RI progress to development goals

Romeo A. Reyes, Jakarta

The national development planning agency, BAPPENAS, has just launched Indonesia's Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was symbolically handed over by the Chairman of BAPPENAS and State Minister for Development Planning, Kwik Kian Gie, to the Special UN Ambassador for the MDGs, Erna Witoelar, and to the UN Resident Coordinator, Bo Asplund.

The MDGs came out of the Millennium Declaration relating to peace, security and development, and adopted by 191 nations, 147 of which were represented at their September 2000 Summit in New York. They incorporate the international development goals (IDGs) earlier adopted by the series of world summits and global conferences supported by the United Nations in the 1990s.

They set forth a comprehensive rights-based global development agenda, translated into quantitative and time-bound targets that are objectively verifiable and monitorable. The eight goals are: Eradicate poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

The report takes stock of the situation with respect to the status and progress made by Indonesia and its provinces since 1990 and up to the present (when latest data is available) towards realizing the MDG targets.

With respect Goal 1, Indonesia appears to have done well and on track towards realizing the target of reducing poverty incidence by one half from 1990 to 2015, based on a nationally calculated poverty line. For many years, national poverty head count ratio had exhibited a downward trend from over 30 percent in the 1970s to only 15 percent in 1990 mainly as a result of sustained economic growth.

This trend, however, was reversed when the economic crisis struck in 1997-1998 and impoverished many people, thereby raising the ratio back to 23.4 percent in 1999. Since then, poverty incidence has again shown a declining trend as the economy recovered, recording a head count ratio of 18.2 percent in 2002 and 17.4 percent in 2003.

Indonesia has also done quite well towards providing universal access to primary education. Net enrollment ratio in primary education has increased from 89 percent in 1992 to 93 percent in 2003. The survival rate, i.e. the proportion of students who graduate from primary school, has also increased from 65.4 percent during school years 1983-1991 to 73.3 percent during 1994-2002. The latter percentage, however, is still far from the target of universal completion of a full course of primary schooling.

Another significant progress made by Indonesia is in reducing child (under-five years) mortality rate. From as high as 216 per thousand live birth in 1960, it had declined to 58 in 1997 and 46 in 2002. Clearly, Indonesia has made good progress and is on track towards realizing the target of reducing under-five mortality rate by two thirds. However, progress made towards realizing the target of reducing maternal mortality rate by three quarters is not so encouraging. While there was some reduction in mortality from 390 per thousand live births in 1990 to 307 in 2000, the report concluded that achieving the target by 2015 is unlikely.

Maternal mortality in Indonesia is still considerably higher relative to other ASEAN countries with the same level of development, e.g. Thailand.

The prospect of ensuring environmental sustainability by reversing the loss of environmental resources is not so bright either based on the proportion of land area covered by forest. The proportion continued to decline from 68 to 64 percent from 1993 to 2001, and was believed to be exacerbated by the economic crisis as people turned to forest resources for livelihood in an unsustainable way.

In general, the report conveys a positive message with respect to the progress made thus far by Indonesia at the national level. However, the report also revealed very serious disparities across provinces with respect to the progress made and the prospects for realizing the MDG targets.

Given those disparities, the real challenge for Indonesia is whether, how, and to what extent the MDGs could be realized in an equitable and inclusive way, in line with the principle that development is a fundamental human right.

Take Goal 1 as an example. Given that poverty incidence in Indonesia (measured through the national poverty line) was 15 percent in 1990 and that the global target is to reduce poverty by one half, the nationally translated target in terms of poverty head count ratio by 2015 would be 7.5 percent.

The report concluded that Indonesia is on track towards achieving that target at the national level, which is great and encouraging. However, the prospects across provinces for realizing the target are very different. Consider the following. Two provinces already registered a rate below 7.5 percent in 2002 (DKI Jakarta -- 3.4 and Bali -- 6.9 ), implying that the target had already been reached that year. However, many other provinces recorded a rate of well over 20 percent in 2002, e.g. Maluku at 34.8 percent and Papua at 41.8 percent, which is the highest rate.

In accordance with the rights-based approach to development, the people of Maluku and Papua has the same and equal right as the people of Jakarta and Bali not to be poor and to have access to basic social services.

If the MDGs are to be realized in an equitable and inclusive way, consistent with the rights-based approach to development, an internally consistent set of MDG targets across provinces and even districts must be worked out.

Given the wide disparity of progress across provinces revealed by the first progress report, a national consensus must be forged on the extent to which targets are to be adjusted and existing trends to be altered through deliberate policies, programs and budgetary allocation across provinces and districts.

As a logical culmination of the MDG process, target setting and the accompanying activities of strategy formulation and public investment (along with technical cooperation) programming should be mainstreamed into normal development management functions at national, provincial and district levels.

Mainstreaming of the MDGs and human development strategies, including for poverty reduction, into national and regional development planning could be initiated when the interim plans for 2005-2006 are prepared, as the country undergoes a transition into a new system of governance in 2004.

The written is UNDP Programme Development Advisor. The views expressed herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of UNDP