Regional Steering Committee Meeting of UN Global Pulse Asia Pacific - Resident Coordinator's Speech, Gita Sabharwal

Ibu Teni Widuriyanti, Executive Secretary, Bappenas

Pak Tri Tharyat, Director General for Multilateral Cooperation, Kemlu

Pak Tormarbulang Lumbantobing, CEO IndoAID 

Tim Stapleton, Minister Counsellor DFAT  

David McLachlan-Karr, Regional Director Asia-Pacific

Representatives from Bappenas, Kemlu, and Coordinating Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Planning 

UN colleagues 

Selamat Pagi.

It is a pleasure to join you as we brainstorm how Global Pulse can further leverage innovation, technology and strategic foresight for scalable solutions in Indonesia and the region. 

This steering committee meeting also provides us with a platform to discuss and endorse strategic priorities, strengthen higher-order data innovation, and scale up digital capabilities for enhancing policymaking for targeted countries across Asia and the Pacific. 

This is critical in today’s challenging geopolitical dynamics, which are testing times for the UN globally, and will demand innovation and hard prioritisation.  

Having said this, as the RC in Indonesia, I have had the privilege of comprehensively leveraging the expertise of Global Pulse. 

Global Pulse draws on strategic foresight and horizon scanning to generate critical insights.

This applies especially to the future of MSMEs and the drivers that will shape the future of resource-dependent enterprises and changing nature of work, especially in the gig economy. 

This is important as MSMEs are critical to Indonesia’s economic transformation in support of the President’s vision of an 8% annual growth in GDP.

Just as importantly, 65% of MSMEs are owned and managed by women, which means they are key to empowering women and bridging the gender gap. 
 

 
The two flagship initiatives — sea level rise modelling and a targeting tool to identify optimal locations of kitchens for Makan Bergizi Gratis — showcase fit-for-purpose solutions supporting policymakers. 

Global Pulse is seeing increasing demand from line ministries for integrated data analytics, the application of earth observation and mobile positioning data, as well as AI to pilot innovative solutions for resilience. 

These demands will require this global UN initiative to foster even deeper partnerships, including with the big data hub embedded within BPS, and to invest in building capabilities for long-term sustainability. 

Global Pulse will also be leveraging inputs from RCs across Asia and the Pacific to strategize engagements with governments. 

We have 4 RCs joining us today for this very purpose.  

Let me conclude by thanking Bappenas for hosting the Global Pulse office, Kemlu for their continued leadership, IndoAid for supporting SSC, and DFAT for their foresight and strategic vision combined with financial assistance. 

Together your contributions are enabling Global Pulse to support the UN 2.0 transformation and offer innovative solutions to deal with rapidly changing developments, humanitarian and resilience challenges. 

Thank you.