Bridging the Gap Between Government and Non-State Actors for the SDGs
On October 13th, 2021, SDSN Indonesia organized a workshop on "The Role of University and Civil Society Organizations”, for 40 participants from 10 member institutions. The objective of this workshop was 1) to raise awareness on the SDGs mechanisms offered by the Indonesian government among non-state actors within SDSN Indonesia member institutions and 2) to bridge the gap between government and non-state actors working on sectoral issues.
Indonesia’s National SDGs Secretariat of National Development Planning Agency, BAPPENAS, published a website on the SDGs, for the public. Available resources on the platform includes the SDG Roadmap for Indonesia, adopted indicators from UNSTAT, global reports, multi-stakeholder partnerships guidebook, and a dashboard serving as the official platform for SDG data in the country. This workshop was attended by researchers, member institution’s staff of program and communication, and students. Nearly half of the attendees were women and consisted of participants from ages 19 to 65 years old, demonstrating the diverse enthusiasm for engagement around the SDGs. The discussion portion of the workshop allowed for members to ask questions directly to Dra. Nina Sardjunani, M.A, Head of the Expert Team at BAPPENAS.
Four participants raised questions concerning the role of universities and civil society organizations in attaining the SDGs in their respective capacities. Other pertinent issues discussed included developing sustainable development curricula for undergraduate students, how to advocate for marginalized communities, discussing research findings by INFID which showed only a small portion of local NGO’s are aware of the SDGs, and finding practical solutions on the local level. A representative from one of the SDGs Centre shared their experience with mobilizing the provincial and city-level government to adopt SDG indicators within the local context.
To conclude, Ms. Sardjunani expressed her interest to engage in further discussion with SDSN Indonesia members who would like to collaborate with the National SDGs Secretariat, including the SDGs National Action Plan for 2020-2024, currently underway. SDSN Indonesia is committed to increasing peer-to-peer knowledge-transfer activities among its members and other stakeholders to accelerate the achievement of SDGs in Indonesia.