Developing the Capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Support Women Migrant Workers Background  The importance of migrant workers and in particular women migrant workers to the Indonesian economy has grown over the past decade. The number of migrant workers leaving Indonesia has essentially doubled every year since the East Asia crisis in 1998, and the total now is well over a million Indonesians working in other countries, more than three-quarters (76%) of them women. Recorded remittances in 2001 exceeded $2.0 billion, a significant amount of money when total income from the country.s large agricultural sector was $3.5 billion. Because all of that money is earned directly by workers who are largely self-selected from among the poor, remittances have become a leading contribution to poverty reduction. Recognition of the role that labor migration plays in the Indonesian economy has come slowly, but it has come. Nevertheless, despite the growing awareness of the role that migrant workers play in national development,  Indonesia.s management of  its export labor market leaves much to be desired. The country's export labor market functions very badly, leading to rights abuses of the workers, a growing bad press nationally, and a number of economic inefficiencies that prevent migration's contribution to development from being realized. To help Indonesia get a better grasp of the overall regulatory environment under which labor migration occurs, in 2001 the Bank provided an Institutional Development Grant to the State Ministry of Women's Empowerment. The main objectives of the IDF were to provide technical assistance so that the Ministry could for the first time get an overview of the scale and technical nature of migrant women's labor, and to encourage a working relationship between the different ministries and civil society groups concerned with the issue so that they could develop a policy agenda for discussion at the highest levels of government. Benefits from the IDF have been multiple. Seven of the eight contracts funded through the grant produced useful recommendations. The grant and the stakeholders who were involved in implementing it played a useful role in propelling migrant worker issues to the top of the national policy agenda, and in generating cross-agency support for follow-up actions. This new IDF proposal  builds on the achievements and momentum of the women migrant worker's program. The grant is being requested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the main line agencies concerned with  migrant workers. The Ministry would like to develop the capacity to provide consular services to migrant workers, including the development of a pre-departure training program and, where necessary, post-return insurance and medical treatment. Activities This IDF includes only three activities, but all three are critical inputs into the proposed Ministry capacity development program: a. Strengthening the Ministry.s information system: Each embassy currently reports basic information about Indonesian migrant workers back to a central Jakarta database. However, both reporting and data entry are done manually, which is inefficient and prone to numerous mistakes. It is also inaccessible to the public. The purpose of this activity, which was requested by the director of the office, is to modernize the Ministry.s systems so that they can be made more useful to embassy staff, and so that the data can be placed on a website and made available to the public. In addition, introducing computerized data recording to the ministry will allow their information systems to link up with other ministries. websites and information. b. Training and capacity development for Ministry staff: The Ministry.s self-diagnosis of problems facing their ability to handle the growing number of migrant worker issues highlighted the general lack of knowledge among embassy staff about what the right procedures and resources are. National level policy reforms such as the recently signed migrant worker.s bills or the collaboration between the top levels of the Ministry and the National Commission on Violence Against Women need to be translated into operational procedures. The Ministry is proposing to introduce a series of course modules into its standard training program for embassy staff. This activity will help the Ministry work with civil society groups, training institutes, and migrant worker.s organizations to develop and implement a high quality training program for  Ministry officials. The program will include training materials and curricula, handouts, checklists, and embassy-based refresher programs that can be provided in-country. c. Develop options for embassy based consular services: Translating better policies and procedures for migrant workers is particularly challenging because of the unique nature of migrant work itself. Ministry proposals to provide help host country desks for migrant workers foundered because host country governments do not want to accredit non-governmental organizations. However, a review of embassy services provided by other large labor-exporting Asian countries showed that there is substantial variation in what can be provided through embassies. These depend heavily on the opportunities that exist within the host countries themselves . their own regulations, support services, legal standards, and willingness to find constructive solutions. This activity will consist of workshops held in the three largest recipients of Indonesian migrant labor . Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Hosted by the Ministry, they will include host and Indonesian NGOs specializing in migrant labor support, representatives from countries such as Sri Lanka and the Philippines that have found ways to provide embassy support services, and senior counterparts from the host countries. Their purpose is to develop an action program for consular support services that works with host country government counterparts and NGOs. Benefits from the Grant The potential benefits of this grant are substantial. The three pillars of the Bank.s Country Assistance Strategy for Indonesia are to improve governance and the investment climate, and to reduce poverty. Strengthening the operating framework for migrant workers contributes to all three goals in a unique and interesting way, and benefits from the grant will be reaped on a very large scale.