The Public Consultation on the Guideline for the Participation of Vulnerable Groups highlights Indonesia’s commitment to inclusive development by strengthening meaningful community involvement in regional planning and budgeting. Bringing together government ministries, civil society organisations, and regional planning offices, the consultation refined a draft guideline designed to embed gender-responsive and socially inclusive principles into Musrenbang processes. With insights from national agencies and successful regional practices such as NTT’s MUSIK KEREN, the consultation emphasised accessible forums, stronger monitoring, representative quotas, and better integration of community proposals into official plans. Supported by the SKALA Program, the initiative aims to ensure that vulnerable groups—women, persons with disabilities, older persons, children, Indigenous communities, and others—have an active voice in shaping Indonesia’s development priorities.
The SKALA and PARTISIPA (Timor-Leste) programs collaborated in a joint learning session on Strengthening Climate Resilient Planning in Indonesia and Timor-Leste on October 10, 2025. This activity brought together teams from both countries to share experiences on integrating climate perspectives into development planning and improving basic services. SKALA supports local governments in Indonesia through strengthening governance, data, and social inclusion, while PARTISIPA focuses on strengthening rural infrastructure services in Timor-Leste. Through this dialogue, both programs emphasized the importance of data-driven approaches, cross-sectoral collaboration, and understanding local contexts in formulating adaptive policies to climate change. This initiative, supported by the Australian Government, represents a concrete step toward more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development governance in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Provincial Government of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is strengthening its commitment to the well-being of older persons through the Coordination Meeting on Strengthening the Regional Commission on Older Persons (Komda Lansia) held in Kupang on 16 October 2025. The forum highlighted the importance of institutional coordination and the implementation of the Integrated Older Persons Services (Layanan Lansia Terintegrasi/LLT) model to ensure accessible, inclusive, and sustainable basic services for ageing communities. Supported by Bappenas, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and BKKBN, the initiative aligns with Indonesia’s National Strategy on Ageing (Presidential Regulation No. 88/2021) and promotes the principle of ageing in place—empowering older persons to stay active, healthy, and productive within their communities. Through collaboration between national and local governments and partners, such as SKALA, NTT is advancing a people-centered approach to ageing with dignity and inclusion.
The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Provincial Government, together with the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas and the Ministry of Home Affairs, officially launched the Sea Level Rise (SLR) Dashboard on October 21, 2025, at the NTB Bappeda Building. This initiative is part of the agenda “Collaborative Analysis of Sea Level Rise Impacts for Implementing Minimum Service Standards in Climate-Resilient Development Planning in NTB”, which highlights the potential impact on more than 17,000 families if sea levels rise by one meter. Supported by the SKALA Program and UN Global Pulse, the SLR analysis is now integrated into the SEPAKAT platform, enabling local governments to combine climate and socio-economic data as a basis for adaptation policies and the protection of basic services. This launch reaffirms NTB's commitment to resilient, equitable, and sustainable development, and serves as an example of collaboration between the central government, local governments, and international partners in addressing climate change risks in Indonesia.
The provincial governments of Papua Barat and Papua Barat Daya are strengthening their capacity to develop evidence-based policies through a Policy Brief Writing Workshop held in Sorong on 24 September 2025. Supported by Indonesia’s Ministry of Home Affairs (BSKDN), the National Institute of Public Administration (LAN), and SKALA, the workshop brought together government officials, academics, and civil society to build skills in policy development. Focusing on key priorities such as Minimum Service Standards (SPM), Public Financial Management (PFM), data and analysis, GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion), and Papua’s special autonomy, the initiative underscores a strong commitment to more inclusive, responsive, and independent governance that reflects the real needs of communities in Tanah Papua.
On September 11, 2025, the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Provincial Government officially launched NTB One Data Metadata – 2025 Sectoral Data Collection Guidelines as an important milestone in the implementation of One Data Indonesia in the region. This publication, which contains 921 types of sectoral data, was compiled to ensure that data is more accurate, credible, and accountable, thereby supporting targeted planning and budgeting in line with the vision of NTB Makmur Mendunia 2025–2045 (Prosperous NTB 2025–2045). With the support of the SKALA Program, this metadata serves as the foundation for transparent, inclusive, and sustainable data governance transformation, while also opening access for the public, academia, media, and the business world to utilize data for more effective development.
Australia Awards in Indonesia (AAI) and SKALA are organizing a Pre-Course Workshop on Governance and Public Policy Making for Subnational Governments (Aceh and Eastern Indonesia) on September 2–4, 2025, in Jakarta. This activity strengthens the capacity of local governments in Aceh and Eastern Indonesia in public governance, planning, budgeting, and inclusive policy-making with a focus on basic services, the implementation of GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion), and the utilization of digitalization. Involving 27 participants from ministries and provincial governments across regions, the workshop featured key speakers from Australia, including Professor Ken Smith and Rachel Nolan. The full support of the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Rob Brazier, and the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Bima Arya Sugiarto, underscores the commitment of Indonesia and Australia to strengthening governance and public services in the regions. This program is the first step towards intensive training in Australia in October 2025, which is expected to produce agents of change for inclusive, transparent, and sustainable regional development.
The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) ranked in the top five of the 2025 Inclusive Local Government Awards (PPID) from Bappenas, along with DKI Jakarta, Central Java, South Kalimantan, and DIY. This national award was presented at the 6th Inclusion Meeting in Cirebon as recognition of NTT's commitment to realizing inclusive disability development through progressive policies, such as Local Regulation No. 6/2022 and Governor Regulation No. 43/2025, as well as concrete programs in the fields of employment, social protection, and economic empowerment for persons with disabilities. With innovations such as MUSIK KEREN (Inclusive Musrenbang for Vulnerable Groups) and RAD for Persons with Disabilities, NTT has become a model of good practice that inspires other regions in creating participatory and equitable development for persons with disabilities in Indonesia.
Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers (TKD), including the General Allocation Fund (DAU), Specific Allocation Funds (DAK), and Village Funds, are vital instruments for promoting gender-responsive and inclusive development, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. This was the focus of the Gender-Responsive Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations (HKPD) Workshop held in BSD, Tangerang, by the Ministry of Finance and development partner SKALA. The workshop highlighted successes in Kalimantan Utara and Aceh in implementing gender-responsive TKD and generated key recommendations to address challenges such as the lack of sex- and disability-disaggregated data, weak gender mainstreaming, and the need to integrate monitoring results into local development plans. With stronger cross-ministerial collaboration and SKALA's facilitation, the initiative aims to enhance inclusive fiscal governance on the path to Indonesia Emas 2045.
