Jakarta (VNA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on December 10 announced the approval of a 500 million USD policy-based loan to help Indonesia advance human-capital development reforms, with a focus on education, skills training, health care, and social protection systems.
The third subprogramme of the Boosting Productivity through Human Capital Development Programme focuses on institutionalising reforms from the previous two subprogrammes approved in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
While the first subprogramme established regulatory foundations and pilot initiatives, and the second expanded implementation, this third one integrates these reforms into Indonesia's national systems to support higher labour productivity for sustained economic growth.
Key reform areas include health insurance measures that expand preventive care coverage to include breast and cervical cancer screenings and anemia prevention for adolescent girls. The bank said these reforms empower women by allowing them to choose their primary health facilities and seek care where they feel safe.
The pre-employment card programme, which has trained more than 18 million people, has been upgraded with content on green skills and artificial intelligence. Additionally, a new digital career guidance platform helps match graduates with job opportunities.
The programme supports the establishment of 15 additional Sustainable Development Goals centres in partnership with universities and mandates that all public universities prevent and address gender-based violence.
It has also formed technical and vocational education and training coordination teams in 63% of Indonesia's provinces to better align training with labour market needs.
The programme also enhances performance-based fiscal transfers to align local spending with national priorities./.
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