Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

In accordance with Indonesia's economic improvement endeavor, especially regarding the digitization of public services, on Thursday (7/7), iWeek held a lecture related to the Kartu Prakerja (Kartu Prakerja) case study. This lecture invited Denni Puspa Purbasari, Ph.D as the Executive Director of the Kartu Prakerja Program. Denni started the lecture by explaining the purpose of this class, which is to provide an understanding of problem-solution fit, and public policy 101 to students participating in iWeek. Denni continued with an explanation about the problems of unemployment, including the supply and demand sides, frictional and structural unemployment, Not engaged in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and unrealized demographic bonuses, education and wages, view of training as a luxury, asymmetric information, and labor which is the only factor of production for the poor.

Denni then explained the Problem-solution fit for the employment case study. The Kartu Prakerja provides a variety of training and courses and is compiled in the form of an E-marketplace. Indonesian workers are free to choose courses that are deemed appropriate to their interests and talents to be developed later. In order to deal with the problem of asymmetric information, the Kartu Prakerja provides a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) column. Meanwhile, to address the weak demand for training, Prakerja provides consumer-centric training and provides cash incentives for Kartu Prakerja recipients who have completed the training. Then to address the skill gap, the Kartu Prakerja provides a complete training menu as well as comments and feedback fields. Denni also emphasized that the participants should understand the choice of policies. Employment control and professional procurement by the government must be based on the economic framework and infrastructure conditions in order to realize economic benefits and social welfare.

Denni then explained about public policy 101. The impossibility of making everyone happy, context and priorities, and one goal in one policy must be overcome and realized with stakeholder management, identification of minorities, and a success matrix. Denni also explained that institutions need to understand the political mandate, legal basis, lex generalis derogate lex specialis, application of policies by agencies, cost control, and cooperation vs procurement with the private sector. To overcome this, Denni suggested the need for space for innovation, for example with A/B Testing, business review processes, and impact evaluation programs.

The real contribution of the Kartu Prakerja is realized through the interactive and beneficial User Interface and User Experience on the Kartu Prakerja page. The Kartu Prakerja is also supported by a broad and closely embedded collaborative ecosystem, namely with work platforms, marketplaces, training providers, and downstream accounts based on Application programming interface (API) Integration. The Kartu Prakerja contact center is proven to work well, as can be seen from a customer satisfaction survey of an average of 857,106 calls per month, as well as good performance on love chat and complaint forms. The Kartu Prakerja has also been proven to connect Indonesian workers with more than 5,500 job vacancies. Denni then explained the impact evaluation of the Kartu Prakerja which was assessed by trusted global institutions. For example, JPAL-SEAsupported by USAID, the Australian Government, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Precision supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, UNDP, and the Government of Japan; and World Bank & TNP2K supported by G2Px, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Tanoto Foundation. These three researches prove that the majority of Kartu Prakerja users are satisfied with the available training and financially inclusive payment channels. IWeek ended with a question and answer session.

Reportage: Hayfaza Nayottama
Watch the full video at https://youtu.be/iNgA0yLlzHk