ECCD is a priority in Indonesia with the 2003 inclusion of Early Childhood Development (ECD) within the National Education System Law No. 20, a Presidential Declaration on Holistic and Integrated ECD (HI-ECD), and launching of the first National ECD Census in 2011. The issuance of the HI-ECD by Government of Indonesia is an essential step in ensuring coordination across different provinces and administrative unit. 

Early childhood education (ECE), in particular, is a priority. ECE has been included in key policy documents, including the National Education System Law No. 20 in 2003 and the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Strategic Plan (RencanaStrategis or RENSTRA) in 2014. 

Indonesia is one of the countries with experience of community involvement in expanding the availability of ECCD. Furthermore, community participationin ECCE is dominant in Indonesia as it comprises of at least 95% of enrolment in 2013 (from total 195,000 ECD centers throughoutIndonesia[PC1] ). 

 To expand access of children under 6 to ECD services, governmentof Indonesia has promoted 1 villageone ECD centers, however, among 88,000 villages in Indonesia, there are stillaround 22,000 villagestilldo not have ECD centerand 28% childrenunder 6 doesn’tgetany ECD services. 

Challenges

• Lack of awareness and understanding about ECD among leaders. 
• Lack of effective investment strategy and coordination among actors and stakeholders. 
• Lack of leadershipand courage on ECD. Lack of methodology, model, and methods of innovative ECD that is Indonesia-contextualized; at times best practices were not sustained 

Priorities

• Capacity building and promotion among policy makers, managers, practitioners. 
• Monitoring and evaluation to facilitate strategic investment on ECD. Inclusive ECD that supports the neediest.