20 December 2023, Jakarta – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), held the launch of collaboration for the development of One International Migration Data or SDMI, on Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at the BPS Head Quarter in Jakarta. The activity that was attended by the Deputy for Coordination on Quality of Children, Women, and Youth of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs and Acting Head of BPS, aims to officially launch the collaborative efforts to implement SDMI and introduce the draft Blueprint and Roadmap for SDMI 2023-2028 prepared by BPS and IOM through dialogues with various ministries/institutions; policy summary prepared by BPS and BRIN; guidance to SDMI concepts and definitions which was a collaborative product of BPS and ILO; as well as a prototype of SDMI portal that was developed to contain various standardized international migration data collected from ministries/institutions.

International migration has become one of the most challenging issues faced by policy makers around the world due to the complexity of mobility and the interconnectedness of migration issues with other socio-economic issues. Reliable and timely data is needed to inform migration policymakers and for the provision of humanitarian assistance, as well as to maximize the positive impact of migration on development. In this case, it requires integration of data that has been spread across institutions and organizations from the village to the national level. This migration data integration needs a strong cross-sector coordination and an integrated system to strengthen better data governance and management.

"To create safe, orderly and orderly international migration, the commitment of the relevant ministries and institutions is needed to continue collaborating and working together through SDMI, so we can produce accurate and integrated data. This way, SDMI will provide a strong foundation for policy makers to formulate effective and evidence-based policies," said Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, Plt. Head of BPS.

SDMI is a significant initiative and a step that shows the active role of the Government of Indonesia in realizing better management of international migration data. SDMI was developed and introduced since 2019 through a series of consultation and coordination meetings. Throughout 2023, series of activities have been carried out to realize this, such as initial coordination meetings, consultation meetings with key ministries and institutions, meetings with sub-national governments, development of a draft blueprint and roadmap for SDMI, preparation of policy summaries, preparation of guidelines for the concept and definition of SDMI, portal development, as well as training related to migration and preparation of metadata and data standards.

Representing the Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture, Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum, the Deputy for Coordination on Quality of Children, Women, and Youth, said “the SDMI is expected to help identifying the potential positive impacts and adverse risks of migration, thus contributing to the better protection and empowerment of Indonesian migrant workers and their families. While mentioning the International Migrant Day, which fell on December 18, Woro mentioned on the importance of realizing the protection of migrant workers and their families as part of the efforts in improving human development in the country.

As a UN organization dedicated to migration affairs, IOM, represented by Jeffrey Labovitz as the Chief of Mission for Indonesia, also emphasized the importance of the SDMI initiative to realize well-managed and evidence-based migration. "Well-managed migration builds on comprehensive, coherent, and forward-looking migration policies, which are impossible to produce without reliable data and evidence. IOM has closely collaborated with the BPS and SDI Secretariat to develop the draft SDMI Blueprint and Road Map for 2023-2030 as to provide a clear strategy in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the SDMI".

This activity marked as the first step of SDMI implementation which was expected to drive further dialogue and discussion for the realization of SDMI by considering the scope of collection and use of international migration data in Indonesia, the division of roles and responsibilities between relevant ministries and institutions, coordination mechanisms through the SDMI forum, and technical aspects, such as personal data protection, as well as data interoperability support systems that can be mutually agreed.

This activity is supported by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM, United States Department of State) through the Asia Regional Migration Programme that is implemented by IOM in 12 countries, including Indonesia. The launch of the SDMI collaboration is expected to support Indonesia's position as one of the champion countries in the world for the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) as well as to achieve Golden Indonesia 2045 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).