One of the many things that makes Indonesia special is its title as the world’s largest archipelago country. Nestled in the southeastern region of Sulawesi is Wakatobi Islands, Indonesia’s best kept secret. The chain of islands is home to one of the largest marine biodiversity areas, with coral and fish spanning over 700 different species.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia signs agreements with the National Board of Zakat (Baznas), Bank Jambi, and Bank NTT today to support the achievements of the global goals. “These partnerships are extremely important and projects under the agreements will demonstrate the strength of the partnerships,” said Haoliang Xu, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Regional Director of UNDP, at the signing ceremony. “I hope they will become models that can be replicated throughout Indonesia and other countries.”
Sulawesi’s indigenous Minahasa people marched with Kalimantan’s Dayak people. The Minahasa people, said to be the oldest democracy in Indonesia, wore large crimson-red, feathered crowns. Dayak groups wore either sequined, kaleidoscopic jackets or clothes made of bark depending on their ethnicity. Behind them were displays of handwoven textiles, from across thousands of islands, derived from generations of treasured handweaving technique. Worn by Lombok’s Sasak people, Papuans, and Sumatra’s Batak people, the textiles were as unique as their individual cultures.
New frontiers in financing SDGs provide new hope for eradicating poverty in Indonesia. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Indonesia’s financial services authority OJK launched two bodies of research on the powerful potential of social finance.
JAKARTA - Exclusion of women, ethnic minorities, and people living in remote areas create chronic barriers hindering human development progress. This has led to significant disparities leaving many behind in the world, including within Indonesia and the Asia and the Pacific region. In addition, marginalized groups often have limited opportunities to influence the institutions and policies that determine their lives.
The Government of Canada and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia agreed to strengthen the role of social finance in funding development actions in Indonesia. In partnership with women led social enterprises, this will contribute to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Ending poverty and inequality are some of today’s greatest challenges that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to overcome. Considering Islamic principles support a socially inclusive development, funding from Islamic giving, zakat, has the potential to play a crucial role in accomplishing the SDGs
Profit and equality go hand-in-hand. Citizens, Government, United Nations and private sector leaders call on all organizations to create policies that advance gender equality. Glass ceilings and gender gaps were challenged at today’s Women, Organizations and Growth event hosted by United Nations Development Programme Indonesia (UNDP) today. The event, in the lead up to International Women’s Day, coincided with the launch of UNDP’s Gender Equality Strategy 2017-2020.
Zakat in Arabic means “that which purifies.” Most Indonesians associate it with charitable giving in the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan. Personally, it reminds me of my childhood when my aunt and uncle went to the least privileged of my grandma’s neighbors with a stack of white envelopes to give away. Zakat is in fact a sort of religious tax, a Muslim’s obligation to give a portion of their wealth to charity. Islam also encourages other forms of religious giving that are not compulsory. Like in my family, most religious charitable practices are informal and sporadic. But the potential for impact is high
Transport options are limited for sixteen-year-old Rina, a student in Makassar. She relies on her parents to drive her to school every day. “Usually, it takes around 30 minutes to arrive, but if there’s a traffic jam, I get out of the car and run, because I don’t want to be late to class
Ramadhani Lutfi Aerli, a nine-year-old boy from Pekanbaru, suffered a high fever and seizure on 20 October 2015. When he went unconscious in the middle of the night, his parents rushed him to the hospital but he died before the morning call to prayer.
Indonesia has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation. Efforts to slow down the loss of tree cover have included a moratorium on the clearing of certain primary forests and peatlands, but limited law enforcement capacity has hampered progress. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working with the Government of Indonesia under the UN’s Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme, funded by the Norwegian government, to tackle deforestation by improving livelihoods around the forests. Communities in and around forest areas often have no choice but to cut the trees to sell the timber, or clear the forest to make way for plantations. But the livelihood programs give people alternative sources of income so they do not only refrain from clearing the forest, but also help in protecting the forest. For the second and last piece in these series, we look into a small scale palm sugar industry.
He ties a t-shirt around his head, leaving a small gap to see through. A rope is fastened around his waist attached to a plastic bucket. Wedged into the back of his pants is a long, sharp knife with a heavy wooden handle. He’s about to climb barehanded 30 meters up one of Indonesia’s largest trees, the majestic Boan tree. Just another day in the office for the Sumbawan honey hunter.
Women have contributed significantly in ending hostilities and paving the way to resolutions of conflicts in many places in Indonesia. The Hidden Pearls – Heroic Stories of Women Peace Builders is a collection of lessons learned from conflict areas including Ambon, Aceh, and Poso. The book was produced by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the support of N-Peace, and launched today with a panel discussion at Plaza Indonesia.
Indonesia has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation. Efforts to slow down the loss of tree cover have included a moratorium on the clearing of certain primary forests and peatlands, but limited law enforcement capacity has hampered progress. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working with the Government of Indonesia under the UN’s Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme, funded by the Norwegian government, to tackle deforestation by improving livelihoods around the forests. Communities in and around forest areas often have no choice but to cut the trees to sell the timber, or clear the forest to make way for plantations. But the livelihood programs give people alternative sources of income so they do not only refrain from clearing the forest, but also help in protecting the forest.
The Indonesia Democracy Index (IDI) has been a feature of the country’s democracy since 2009. Supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Index measures the performance of Indonesia’s democratic institutions and systems. The 2015 report was launched today by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto.
My heart rate increased this morning as I woke up to consider what more can we do to stop what is an absurdly and unacceptably common phenomenon: violence against women. This fight has become more personal and all the more urgent, now that I have two young daughters. As a mother, I try to help them become empowered and confident girls able to resist violence if they encounter it.
At the fifth Responsible Business Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on business leaders to take a greater role in the new development era in order to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Forum, opened in Singapore by UNDP and Global Initiatives, aims to address a sea change in the nature of development funding by creating a new partnership for sustainable development. While foreign funding (Official Development Assistance) is still essential for the development system, it now accounts for 0.7 percent of total financial flows in Asia-Pacific (down from 13.5 percent in 1990), while domestic public and private finance accounts for 89 percent, according to a UNDP report launched last month.
It is one year since every country in the world signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals. They form a blueprint for addressing the most significant challenges facing our planet and its people. Challenges like climate change. This is likely to be the hottest year on record and here in Asia, climate change is a cause of the natural disasters that have claimed half a million lives in the last decade. Challenges like inequality, which has been growing for four-fifths of Asia-Pacific’s population over the last 20 years. Challenges brought on by the accelerating process of ageing, which will make it harder for many Asian states to provide basic services to their people. The 17 SDGs will address these challenges and other interlinked issues, including education, hunger and security. But governments cannot implement this blueprint on their own. Nor can the UN and other development organizations.
The spirit of gotong royong is taught to children from a very young age at schools all over Indonesia. It is the Indonesian brand of volunteerism, or communal work—where members of a community gather to accomplish a task. Traditionally, the task could be to fix a neighbor’s home, or build a road or a bridge.
