Collaborating With BP2MI, Pre-Employment Card Management Embraces Indonesian Migrant Workers

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Implementing Management of the Pre-Employment Card Program and the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) collaborated to introduce the Pre-Employment Card Program to Indonesian Retired Migrant Workers (PMI), by holding a Training for Trainers (TOT) Pre-Employment Card Collaboration Program.

"We are here to help our former PMI brothers who are waiting for government assistance in the midst of economic uncertainty and have to return from their place of work to return to their homeland," said Executive Director of Pre-Employment Card Program Management, Denni Puspa Purbasari in a written statement, Saturday, June 5th.

Furthermore, Denni explained that these Retired PMIs have a great intention and desire to join the Pre-Employment Card program. But they have many limitations. Among them are digital literacy and budget constraints to attend online training.

"We support training for trainers who will then provide training at 92 escort service points for Retired PMI to know more about the Pre-Employment Card Program," he explained.

Denni said whatever the status and sector of work, all require multi-skills or skills. Even an entrepreneur needs to know marketing, know how to products, marketing strategies and others. According to Denni, the skills they have must be updated and honed continuously from day to day.

The Pre-Employment Card training ecosystem provides various trainings, both for hard skills, technical skills and soft skills according to the interests, talents, and needs of participants, including for Retired PMI.

"There are 1,561 trainings from 179 training institutions in the Pre-Employment Card ecosystem that can prepare Retired PMIs to become customer service, nannies or babysitters, as well as other types of work and entrepreneurial sectors," he said.

The Deputy for Economics for the 2015-2020 Presidential Chief of Staff emphasized that the training on the Pre-Employment Card has a very good value based on the ratings of the participants. The training rating in the Pre-Employment Card ecosystem is 4.8 out of a maximum value of 5. The Cyrus Network survey in May 2021 stated that 98.7 percent of respondents felt they had benefited from the Pre-Employment Card training.

"This survey also reveals that 92.6 percent of Pre-Employment Card recipients feel that the knowledge gained in the Pre-Employment Card training can be applied in the workplace or place of business," he said.

In addition, said Denni, the results of the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) of the Central Statistics Agency, which was just released in May 2021, stated that 90.97 percent of Pre-Employment Card recipients thought this program could improve their work skills.

Denni emphasized that, according to Presidential Decree 36/2020, the role of local governments in the success of the Pre-Employment Card Program includes providing laptops, desktops, mobile phones, wifi, mentoring, socialization/dissemination, providing data on training institutions, data on labor needs and assisting the implementation of offline registration according to Permenaker 17 /2020.

On the same occasion, Head of BP2MI Benny Rhamdani thanked the Implementing Management of the Pre-Employment Card Program for the participation of 110 thousand Retired PMI as recipients of the 2020 Pre-Employment Card.

BP2MI also gives high appreciation for the quick response of the Implementing Management of the Pre-Employment Card Program to BP2MI's request for support for the provision of direct service counters for the Pre-Employment Program to Retired PMIs through TOT to BP2MI HR as well as sharing data on the NIK of Pre-Employment Card recipients from Retired PMI.

"The provision of direct services to Purna PMI in all UPT BP2MI and other service points has a strategic meaning for BP2MI which is required to provide the best service closer to the community," said Benny.

According to Benny, this service is very grateful because it directly touches the Retired PMI. This is because they do not know that there are opportunities to increase competence and get incentive funds through participating in pre-employment programs.

"Also because of the limitations of digital literacy to register and the next stage of the program, as well as the constraints of limited digital technology infrastructure," he said.

Benny supports this program because it further enhances Purna PMI as an economically independent figure. He explained that currently there are 9 million Indonesian Migrant Workers, with only 3.3 million PMI registered by name by address. According to Benny, Indonesian Migrant Workers provide remittances with foreign exchange contributions of at least IDR 159.6 trillion every year.

Benny hopes that by June 2021 there will be at least five Pre-Employment Service Counters that can operate to serve the community, especially for Retired PMI.

These service counters will later provide assistance facilities from registration, purchase of training, implementation of training to receiving the Pre-Employment Card Program incentives.

"We are targeting that with the Pre-Employment Service Counter, we can at least reach 110 thousand people who receive the Pre-employment Card Program from PMI circles, or at least the same as last year's number of participants," he said.