The yearly financing need of providing paid maternity leave in the informal sector in Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: The economic cost of not breastfeeding in Indonesia is estimated at US$1.5-9.4 billion annually, the highest in South East Asia. Half of the 33.6 million working women of reproductive age (WRA) in Indonesia (15-49 years) are informal employees, meaning they are working as casual workers or they are self-employed (small scale business) and assisted by unpaid/family worker(s). No specific maternity protection entitlements are currently available for WRA working informally in Indonesia. This study aims to estimate the financing need of providing maternity leave cash transfer (MCT) for WRA working in the informal sector in Indonesia. METHOD: The costing methodology used is the adapted version of the World Bank methodology by Vilar-Compte et al, following pre-set steps to estimate costs using national secondary data. We used the 2018 Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey to estimate the number of women working informally who gave birth within the last year. The population covered, potential cash transfer's unitary cost, the incremental coverage of the policy in terms of time and coverage, and the administrative costs were used to estimate the cost of MCT for the informal sector. RESULT: At 100% coverage for 13 weeks of leave, the yearly financing need of MCT ranged from US$175million (US$152/woman) to US$669million (US$583/woman). The share of the yearly financing need did not exceed 0.5% of Indonesian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). CONCLUSIONS: The yearly financing need of providing MCT for eligible WRA working in the informal sector is economically attractive as it amounts to less than 0.5% of GDP nominal of Indonesia. While such a program would be perceived as a marked increase from current public health spending at the onset, such an investment could substantially contribute to the success of breastfeeding and substantial corresponding public health savings given that more than half of working Indonesian WRA are employed in the informal sector. Such policies should be further explored while taking into consideration realistic budget constraints and implementation capacity.

The financing need for expanding paid maternity leave to support breastfeeding in the informal sector in the Philippines.

In low- and middle-income countries, almost three-fourths of women in the labour force lack maternity protection. In the Philippines, current laws do not guarantee paid maternity leave to workers in the informal economy. A non-contributory maternity cash transfer to informal sector workers could be used to promote social equity and economic productivity and could provide health benefits by helping mothers meet their breastfeeding goals. The objective of the study is to provide a realistic cost estimate and to assess the financial feasibility of implementing a publicly financed, non-contributory maternity cash transfer programme to the informal sector in the Philippines. Using a costing framework developed in Mexico, the study estimated the annual cost of a maternity cash transfer programme. The methodology estimated the unit cost of the programme, the incremental coverage of maternity leave and expected number of enrollees. Different unit and incremental costs assumptions were used to provide a range of scenarios. Administrative costs for running the programme were included in the analysis. The annual financing need of implementing maternity cash transfer programme in the Philippines ranges from a minimum scenario of USD42 million (14-week maternity cash transfer) to a more ideal scenario of USD309 million (26-week maternity cash transfer). The latter is financially feasible as it is equivalent to less than 0.1% of the country's gross domestic product substantially lower than the share cost of not breastfeeding (0.7%). The annual cost of the programme is only 10% of the total cost of the largest conditional cash transfer programme.