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C
onfronting
F
amily
P
overty
Impact is varied, but the World Bank 2012 report shows
family-based programmes conditional on the family’s
participation in education and health-care services such
as Conditional Cash Transfer (PKH) to have more positive
impacts on children’s well-being outcomes. Learning from
different programme evaluations, Indonesia is now moving
towards an integrated social protection system to address
this very situation. The system aims to work comprehen-
sively to assist families living in poverty in meeting their
basic survival needs, to help them overcome and get out
of poverty, and to protect the vulnerable ones from falling
into poverty. Social insurance and safety nets will also be
provided to help people manage different shocks throughout
their life cycle.
The integration starts with a massive effort to create a
unified database, which will be utilized by more than one
programme to ensure comprehensive targeting of families in
need. Recently, the Government launched Social Protection
Cards for families living in the bottom 25 per cent, with a
plan to roll this out further to the bottom 40 per cent in the
next phase. The card guarantees all members of the household
who have it to be able to access health insurance, scholarships
for students and a rice subsidy. Soon it will cover even more
programmes and interventions.
Indonesia is on the right track and is moving in the right
direction. Greater attention is currently given to assistance
conditional on the family’s involvement in child well-being
outlets. Programmes like PKH have proven to increase
prenatal and postnatal health outcomes as well as children’s
chances of staying in school. PKH intervention is currently
being strengthened by adding a specific component to address
stunting more seriously. It looks at models to improve the
linkage between the nutrition supply side with the demand
side who are PKH participants in select areas. Family devel-
opment sessions are also being included in the programme
modules. If and when they are confirmed to have a positive
impact, such models will be scaled up to wider ranges.
Is Indonesia doing enough? There is room for improve-
ment. Addressing child poverty and vulnerability is not only
imperative for human rights compliance, but also economi-
cally sensible. Investing in children’s well-being will result
in the better quality of human resources and therefore a
stronger and bigger economy. The complexity and urgency
of the persisting problems call for the following assertions to
be considered by everyone involved, be it the Government,
private sector, civil society or development partners.
Firstly, building people’s capabilities to prevent and
manage shocks in every stage of life (birth, school, work,
family care, old age) must continue to be situated in a
family-based approach, including preventing children from
being separated from their families due to poverty. Children
belong in families and are entitled to live and thrive in an
environment that can protect them from harm and provide
them with access to reach their full potential. The pream-
ble of the Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified by
Indonesia in 1996 puts an emphasis on this. It stipulates that
every child should grow up in a family environment. Family,
as the natural environment for the growth and well-being of
children, should therefore be afforded the necessary assis-
tance so it can fully assume those responsibilities.
Family is the best care and protection every child should
enjoy. However, certain situations separate children from
their families. It can be poverty, a family abuse situation, or
crisis and emergencies. The 2007 study conducted by Save
the Children estimated that more than half a million children
spend most of their childhood in childcare institutions. Only
State budget expenditure on social assistance programmes in 2011
Source: Indonesia’s Ministry of National Development Planning, 2012
Categories
2011 Annual Expenditure (IDR)
Per cent
Rice for the Poor (RASKIN)
15,267,000,000,000
56.43
Health Assistance (JAMKESMAS)
5,100,000,000,000
18.85
Scholarship for the Poor (BSM)
3,900,000,000,000
14.42
Conditional Cash Transfer (PKH)
1,610,000,000,000
5.95
Disaster Assistance & Relief
429,040,000,000
1.59
Other Social Assistance (for disability JSPACA, for vulnerable elderly JSPLU)
358,890,800,000
1.33
Social Assistance for Vulnerable Children (PKSA)
287,127,300,000
1.06
Assistance for Elderly
101,114,400,000
0.37
TOTAL Social Assistance
27,053,172,500,000
100
Share to State Budget
1,320,751,300,000,000
2.05
Share to GDP
7,226,900,000,000,000
0.37