Prakerja Proves Able to Empower Women

The Kartu Prakerja Program has shown that it is able to meet the challenge of addressing working conditions for women in Indonesia. Of more than 17 million Prakerja beneficiaries, 51 percent are female, suggesting that the program has been able to improve women’s productivity by providing them with opportunities for self-development in the form of training.

“The key to [becoming] an advanced country is having productive quality human resources,” said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartanto during the opening of his speech at the Perempuan and Prakerja  {Women and Prakerja) seminar held at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Jakarta, Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Prakerja, said Airlangga, is an important instrument in realizing the vision of Golden Indonesia 2045 given the program’s delivery of inclusive training on a massive scale. “In the form of work training as well as entrepreneurship, hard skills as well as soft skills,” said Airlangga.

Prakerja’s inclusivity, continued Airlangga, is reflected by its beneficiary composition, the majority of which are women. It is hoped that this will help address the still sub-optimal labor participation rates for Indonesian women, which currently stands at 54.4 percent compared to 83.9 percent for men. “We need to provide women with access to skills so that they have their own sources of income.”

Women, continued Airlangga, also have the potential to participate in the gig economy as programmers, copywriters, digital marketers, content creators, data analysts and more. They can moreover start food and beverage businesses. “The economic empowerment of women can deliver positive impact for their children’s education and health,” said Airlangga.

Miss Indonesia 2022 Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana agreed with Airlangga. According to Laksmi, women have great potential and must continue to increase their productivity instead of limiting themselves. She mentioned that women must possess sufficient skills and knowledge to compete. “Women must be courageous and be inspired to boldly achieve their dreams,” said Laksmi.

Head of Programmes at UN Women Indonesia, Dwi Yuliawati Faiz, added that over more than three years, Prakerja has shown itself to create opportunities for women to develop and empower themselves. “Prakerja is a disruption that has opened up access for women, especially as participants can choose in accordance with their preferences and needs,” said Dwi.

Kartu Prakerja Program Executive Director Denni Puspa Purbasari said that apart from its women-dominated participation, Prakerja is a pro-women program because participants can enroll in training from home. Apart from that, Prakerja also opens up opportunities for women to try their hand at skills or knowledge in male-dominated fields such as electrical installation, motorcycle maintenance and more.

Prakerja, continued Denni, has also been proven to empower women economically. The results of the PRESISI study (2021) found that enrollment in Prakerja increased the earnings of wage-earning by 33% relative to non wage-earning women. “Twenty-two percent of female participants successfully found work after enrolling in Prakerja,” stated Denni.

Continuous Program Development

Coordinating Minister Airlangga moreover added that the Kartu Prakerja Program is continuously developed and updated so that the program can deliver greater impact. For example, Prakerja also shows job vacancies in the platform that are related to the training undertaken by each beneficiary.

Prakerja, continued Airlangga, continues to adapt by collaborating with the private sector to hold trainings that are aligned with the needs of the labor market. “I am introducing new trainings in Prakerja,” said Airlangga.

One of these trainings, held by Hino, is Driving Buses and Trucks. Another, from United Tractors, is Maintenance for Bulldozers and Excavators. A third is AI online training provided by Microsoft and a fourth comprises green skills training that covers Modifications of Gas-Powered Engines into Electric Vehicles, and Sustainability Reporting. “I hope that other large companies and philanthropy institutions will follow suit,” said Airlangga.