Ida Rosyidah, Iwu Utomo, Peter McDonald, Valerie Hull, Terence Hull, Suharti, Ariane Utomo, Hasnani Rangkuti.

Policy launch for the transition to adulthood study and introduction to the new study, meeting the needs of the elderly in rural Indonesia

On 31 July 2015 a major policy event was held at BAPPENAS (State Ministry of National Development Planning) in Jakarta. This was the fourth policy launch since 2011 to disseminate policy recommendations from the Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Longitudinal Study and the Indonesian Gender and Reproductive Health Study. Dr Iwu Utomo, the founder of both studies, together with the Australian National University team of  Professor Peter McDonald, Dr Ariane Utomo and Professor Terence Hull, presented policy recommendation from the Greater Jakarta study highlighting occupational change, poverty transition, food patterns and risky health behaviour and a paper on ‘Who wears Hijab? Predictors of Veiling’. Policy on the impact of domestic gender roles from the Indonesian Gender and Reproductive Health Study were also presented.

Both studies are in collaboration with University of Indonesia (Heru Suparno, Subarkah and Ferdinand Siagian) and Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (Ida Rosyidah). The policy launch was chaired by Nina Sarjunani, Deputy Minister for Human Resources and Cultural Affair) and Dr Suharti, Director for Population, Women Empowerment and Child Protection. Over 100 policy makers and program implementers from related stakeholders, members of the Indonesian parliament, academicians, international donor agencies and NGOs activists attended the one day workshop.

Tracing of respondents for the second wave of the Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Longitudinal Survey was completed in January 2015. For the second wave a specific questionnaire design was employed. As respondent’s specific conditions were known from the first wave, the questionnaires were  individually tailored depending on their circumstances. So there are 3006 different questionnaires.

The study also includes 80 in‐depth interviews with randomly selected respondents from the first wave survey of which 50 of these respondents were successfully reinterviewed in the second wave.

The Indonesian Gender and Reproductive Health Study is a survey of 1837 Year 6 students and 6555 Year 12 students from general and Islamic Religious schools in Jakarta, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

At the workshop, a new study lead by Peter McDonald and Iwu Utomo on Meeting the Needs of the Elderly in Giriasih, Winong and Salo, Indonesia was also introduced. This new study is funded by the Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing (CEPAR) and will be extended to 11 more villages in Indonesia funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Public lectures at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University and University of Andalas, Indonesia

Dr Iwu Utomo and Professor Peter McDonald were invited to give a public lecture on the ‘Longitudinal Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Study’ at  Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta on 8 October 2015 and another on 12 October at Andalas University, West Sumatra. McDonald presented highlights on ’What is adulthood in Indonesia?’, poverty across time and occupational change, while Utomo presented on risky health behaviour and reproductive health services for those who are single. The public lecture at Andalas was broadcast live to the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Jember University, East Java, Hasanudi University, South Sulawesi and Samratulangi University.

Further information on policy briefs and published papers from the projects

Transition to adulthood in Indonesia study
Gender and reproductive health study

Contact
Dr Iwu Utomo
E iwu.utomo@anu.eu.au
T +61 2 6125 5613