Declaration on agricultural vocational education in Indonesia

On the initiative of MSM, a Joint Declaration on agricultural vocational education in Indonesia was signed on November 17 at the closing event of three Nuffic-funded projects. One of these projects is ‘LMSINDO: Link and Match SMK in Indonesia Strengthening Teacher Training in TVET Agriculture in Nusa Tenggara Timor (NTT)’, managed by MSM in partnership with Polbangtan Bogor.

The joint declaration sets-out the lessons learned from the cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands on revitalisation of vocational education and training in the agricultural sector of Indonesia within the framework of these three projects funded through the Orange Knowledge Programme of Nuffic from the period 2019-2022 and provides guidelines for the future.

Over the last decade, Indonesia and the Netherlands joined forces to support the Indonesian policy to revitalise vocational schools. The focus of the collaboration was on the agricultural sector, and more specifically, the cooperation with partners in agribusiness and industry and the development of skills of students, teachers and principals based on the projected needs of the workforce. The cooperation is based on the understanding that education is an essential investment in people needed for sustainable development, and learning is a process that benefits everyone.

During this special event, the project consortium members and beneficiaries as well as representatives of various government institutions were present. The Ministry of Education on Vocational Revitalization and Center for Agricultural Education (Pusdiktan) of Ministry of Agriculture, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as well as representatives of the private sector attended.

In his explanation of the declaration, Dr Huub Mudde, MSM, Project Director LMSINDO, was pleased to notice that the recommendations were in alignment with the recent policy and ambitions of the Indonesian government, represented by Mr Saryadi, Acting Secretary DG Vocational Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology. The participants agreed that major achievements were reached in staff and institutional development, and that a solid basis exists for a continued partnership. Mr Joost van Uum, Agricultural Counsellor of the Netherlands revealed in this context that the Dutch and Indonesian Ministries of Agriculture are preparing a high-level Memorandum of Understanding.

About LMSINDO
This project strengthens SMK teacher training on national and regional level by enhancing the educational and organizational capacities of the MoA POLBANGTAN system and SMKs, assisting SMK-PP Kupang to upgrade to the status of agricultural polytechnic. Furthermore it’s important to strengthen linkages on national and provincial level by establishing collaborative frameworks between education, government and the private sector (triple helix). The project strengthens the overall agriculture teacher training further by bringing the Ministry of Agriculture into the project framework, creating robust and seamless coordination to prepare the scaling up process.

Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. For more information click here.

MSM's Expert Centre on Emerging Economies
This institutional collaboration project is part of MSM's Expert Centre fon Emerging Economies. The department is an expert centre on local economic development in emerging and developing markets. We capacitate managers and professionals from government, private sector, NGOs, and post-secondary education in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. We offer consultancy and customized training programs, and we manage complex projects in key sectors, e.g. water, agriculture and health. For more information click here.