Indonesia’s economy is built on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This sector provides jobs for 97 percent of the workforce and accounts for 61 percent of the value of all goods and services produced in the economy, or gross domestic product. Despite their crucial role in the economy, MSMEs still face challenges in getting support to sustain and grow their business. On the other hand, governments often have difficulties in supporting MSMEs due to the lack of data availability to better understand the condition and development of MSMEs in the country.

Indonesia’s Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) requested UN Global Pulse Jakarta to develop a data analysis tool to better understand the situation, to support its evidence-based policy and decision making. The goal was to create a flexible dashboard system that would meet policymakers’ changing needs and allow for easy integration of new data and visualizations in the future.

The resulting data analysis tool, called MEDIAN, offers valuable insights into the precise locations of small businesses and the factors that support or hinder their development, leading to better-informed decisions.

Our impact

MEDIAN, hosted on Bappenas’s website, could affect the country’s more than 65 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by reshaping the way Indonesian government institutions approach data about and from MSMEs. Policymakers should now better understand the challenges faced by MSMEs and make informed decisions to support their growth. 

Global Pulse’s mixed-methods methodology has given Bappenas new perspectives on handling MSMEs’ data, and significantly strengthened its  knowledge management system. The collaboration convinced the directorate of the need to hire its first first data scientist/programmer. Bappenas now understands the importance of data-sharing mechanisms and has laid the groundwork for future partnerships within the MSMEs ecosystem, driving systemic change towards better evidence-based policymaking.

Our lessons

  • Development of the MEDIAN tool in collaboration with Bappenas demonstrated the advantages of data-driven decisions for public institutions. 
  • Designing the service to improve the end user’s experience provided insights into holistic problem-solving methodologies. 
  • Unified, cross-ministerial databases are important for formulating policies that respond to MSMEs’ needs.