Workshop on Implementation Preparation for the Smart Indonesia Programme

06 February 2015

To help improve the Cash for Poor Students programme (BSM), which was launched in 2008, the government is rolling out the Smart Indonesia Programme. To that aim, the Secretariat of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) facilitated the Workshop on Program Implementation Preparation on 4-5 February 2015 at its office in Jakarta.

The Smart Indonesia Programme provides financial assistance to school-aged children from disadvantaged households via the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. In 2015, the programme plans to help 21 million children from underprivileged families. Through this workshop, TNP2K, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs aim to develop implementation mechanisms for the Smart Indonesia Programme, especially for targeting disadvantaged school-aged children either enrolled in school/madrasah or no longer in education.

Bambang Widianto, TNP2K’s Executive Secretary, stressed the need for strong cooperation between ministries and agencies to achieve the goals of the Smart Indonesia programme. “Although there are challenges in getting the data of children who are entitled to receive benefits, it is not impossible. From past experiences with BSM, it is possible,” he said.

Beneficiaries of the Smart Indonesia programme will receive a Smart Indonesia Card (KIP). In late 2014, the government distributed these cards to 161,840 students, who came from an initial one million recipients of the Family Welfare Card (KKS). Gradually, KIPs will be distributed to the children of 15.5 million targeted underprivileged families with the lowest socioeconomic status, equivalent to roughly 25 percent of families in Indonesia. KIPs will be given to children in formal education (e.g. from SD/MI until SMA/SMK/MA), as well as those not yet or no longer in school in order to receive education through information and non-formal educational systems.

The workshop was attended by 70 participants from the Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Culture, the National Development Agency (Bappenas), the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Participants attended intensive technical discussions between implementations on mechanisms to: (a) collect data on the Smart Indonesia Programme via the KIP on students who have received BSM through the Social Protection Card (KPS) and suggestions from schools/madrasahs in 2014; (b) collect KIP data on students from families holding KPS/KKS cards who have not yet but have the potential to become recipients of the Smart Indonesia Programme; (c) and school-aged children from KPS/KKS or disadvantaged families who have not yet and/or are no longer attending school.

Thamrin Kasman, Secretary Director General of Elementary Education at the Ministry of Education and Culture said the key was the collection of accurate data on children, “as well as ensuring that they receive the benefits.”

Through the workshop, participants were able to map students from KPS/KKS families and other poor families enrolled in school and could potentially receive assistance through the Smart Indonesia Programme and KIP in 2015. In addition, they agreed to some alternative mechanisms for targeting school-aged children from poor families who parents hold KPS and KKS cards. The participants also agreed on the KPS/KKS socialisation materials to promote the enrolment in school or return to education of school-aged children.

Subsequent efforts will see the implementation of an Advanced Technical Workshop to further discuss the socialisation strategy of the Smart Indonesia Programme in 2015, as well as programme guidelines, MIS complaints mechanisms, and monitoring and evaluation plans.