From Indonesia to the New York SDG Summit: Kartu Prakerja Rise on the Global Stage

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As we approach the midpoint of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda, the world faces a stark reality: many of the goals are slipping out of reach. That said, not all the news is grim. There have also been a number of high-impact initiatives, such as Indonesia’s flagship government upskilling initiative called Prakerja.

Selected by the United Nations as a High Impact Initiative

Prakerja’s transformative impact was highlighted by the United Nations as one of 12 High Impact Initiatives at the recent SDG Action Weekend, held 16-17 September in New York as a precursor to the 2023 SDG Summit. The aim was to show that transformative progress is attainable despite global challenges, inspiring leadership and investments to fast-track progress toward the 2030 goals.

The Prakerja  Project Management Office (PMO) was invited to host an SDG Acceleration Day Side Event on“Skilling, Reskilling, and Upskilling for a Resilient Workforce,” on September 17, 2023,  in collaboration with the governments of Lao PDR and the Philippines, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), and the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE).

Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, remarked that the Prakerja program was selected from among 70 applicants for this honor. , in view of its truly transformative impact in upskilling 17 million beneficiaries over the last three years.

Engaged Discussion, Bringing Stakeholders Together

The Prakerja PMO Side Event convened a wide range of stakeholders for a rousing panel discussion. Speakers included Denni Puspa Purbasari, Executive Director of the Project Management Office of Kartu Prakerja; Borhene Chakroun, Interim Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning; Yenny Wahid, Director of The Wahid Foundation; Jose Roberto Guevara, President of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and Professor at RMIT University; and Rene Raya, Regional Advocacy Coordinator and Lead Policy Analyst for Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Education (ASPBAE), with Indonesian senior economist Vivi Alatas as the moderator.

Alatas opened with the observation that Prakerja “has transformed the reskilling and upskilling landscape in Indonesia by serving a staggering amount of 17 .6 million participants aged 18-64 including women, people with disabilities, migrant workers and those from the bottom 40 percent of the economy.”

Senior economist Vivi Alatas as panel moderator {center) and Prakerja PMO Executive Director Denni Purbasari (right).

All were in agreement with Roberto Guevara’s point that SDG 4, ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ is a prerequisite for achieving all SDGs.

Dr. Borhene Chakroun, interim Director for the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, emphasized the need for inclusion and upskilling, with a nod to Kartu Prakerja’s success in further addressing these issues. He pointed out that iIn 2023, over 763 million youth and adults, with two-thirds being women, lacked basic literacy skills. Meanwhile, the emergence of technologies like AI has made adult upskilling and reskilling imperative. 

Yenny Wahid of the Wahid Foundation, an Indonesian NGO, also pointed out the importance of economic empowerment and women empowerment as some of the critical factors in maintaining peace and cohesion. “Social conflicts happen not because of mere differences…it is triggered by a collective feeling of being sidelined, being marginalized or feeling abandoned,” she said. 

Moving forward

A collective mood of optimism pervaded the discussion in spite of the challenges, even as participants questioned the best way to move forward.

UNESCO Assistant-General for Education Stefania Giannini added energetically, “There are lots of opportunities. It’s about rewiring the system of education.”

“How to eat an elephant?” was the sage advice from PMO Prakerja Executive Director Denni Purbasari. “One bite at a time. We know that we need to transform the whole system of education but let’s do it strategically and make sure that we make it into action, and then we will scale up to other sectors.”