Collaborative governance to close the talent gap and unlock force for good

Covid-19, digitalisation, climate change… all these structural disruptions necessitate a new generation of talents as a force for good. This is a critical issue for Asia, home to over 4.5 billion people which also happens to be among the world’s fastest growing economies and most at-risk regions from climate change. AVPN Global Conference 2022 graciously connected us at Pijar Foundation with a diverse pool of changemakers on the same mission to close Asia’s talent gap and improve our planet’s sustainability. Our interactions converged on the notion that greater collaborative governance between public, private, and community sectors is a critical path forward to collectively win Asia’s future, now.

I could not hide my excitement when AVPN invited me to speak at their 2022 Global Conference’s ‘Building the Talent Pipeline for Asia’ Panel. I have always been amazed with AVPN’s conferences, and I finally got to speak in it – on an issue that is very near and dear to me and my organisation, Pijar Foundation! It is also a privilege to see my home country, Indonesia, open its borders and play conference host.

COVID-19, digitalisation, climate change, and other structural disruptions necessitate a new generation of talents as a force for good. For the 4.5 billion of us in Asia, this is a critical issue given Asia is among the world’s fastest growing economies and most at-risk regions from climate change impacts. Asian nations need adept minds to drive capital for impact.

The AVPN talent pipeline Panel convened powerful representatives from 5F World, J-PAL, Schmidt Futures, and Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (moderator). The Panellists emphasised the importance of tailoring talent development strategies to local contexts, as well as mainstreaming our initiatives into government policies to achieve meaningful scale and impact. To this end, greater collaborative governance between public, private, and community sectors is key.

In Indonesia, a primary driver of talent gap is the disconnect between subjects taught in formal schools/Universities and real-world employment needs. Pijar is grateful to play a part in building a critical mass to close Indonesia’s academia-industry gap.

All in all, the session was very powerful – reminding us of the steps needed to build a solid talent pipeline in Asia and realise the Asian Decade. In the future, Pijar hopes to learn more from other corners of Asia; the panel covered mostly Indonesia and South Asia contexts.

Beyond employability and growth, talent development is critical to improve our planet’s sustainability, of which energy transition is a crucial element. A day after my panel, Pijar and AVPN jointly organised a luncheon with major global philanthropists, intergovernmental institutions, and media platforms working on energy transition. We were honored that the Indonesian Vice Minister of State-Owned Enterprises and Special Staff to the Indonesian Minister of Investment graciously joined us.

To bring the sustainability vision to life, we do need more North-South collaborative dialogues and partnerships involving public, private, and community sectors. In energy transition, one potential collaboration area is workers’ reskilling and upskilling to enable effective, efficient use of advanced technologies like renewables, low-emissions mobility, and carbon capture.

During the luncheon, we also proudly announced Pijar’s flagship ‘Global Future Fellows’ (GFF) program, which seeks to elevate public, private, and community leaders and create an action roadmap to safeguard Indonesia’s sustainable and just energy transition. In his speech, Pijar’s Executive Director highlighted how GFF, and the collaborative governance spirit generally, reflects Indonesia’s traditional ‘gotong royong’ spirit, which is collective resource-sharing to execute complex tasks.

Our hats off to AVPN for convening such a global, powerful conference! We meaningfully connected with diverse global changemakers on the same mission to improve our future talent and planet. We hope to see the interactions during the conference yield many fruitful public, private and community collaborations to collectively win Asia’s future, now.

By Cazadira Fediva Tamzil; supported by Stevinson Tendon and Indira Zahra-Aridati