Policy Research
The results of a 2011 SMERU study on urban spatial poverty and the relationship between city spatial planning and efforts to reduce poverty in Kota (the City of) Surakarta and Kota Makassar suggest that there is only a limited understanding by stakeholders, particularly the local government work units (SKPD), of the relationship between the elements of spatial planning and efforts to reduce poverty.
While the Government of Indonesia has made international commitments to achieve universal basic education by 2015, there are still many issues surrounding education which go beyond the issue of access; these include, in particular, issues of equity and quality. In order to deal with these problems, the government needs to be able to rely on the availability of evidence-based recommendations drawn from sound research.
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.
Decentralization is marked by the issuing of various policies on service standards. Consequently, the quality of public services can be measured. For example, the central government has issued regulations on minimum service standards which the regional governments have to comply with.
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.
