Poverty and Inequality Analysis
- Inequality has been on the rise on Indonesia during the last decade
- Consumption inequality (inequality on how much households spend) affects future economic growth
- Increases in education inequality (inequality on levels of educational attainment) have dire consequences for future unemployment rate
- Rising inequality poses significant risk for the economy and human development
This newsletter edition examines the effectiveness of integrating a women’s empowerment approach into poverty reduction programs in Indonesia, with a main focus on social protection programs.
With the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the issue of child poverty has re-emerged. Like other vulnerable groups, children is one of the groups that is most affected by poverty and will be affected for a long term. Because children experience various forms of deprivation, a holistic intervention is required in order to improve their welfare status.
The SMERU Research Institute is pleased to publish its first Annual Report since becoming an independent and autonomous research institution in 2001. From 1998 to 2000, SMERU was an ad hoc research unit set up to examine the social impact of the Indonesian economic crisis.
Over the past two years the SMERU Research Institute has been striving to deliver quality research. The challenge goes on, directed at alleviating poverty and ultimately benefiting the lives of the Indonesian people. The year 2002 was an important one for SMERU. We completed another year of accomplishments, challenges and hard work, yet there remains much more to be done.
