Partnerships for Productivity (PADU) Activity Annual Report – FY24

The project aims to enhance private sector investment in vocational training programs through partnerships among private sector firms and government-owned vocational training centers, known as Balai Latihan Kerja (BLK). PADU works across multiple partners at the national and sub-national level, including the Ministry of Manpower (MoM), other Government of Indonesia (GoI) agencies, provincial and district governments, BLKs, industry-specific business associations, businesses, and donors. In its first year of implementation, PADU focused on mobilizing and ramping up in-country operations, finalizing the planning and negotiations of a 5-year joint work plan with the MoM, completing an information gathering and pre-assessment phase of the BLK landscape and capacity for private-sector driven partnership, and identifying opportunities and challenges of the Indonesian Presidential Decree for Vocational Revitalization (PERPRES 68/2022). These activities served as foundational knowledge for the Activity's strategic design, strategy formation, implementation plans, onboarding of subcontractors, and ongoing relationship building with key private and public stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels. PADU has adjusted its scope of work (SOW) and implementation plan to better align with private sector-driven partnership development and the respective BLK institutional strengthening efforts. The revised SOW and implementation plan removed an objective of "improved capacity to plan and implement TVET programs and deliver labor market information systems (LMIS)" and integrated the activities on the super tax deduction utilization for TVET programming as one of several value-propositions to entice private sector partnerships. Key achievements in FY23 include finalizing a 5-year joint work plan between PADU and MoM Directorate General of Vocational Training and Productivity Development (Binalavotas) and receiving the Grant Implementation Agreement (GIA). PADU also finalized the pre-assessment phase of BLKs and their capacity to develop and sustain private sector partnerships, which informed planning and decision making on where to prioritize pilot efforts and how to adapt the Results Framework. In collaboration with the MoM, PADU selected Balai Besar Pelatihan Vokasi dan Produktivitas (BBPVP) Medan in North Sumatra and Balai Pelatihan Vokasi dan Produktivitas (BPVP) Sidoarjo in East Java to pilot the private sector partnership (PSP) strategy. Selected BLKs will receive capacity building support for PSP strategy and serve as a knowledge hub or anchor BLK for replication efforts to provincial and district BLKs. Kick-off activities in North Sumatra included a participatory design thinking workshop for over 50 MoM, BBPVP Medan, district-level BLKs representatives, local government representatives, and private sector participants, which explored existing and potential BLK strategic partnerships in North Sumatra. PADU also advanced collaboration plans with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and their implementing partner, Orbit Ventura, for institutionalizing the AWS re/Start program into the MoM BLK system. Additionally, PADU finalized several contractual deliverables that guide the Activity's programmatic implementation, including PADU's Mobilization Plan, First Year Work Plan, a Strategic Knowledge Management and Communications (KMC) Plan, and a revised Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP).