May 29, 2026
JAKARTA – Vulnerable groups, including women, people with disabilities and the elderly, remain underrepresented in regional development planning across Indonesia, according to a study by the SMERU Research Institute, prompting calls for more inclusive policy making.
The study, supported by a multistakeholder partnership on gender mainstreaming and social inclusion involving the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the Australian government and other partners, covered six provinces: Aceh, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, Maluku and Gorontalo.
It found that vulnerable groups had only limited participation in regional planning discussions, particularly in musrenbang, the state-mandated public consultation forum for participatory planning from the village level upward.
SMERU researcher Palmira Permata Bachtiar said during the study’s dissemination on Monday that many institutions still failed to involve vulnerable groups in the process, largely due to weak understanding of gender mainstreaming and inclusive development.
“Local governments do not fully understand the importance of involving vulnerable groups in regional development planning, so there have been no concrete efforts to position them as facilitators, proposers or decision-makers in deliberation forums,” Palmira said.
She explained that greater involvement of vulnerable groups in policymaking, including in drafting regional regulations, managing natural resources and improving public services, could actually help make government programs and facilities more accessible to marginalized communities.
“Our hope is that regional development planning will not only be inclusive in principle, but also meaningful in practice, where vulnerable groups are facilitated to participate equally and contribute to society,” Palmira added.
Deputy for human development and culture at Bappenas, Pungkas Bahjuri Ali, said the government welcomed the findings and planned to use them as a reference for future policymaking.
Pungkas also underscored the vital role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as strategic government partners, saying their close engagement with marginalized communities gave them a better understanding of local barriers often overlooked by national policymakers.
“CSOs can help bridge the gap between policymaking and implementation on the ground, while also ensuring that development programs are better targeted,” he said, adding that such organizations often introduced local innovations and community-based approaches that were more flexible and effective than formal bureaucratic mechanisms.
The study also found that although regional governments generally showed a high level of trust in CSOs, reaching around 80 percent, the organizations’ participation in policymaking remained limited, with invitations often restricted to groups that had close ties to officials, clear legal status and physical offices.
Meanwhile, people with disabilities often lacked adequate accommodation in policymaking forums, including accessible meeting venues and the availability of sign language interpreters.
Palmira of SMERU said inclusive and equitable development must ensure that no one is left behind.