Astara Lubis is a program development specialist with 20 years of experience in policy and organizational analysis, stakeholder engagement and management of large-scale portfolio programs in Indonesia. She has worked with international organizations such as Australia Agency for International Development (now DFAT), Australia Department of Education, Australia Department of Agriculture, APEC Business Advisory Council, UNDP and USAID, with significant experience in political economy, democratic governance, community development, health system strengthening and public health.
As program director for R4D in Indonesia, Ms. Lubis provides guidance, oversight and facilitation of the implementation of strategic health purchasing (SHP) in the field of maternal and newborn health. She also supports finalization of TB SHP design and application. She initiated the technical working group for SHP in 2019, an inter-institutions forum with the key tasks of analyzing and providing policy recommendation on Indonesia health financing for Indonesia decision makers. The forum consists of the ministry of health, national health insurance agency, national agency for planning and development, ministry of finance and professional associations.
Before joining R4D, Ms. Lubis was a research director for the Indonesia APEC business advisory which provided policy analysis and market research to 63 high profile CEOs of 21 member nations. She also managed development programs for AusAID, UNDP and the Australian agriculture and education department.
Ms. Lubis holds a master of arts in development studies from Monash University Australia and BA in international relations from Catholic Parahyangan University Indonesia. She is a native speaker of Indonesian and speaks fluent English.
