Family Planning in Asia and the Pacific - International Council on ...

Family Planning in Asia and the Pacific - International Council on ... Family Planning in Asia and the Pacific - International Council on ...

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FigureAims of ong>theong> reportIndonesia has a mature national family plannong>inong>g programmewith many successes to its credit. Now that it has realizedmany of ong>theong> objectives it set out to achieve, however, manycommentators believe it lacks a central motivatong>inong>g visionong>andong> has lost its sense of direction. The aims of this report areto provide a succong>inong>ct review of ong>theong> overall status of familyplannong>inong>g (FP) ong>andong> related reproductive health programmesong>inong> Indonesia today; identify key issues ong>andong> obstacles whichmay be limitong>inong>g universal access to quality FP services; ong>andong>make recommendations (where appropriate) regardong>inong>ghow ong>theong> provision of services ong>andong> practice of FP can beimproved by “repositionong>inong>g”, “revitalizong>inong>g” or oong>theong>rwiseadjustong>inong>g ong>theong> national FP programme.Past achievements ong>inong> familyplannong>inong>g ong>andong> reproductivehealthPresident Suharto ong>inong>troduced ong>theong> national family plannong>inong>gprogramme ong>inong> 1968 ong>andong> established ong>theong> National ong>Familyong>ong>Plannong>inong>gong> Programme – well known around ong>theong> world byits Indonesian acronym, BKKBN – ong>inong> 1970. BKKBNwas charged with developong>inong>g a national FP programmeong>andong> managong>inong>g foreign aid provided for this purpose. Theprogramme was a great success ong>andong> fertility levels droppeddramatically (see Figure 1). Accordong>inong>g to ong>theong> latest UnitedNations estimates, ong>theong> total fertility rate (TFR) declong>inong>edfrom 5.6 live births per woman ong>inong> ong>theong> period 1965-1970to 3.4 ong>inong> ong>theong> period 1985-1990 (United Nations, 2009).President Suharto was presented with ong>theong> United NationsPopulation Award ong>inong> 1989 ong>inong> recognition of this success.The Indonesian FP programme was “widely recognized asone of ong>theong> most successful ong>inong> ong>theong> world” (Piet, 2003: 83).The latest United Nations estimate for TFR (2005-2010)ong>inong> Indonesia is 2.2 (see also Hartanto ong>andong> Hull, 2009).If ong>theong> current status of FP is to be assessed accurately,it is important to understong>andong> ong>theong> factors underlyong>inong>g ong>theong>country’s early success. Those workong>inong>g ong>inong> ong>theong> FP programmecommitted to solvong>inong>g ong>theong> country’s “population problem”often spoke (ong>andong> wrote) at ong>theong> time as if success derivedexclusively from “programme effort”. It is true that ong>theong>programme enjoyed ong>inong>spired leadership durong>inong>g most of itsfirst quarter century ong>andong> that BKKBN was able to recruitmany of ong>theong> best new entrants ong>inong>to ong>theong> civil service toproduce an impressive ong>andong> effective “can-do” organization(Hull, 2007). On top of ong>theong>se factors ong>theong> programme hadong>theong> strong ong>andong> enthusiastic support of President Suharto,which guaranteed generous resources (ong>inong>cludong>inong>g foreignassistance) ong>andong> political leverage.However, ong>theong>re were oong>theong>r important non-programmefactors at work too. Suharto’s authoritarian New Ordergovernment established a highly centralized state apparatuswhich reached down ong>inong>to villages ong>andong> tolerated no organizedopposition; had this broader political-admong>inong>istrative systemnot been ong>inong> place it is difficult to believe that BKKBNcould have expong>andong>ed ong>andong> coordong>inong>ated ong>theong> FP programmeso effectively (Hull ong>andong> Hull, 1997). 2 The New Ordergovernment maong>inong>taong>inong>ed political stability ong>andong> impressiveFigure1Total fertility rate, Indonesia, 1950-2010654TFR32101950-55 1960-65 1970-75 1980-85 1990-95 2000-05Source: United Nations (2009).227

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