Workshop on Economic and Productive Employment Diagnostic in Maluku

The workshop is amed to build capacity in employment diagnostic analysis among the ILO constituents and to reach a shared understanding of the nature of the main constraints and challenges to productive employment generation in Maluku as a basis for a more coherent policy making at the provincial level.

Background and Justification

  • Indonesia is one of the countries selected for in-depth analytical work within the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)-funded project for ‘Promoting Inclusive Job-rich Growth’ (hereunder Project), and ILO has been selected as the leading agency to execute the project.
  • The objective of the Project is to support the Government of Indonesia in promoting inclusive economic growth and productive employment for all.
  • Discussion at the national level, with Bappenas, concluded that the ILO Jakarta should primarily focus on the provincial level since substantive work already done at the national level through a joint ADB-IDB-ILO inclusive growth diagnostic work and there is a high degree of decentralised governance in Indonesia.
  • The Project focuses on three provinces: Jawa Timur (East Java), Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) and Maluku. These provinces were selected based on requests from the provincial governments and social partners and criteria such as incidence of poverty, informal employment, labour migration, priorities of United Nations Partnership for Development Framework and geographical balance.
  • Each province has unique characteristics and specific employment and labour market challenges, but they also share similar characteristics and issues. Therefore, a participatory workshop, in which participants will share both international and local knowledge, may offer a rich learning framework for stakeholders. The workshop in Kupang, NTT has taken place in January, 2011. Lessons learned from the workshop are taken on board in preparations for the two back-to-back workshops in Surabaya and Ambon in April, 2011 (see the mission report for details).
  • The objective of the workshop is to build capacity in employment diagnostic analysis among the ILO constituents and to reach a shared understanding of the nature of the main constraints and challenges to productive employment generation in East Java and Maluku as a basis for a more coherent policy making at the provincial level.

Objectives

The objectives of the workshops are the following:

  • To create a better understanding of the constraints and opportunities for enhancing economic growth and productive employment in an inclusive and sustainable manner in East Java and Maluku.
  • Training in employment diagnostic analysis through the active involvement of the participants in a joint analysis during the workshops;
  • To provide a forum for a discussion among stakeholders on key challenges and opportunities to increase productive employment in East Java and Maluku and on the policy measures and interventions needed to address these challenges;
  • To create a sound knowledge base for the development of employment/development strategies/policies at the provincial level in East Java and Maluku;
  • To foster social dialogue.

Stages

The employment diagnostic analysis is undertaken in two stages:

  • Stage One addresses the question of WHAT are the main characteristics of the economic development and employment, and the interaction of the two on the labour market in East Java and Maluku. To this end, studies will be conducted to understand the context, demography, and the employment and economic dynamics. Special attention during the analyses is given to the issue of equality, economic and gender equality in particular, as well as vulnerable groups such as youth, women, migrant workers, etc.
  • During Stage Two the focus is shifted to an analysis of WHY the growth has not been sufficient and job-rich. At this stage, stakeholders will sit together in a workshop and analyse the situation and identify the root causes of insufficient productive employment growth. The ILO offers a methodological framework to undertake such an analysis in a structured and stepwise manner. The result from Stage One will be used as an input in the Stage Two. The latter will result in an identification of priority issues and constraints on creating economic and productive employment in East Java and Maluku, and as a first discussion on the policy implications of these conclusions.

Workshop Framework

Each workshop will include maximum 25 participants, Government (provincial and district), workers and employers representatives.