Fourteen mayors across Indonesia signed the Charter of the Network of Indonesian Mayors for Inclusive Cities in Indonesia during the UN-sponsored High-Level Meeting of Mayors for Inclusive Cities, held in Jakarta on 31 October 2017. The signing was witnessed by the Minister of National Planning Development (Bappenas), HE. Prof. Dr. Bambang P.S Brodjonegoro and the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Indonesia, Anita Nirody.

The Charter was aimed to respect and support the involvement and participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of life across cities in the country. The Charter was signed by Mayors from South Tangerang, Padang, Banjarmasin, Mojokerto, Ambon, Bengkulu, Surakarta, Kupang, Jambi, Central Jakarta, Metro Lampung, Banda Aceh, Yogyakarta dan Depansar.

Minister Bambang greatly appreciated the initiatives taken by the city authorities to be more inclusive for all its people, including people with disabilities. He also urged mayors to involve people with disabilities in the process of city planning development to ensure inclusive infrastructure, social facilities and economic opportunities who are necessary for sustainable and inclusive urban development.

“Inclusive cities are important for Indonesia and are part of the efforts to reduce poverty and realize the commitment of the country to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Cities should be liveable for all people, including people with disabilities. There are many ways that can done by the mayors to improve its city decency through the development of inclusive infrastructure and facilities as well as educational and health services,” he said in his opening remarks.

Supporting the Minister’s statement, Airin R. Diani, Head of the Association of Indonesian Municipalities (APEKSI), said that APEKSI will continue to support efforts taken by cities across Indonesia to be liveable cities for all, including for people with disabilities as well as for other groups like women, children and elderly.

“Therefore, city development planning from infrastructure, social facilities to transportation and educational as well as health services by both the government and private sector should be inclusive, accommodating the needs of people with disabilities,” she said.

In this one-day meeting, good practices and positive transformations from various cities were presented. Padang city, for example, has built more inclusive social facilities; while Mojokerto city has focused on providing inclusive job fair and equal employment opportunity for people with disabilities. In addition, Ambon city has focused on inclusive educational system; while Metro Lampung cities has promoted economic opportunities for people with disabilities.

The meeting also presented lessons learned and challenges in the implementation of the Law No. 8 Year 2016 on Disability and the importance of data collection and use for designing more effective policies. The meeting concluded with the interactive session on equal employment opportunities and the presentation of the latest ILO’s rapid assessment on employment for persons with disabilities.

The assessment revealed the importance of strong commitment from the top management and proactive approach in the recruitment system in order to recruit more people with disabilities. Awareness raising for both employers and potential workers are also important to break the stigma that recruiting people with disability is costly and people with disabilities are not competent. Relevant stakeholders, such as training providers, recruitment agencies and disabled people organizations play an important role in facilitating linkages between workplace supply and demand.

As an immediate follow-up to the meeting, a technical meeting was conducted on 1 November by the task force of the Mayors’ Network to further identify follow-up activities. The meeting discussed the possibility to do a pilot collaboration between the ILO and the inclusive cities on fair, inclusive recruitment.

“This joint collaboration will be implemented in one or two cities using the existing platform of job fairs that are already ongoing in some of the inclusive cities. In the meeting, the working group on inclusive cities formed under the APEKSI has also drafted a work plan aimed to continue socializing its works to other cities in the country,” explained Tendy Gunawan, the ILO’s programme officer for disability inclusion.

The meeting was organized by UNESCO, ILO, WHO and APEKSI to promote social inclusion of persons with disabilities through the UN project on Promoting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) in Indonesia. Funded by the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD, phase II), the joint project has made significant contribution to the national and local efforts towards disability inclusion.