Global Seminars 2022
8 June. Lishia Erza (ASYX Holdings) & Lany Harijanti (Global Reporting Initiative). SMEs and their environmental, social and governance strategy in Indonesia
Today’s business has increasingly been using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to screen investments. There are over 64 million businesses in Indonesia, most of them are small and medium businesses (SMEs). Should they take ESGs into account? Can they balance short-term survival with long-term ESG goals? In this webinar, we talked about efforts in equipping SME entrepreneurs with sustainability standards and putting the skills into practice, and about the broader challenges and opportunities to support ESG-driven SMEs. The speakers are Lishia Erza (ASYX Holdings) and Lany Harijanti (Global Reporting Initiative).
Slides (Lishia Erza)
Slides (Lany Harijanti)
6 April. Rezal Kusumaatmadja (Katingan Mentaya Project ) & Gita Syahrani (Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari). Protecting ecosystems and improving local livelihoods
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration that runs from 2021 through 2030 is a call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world. In this webinar we invite Rezal Kusumaatmadja from Katingan Mentaya Project (KMP) and Gita Syahrani from Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari (LTKL) to discuss the issues in the case of Indonesia. Rezal talked about KMP’s experience in restoring and protecting more than 150,000 hectares of peat swamp forest ecosystem while improving the livelihoods of local communities in Central Kalimantan for almost 15 years. Gita highlighted LTKL’s strategies in building intermediate industries and strong impact-making SMEs at district level in the context of inspiring progressive policy & planning practice towards sustainable economy through collective actions in Indonesia.
Slides (Rezal Kusumaatmadja)
Slides (Gita Syahrani)
23 March. Lishia Erza (APINDO National SME Committee), Diana Octary (ASYX MELATI Nusantara Program Leader), Nandini Harihareswara (Independent Consultant and formerly with United Nations Capital Development Fund). Small and medium enterprises (SME) development and gender inclusion in Indonesia
As the world suffers the economic slowdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, investment, growth, and employment are all affected, and the crisis will have an impact on the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many small and medium businesses are heavily impacted by the economic downturn, yet they are often excluded from innovative financial instruments that can help them survive due to a lack of visibility and formal trade relationships. This is even more apparent for women-led micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs) where most have little access to financial resources, knowledge and technology to improve their business practices.
MSMEs in need of innovative solutions are those at the growth stage but still lacking competencies and literacies as they grow into professional businesses. Their market reach is limited since they still use traditional transaction practices. MSMEs also face challenges in taking advantage of larger business opportunities because they lack the capital to fulfill orders and/or accept the payment terms imposed by buyers. There are digital tools that can help MSMEs grow their business, become more efficient and more accountable, and access innovative financing sources, yet many women entrepreneurs are lacking the digital skills to make use of these tools.
This Global Seminar highlighted the experiences of MELATI Nusantara, a Women Enterprise Recovery nation-wide program that assists entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs, to recover their business from the impact of COVID-19. Lishia Erza (APINDO National SME Committee) discussed the challenges and opportunities in helping SMEs attract more investments and participate in supply chains. Diana Octary (ASYX MELATI Nusantara Program Leader) discussed supply chain finance at SME level. Nandini Harihareswara (Independent Consultant and formerly with United Nations Capital Development Fund) gave a comparative perspective of the gender financial and digital inclusion in the region.
Slides (Lishia Erza)
Slides (Diana Octary)
9 March. Vina Adriany (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia). Gender issues in early childhood education
One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goals is to achieve gender equality. The Indonesian government claims to be committed to ensuring that gender equality is mainstreamed in all aspects of the country’s development, including education. It is unfortunate, however, that the attention towards gender issues in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings is often overlooked. ECEC is often perceived as an innocent space that does not perpetuate traditional gender ideologies. Previous research, however, has indicated that ECEC is one of the most gendered spaces. This presentation will discuss two gender issues in ECEC. The first one is related to the extent to which the teaching in ECEC is gendered, and the second one is the so-called ‘feminization of ECEC’ that justifies teachers’ low wages. We invite Dr Vina Adriany (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) to discuss these issues. In her presentation, Dr Adriany calls for rethinking ECEC as a place where possibilities to disrupt gender inequalities can occur. Hence, the presentation sees ECEC as a strategic place to achieve gender equalities in society.
15 February. Kuki Soejachmoen (Indonesia Research Institute for Decarbonization) and Budy Resosudarmo (ANU). Indonesia's energy challenges and climate change
Indonesia’s energy sector has been experiencing a double burden: improving energy security and mitigating carbon emissions. Transforming the economy from reliance on non-renewables to renewables is a way to address these burdens. Understanding the impact of this transformation is important, especially as the pandemic has brought a third burden of economic recovery. Kuki Soejachmoen (IRID) will discuss Indonesia’s energy policies and progress in the context of COP26 where it submitted its Long Term Strategy for Low Carbon and Climate Resilience that includes Indonesia’s intention to achieve net-zero emission by 2060. Budy Resosudarmo (ANU) will discuss the issues outlined above and offers some policy suggestions, focusing on the electricity sector of the country.
Slides (Kuki Soejachmoen)
Slides (Budy Resosudarmo)