This report was prepared by Jan Pierskalla, an Associate Professor at Ohio State University, United States. Sameer Khatiwada, Social Sector Specialist at the Southeast Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Emma Allen, Country Economist at ADB’s Indonesia Resident Mission supervised the report and provided technical input. Ayako Inagaki, Director of ADB’s Social Sector Division; Winfried F. Wicklein, Country Director of ADB’s Indonesia Resident Mission; and Said Zaidansyah, Deputy Country Director of ADB’s Indonesia Resident Mission provided guidance and support.

This study would not have been possible without support from the Government of Indonesia. We thank Slamet Soedarsono, Deputy for Politics, Law, Defence and Security at the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS); Pungky Sumadi, Deputy for Population and Manpower, BAPPENAS; and Tatang Muttaqin, Director for the State Apparatus, BAPPENAS for their input. We are also grateful to Avanti Fontana, Special Advisor to the Chief of Staff, Office of the President (KSP) and Agus Sudrajat, Deputy for Research and Management Innovation, National Institute of Public Administration (LAN) for their valuable feedback to the ADB team.

We acknowledge the contribution of Bima Haria Wibisana, Head of the Civil Service Agency (BKN); Setiawan Wangsaatmaja, former Deputy for Human Resources Development at the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (MenPAN); and Mudzakir, Secretary Deputy of Human Resources Apparatus at MenPAN. The BAPPENAS workshop on 12 March 2020 brought together participants, including senior officials from KSP, LAN, and MenPAN, who engaged in a lively discussion on the preliminary findings of ADB’s civil service diagnostic study, the role of the public sector, and the need for better acquisition and management of talent to deliver public goods and services.

Workshop discussants offered detailed and beneficial insights on civil service diagnostics: Eko Prasojo from the University of Indonesia; R. Siti Zuhro of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences; Agus Pramusinto, Chairman of the State Civil Apparatus Commission; Muhammad Taufiq, Deputy of Competency Development Policy of LAN;and Jaleswari Pramodhawardhani, Deputy of Politics, Law, Security and Human Rights at KSP.