The yearly financing need of providing paid maternity leave in the informal sector in Indonesia

Abstract

BackgroundThe economic cost of not breastfeeding in Indonesia is estimated at US$1.5–9.4 billion annually, the highest in South East Asia. Half of the 33.6 million working women of reproductive age (WRA) in Indonesia (15-49 years) are informal employees, meaning they are working as casual workers or they are self-employed (small scale business) and assisted by unpaid/family worker(s). No specific maternity protection entitlements are currently available for WRA working informally in Indonesia. This study aims to estimate the financing need of providing maternity leave cash transfer (MCT) for WRA working in the informal sector in Indonesia.MethodThe costing methodology used is the adapted version of the World Bank methodology by Vilar-Compte et al, following pre-set steps to estimate costs using national secondary data. We used the 2018 Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey to estimate the number of women working informally who gave birth within the last year. The population covered, potential cash transfer’s unitary cost, the incremental coverage of the policy in terms of time and coverage, and the administrative costs were used to estimate the cost of MCT for the informal sector. ResultAt 100% coverage for 13 weeks of leave, the yearly financing need of MCT ranged from US$175million (US$152/woman) to US$669million (US$583/woman). The share of the yearly financing need did not exceed 0.5% of Indonesian Gross Domestic Product (GDP).ConclusionThe yearly financing need of providing MCT for eligible WRA working in the informal sector is economically attractive as it amounts to less than 0.5% of GDP nominal of Indonesia. While such a program would be perceived as a marked increase from current public health spending at the onset, such an investment could substantially contribute to the success of breastfeeding and substantial corresponding public health savings given that more than half of working Indonesian WRA are employed in the informal sector. Such policies should be further explored while taking into consideration realistic budget constraints and implementation capacity.

Implementation of two policies to extend maternity leave and further restrict marketing of breast milk substitutes in Vietnam: a qualitative study

“…, 2017 ). If extending maternity leave protections is not politically or economically feasible, alternatives can include providing maternity leave cash transfers ( Siregar et al. , 2021 ).…”

Gearing to success with national breastfeeding programmes: The Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) initiative experience

“…Furthermore, by bringing key stakeholders together BBF facilitated the development of advocacy and applied research studies needed for further understanding how to advance breastfeeding in Mexico (González de Cosío et al, 2018), including: (1) The development and publication of the first‐ever position on Breastfeeding protection, promotion and support issued by the Mexican Academy of Medicine (González de Cosío Martinez & Hernández‐Cordero, 2016); (2) In‐depth social network analysis of key breastfeeding stakeholders in Mexico (Buccini et al, 2020); (3) In‐depth analysis of breastfeeding coverage in mass media including social media before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Ferré‐Eguiluz et al, 2020; Vilar‐Compte et al, 2021); (4) The costing of extending paid maternity leave for women working in the formal sector (Vilar‐Compte et al, 2020) and a maternity cash transfer benefit for women employed in the informal economy (Vilar‐Compte et al, 2019). The costing work has now been extended to Brazil, Ghana, Indonesia and the Philippines (Siregar et al, 2021; Ulep et al, 2021; Vilar‐Compte et al, 2020). Over the past 6 years, decision‐makers, civil society organisations and champion legislators have used the BBF recommendations and related studies to advance breastfeeding policies.…”