• Social contracting regulations and policies should be inclusive of community and civil society organisations, without imposing stringent conditions or legal barriers that restrict their access to funding.
• Flexible and reliable social contracting funds strengthen community systems, and stronger community systems mean more resilient health systems, capable of delivering essential health and harm reduction services to marginalised populations.
• The role and engagement of community-led and civil society organisations are crucial in building inclusive and sustainable social contracting mechanisms for stigmatised and criminalised groups, such as people who use drugs.
• Technical assistance and funding from donors and development partners are vital in convincing policymakers of the need for inclusive social contracting policies, and in equipping them with the tools and resources required to formulate these policies and their implementation mechanisms.
• Joint advocacy from community and civil society organisations strengthens policy influence and builds real collaboration with government — unlocking social contracting funds in the process.

• Limited awareness and understanding on social contracting: Many community-led and civil society organisations lack awareness of government funding opportunities, partly because the city government does not publicise this information and partly because some organisations are not proactive in seeking it out. Limited understanding of application, utilisation, and accountability mechanisms also discourages organisations from submitting government proposals.
• Legal and administrative barriers are significant: Many community-led and civil society organisations have not completed the legal registration required to access funding, while additional requirements—such as three consecutive years of audited financial statements and proof of tax compliance—further restrict eligibility. In particular there are additional legal barriers for organisations led by people who inject drugs to complete the registration process.
• Limited funding ceiling: The maximum grant available (IDR 50,000,000 – USD 2800) falls short of actual programme costs, such as the IDR 56,000,000 (USD 3108) needed to fund a single outreach worker based on Bandung’s minimum wage.
• Non-regular funding: Regulations limit organisations to one proposal per financial year conflicting with the need for continuous, long-term programming, particularly for behavioural interventions.

FOR GOVERNMENT- NATIONAL/PROVINCIAL/DISTRICTS

• Assess and review national and local regulations to ensure local community organisations are eligible for government grant funding. The regulations should be free from stringent conditions and legal barriers, enabling organisations with limited technical capacity to access such funding.
• Plan for flexible and continuous funding for community-led organisations: Community system is crucial to strengthen health system and mediate the access of marginalised populations to health facilities. Flexible and continuous funding will benefit community-led organisations and provide them with the crucial support.

FOR DONORS AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS

• Support social contracting guidelines and policies integrated into national system: Often donor-led social contracting are short-lived limited to guidelines (in paper only) without government ownership. Social contracting guidelines should be translated into policies and should be integrated into national system under specific ministry and department.
• Technical support and funding to government to implement social contracting mechanism: Goverments may not be acquainted with social contracting process due to their limited engagement with community-led and civil society organisations. Donors and technical partners should support government to prepare technical guidelines and train the government officials to effectively implement social contracting mechanism.
• Provide grants for budget advocacy to civil society and community-led organisations: Community-led and civil society organisations play crucial role to influence government budget allocation and also support government in design and effective implementation of social contracting mechanism.

FOR COMMUNITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

• Joint advocacy and support for social contracting mechanism inclusive of community-led and civil society organisations: Community-led and civil society organisations need to collectively advocate to the local and national government on community favorable social contracting regulations free from any restrictions.
• Constructive dialogue and collaborations with government help create supportive and community-friendly government representatives who will eventually formulate social contracting policies and allocate reliable budget for communities.