meanwhile, 2.9 million teachers are given access to digital platforms of driving teachers that provide teaching and learning resources through smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers.

The Indonesia Cyber Education Institute has created an innovative digital credential system for its higher education online classes that are internationally standard and market-oriented.

More than 2,500 female students have gained digital credentials and strengthened their transition from school to world of work.

As for improving access to health, the government has laid the foundation for strengthening and transforming the primary health care system, thus encouraging the promotion of health and community empowerment, as well as expanding the health care of mothers and children based on society.

The government has also increased the delivery of social protection services to poor and vulnerable groups through measures to implement the unemployment allowance program and strengthen the implementation of the conditional cash direct assistance program.