In the 2021-2024 Digital National Roadmap, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (MCI) includes digital skills development as a core focus area for achieving the country’s objective of digital readiness and competitiveness. This strategy document explores what Indonesia can do to address challenges inhibiting the development of digital skills. It examines the associated opportunities, identifies the key constraints to deliver on these opportunities, and carefully prioritizes recommended actions to respond to the constraints.

This strategy document builds on the analysis in the diagnostic report as it recommends possible cross-sectoral and sector-specific interventions that can be undertaken by the government, the private sector and civil society to increase digital literacy and skills in Indonesia. SMERU, together with its partners, first conducted a diagnostic of the digital skills landscape in Indonesia. The output was a comprehensive analysis of the digital skills situation on the ground, which appraises how Indonesia is performing in terms of digital inclusion, digital literacy, and digital competency in the workforce. 

Strategies proposed in this document are in line with Indonesia’s National Mid-Term Development Plan, the 2020-2024 Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah (RPJMN), and emphasize the necessary role of digital skills development in boosting the country’s digital transformation. Based on a review of the 2020-2024 RPJMN and the potential for digital skills development to deliver on the targets and opportunities identified in the plan, two critical objectives were identified, in which digital skills development can spur on the country’s broader goals of digital economic growth and job creation. These objectives are 1) digitally literate citizens; and 2) a digitally competent workforce.

The report is jointly prepared by the SMERU Research Institute, University of Oxford and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).