VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Illustration : Graduation - 

UK Minister for Development Andrew Mitchell announced a new UK funding of £30 million (IDR 600 billion) to boost education opportunities for women and girls in Southeast Asia at the Education World Forum (EWF) held in London this week. EWF is the largest international gathering of education ministers which was also attended by Indonesian Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Makarim.

The five-year programme is the first in a series of new ASEAN-UK programmes designed to deliver on UK commitments as a Dialogue Partner. The programme will focus on four main areas: foundation learning; out-of-school girls and children with disability; gender barriers to digital skills and employment; enabling work on education technology.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Saturday, The new UK funding will help address barriers to education including low quality schooling, learning poverty and limited access to schools in rural areas across the ASEAN region. UK expertise will help schools improve the quality of teaching through lesson planning and in-class support which means the programme will directly support progress towards the UK’s international development commitments for 40 million more girls in school and 20 million more girls reading.

Though this is the first in a series of new ASEAN-UK programmes, the UK already works closely with Indonesia to empower women and girls through education and digital literacy. Our Digital Access Programme in Indonesia promotes inclusive, responsible and sustainable digital transformation through projects that focus on 

improved internet connectivity in rural communities, digital literacy for the underserved, and the upskilling of marginalised female entrepreneurs in business, financial, and digital technology. Over the last two years, the UK spent £1.2m supporting digital inclusion across Indonesia, with approximately 6,000 women and girls having directly benefitted from improved digital connectivity, skills, content, and services.

The UK Skills for Prosperity Programme in Indonesia has supported more women and girls to develop their skills to join the maritime sector workforce and encouraged more women entrepreneur to start new tourism businesses in coastal areas. Whilst through the MENTARI programme, women and girls form the marginalised community in Sumba, NTT were given a tailored support and education to become local leaders for the management, operation, and economic opportunities of the project.

On education sector, the UK government’s flagship scholarship programme, Chevening, aims to give opportunities to future leaders and change makers from across Indonesia with diversity and inclusive agenda attached. In recent years, well over 50% of successful candidates for the Chevening programme in Indonesia are dominated by women//VOI