Inkrispena Organization Profile

A. Background

Indonesian economy is being driven toward integration into the global free market economy. The integration process is signified by many signing of either regional or international trade agreement and government’s rules and regulations to attract foreign capital.  So many dissatisfaction among the people regarding the quality of life that they experienced under this kind of mode of economic, but there are seems so little understanding on the fundamental of their problems and also the fact that there are so difficult to look for feasible available option of alternative economy. This demonstrates how capitalism is widely accepted socially and politically as if it is the only available economic system.

However, one should notice that capitalism lives through the creation of scarcity, which is through the creation crisis. It can then be said that capitalism is the crisis itself. In this regard, the world economy in general and the Indonesian economy in particular are prone to crisis. Here, the economic crisis is defined as a structural disruption in the economic system. As every society has a great dependence on the economy, the impact of the economic crisis cannot be localized; it spreads wide to other sectors of society ranging from money devaluation, high rate of unemployment, food scarcity, environmental pollution or damage, up to marginalization of social class, ethnic, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and so on.

Admittedly, there are a lot of researches and studies on economic crisis and its socio-political impacts on society. However, most of the conducted researches and studies on these issues saw the economic crisis and its impacts from the standpoint of the state as one of the global players in the world economy, instead of the victim of the economic crisis: the people. The economic crisis is then viewed as a result of the invisible hand or the (global) market dynamic. Thus, such research and studies fail to recognize the root of the problem which causes the economic crisis, namely capitalism.

On the other hand, however, research on how the people cope with the crisis in their daily live and – more importantly – research on an alternative model of economic system to capitalism are still a rarity. That is why we think that research on these subjects is highly relevant and should be developed and intensified to look for other possibilities. In order to answer this challenge, the Research Centre for Crisis and Alternative Development Strategy was established on November 28^th 2008.

B. Vision & Mission

The Research Centre for Crisis and Alternative Development Strategy is a social research institute which focuses itself on social scientific research around the economic crisis and its socio-political impacts on society. The Research Centre is a scientific social research institute; it aims to collect, analyze, and provide data as well as tools of analysis and scientific information for academia, the government, and the society.

C. Management

In order to achieve our aims, The Research Centre for Crisis and Alternative Development Strategy is supervised by the board of founder and the daily operation is carry out by the executive team. The board of founder and the executive team are:

In running its operation, The executive team is supported by Research Team and Finance & Administration Team.

D. Program and Activities

Inkrispena strategic programs are:

1. Transformative Social Protection; and
2. Alternative and transformative Development Strategy.

Inkrispena’s activities are ranging from research, training and facilitation of workers group.

Some of Inkrispena’s past research activities are:

• Working paper on Analysis tools on Gender dan Natural Resource Management: A tools for analysis;
• Round Table Discussion on “Socio-economic Crisis in Indonesia 1997 and 2008: Impacts and Responds from the Government” (March 2010);
• Preliminary research activity to formulate a Concept Note on Transformative Social Protection in Indonesia (April – May 2010);
• Quantitative and Qualitative Research on “Consumption Pattern of Female Labor (Family)” (July – December 2010);
• Qualitative Research on “The Mystification of Safeguard and Impacts of ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement” (joint research with Institute for Global Justice, July 2010 – March 2011);
• Qualitative Research on Corporate Social Responsibilities: Impact on Labour Union Development (April – July 2011);
• Qualitative Research on Decent Work in Apparel and Footwear Sector: Perspective on Compliance to Ecosoc Covenant (October – December 2012);
• MP3EI in Horticulture Subsector: The Case Study of PT. Strawberindo Lestari (2013-2014);
• Labour Condition at FSC Certified Timber Production in Indonesia (2015);
• Urban Health Protection Services and Workers’ Resistance in Greater Jakarta: Problems and Potentials of Expanding Coverage of National Health Insurance Through Taxation (2015);
• Ethnography of Human Rights of Women Workers’ in Cakung National Industrial Zone (2015).

And Inkrispena’s ongoing research activities are:

Security of transnational flows of natural resources in Indonesia –
a study into the role of private and state security actors in protecting the interests of the international extractive industry and their impact on the human rights and security of local people.\

Aside from research works, inkrispena also working on establishing national and international network for the purpose of solidarity and knowledge exchanges.