Policy Research
During 2012, SMERU continued with its main activities on research, dissemination and outreach, networking, and capacity building. A major achievement for SMERU in terms of policy impact was gained this year with the assignment from the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to assist in the development of the Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion of Poverty Reduction (MP3KI).
The year 2013 was a busy time for SMERU. In addition to completing 11 studies, SMERU also organized 16 seminars and workshops during the year, including three international conferences. The first one was the Child Poverty and Social Protection conference, which SMERU hosted in cooperation with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and UNICEF in Jakarta on 10–11 September.
In the past few years, public policy towards the elderly has become an emerging policy issue for Indonesia. With one-third of all Indonesians predicted to be elderly (i.e. aged 60 years or older) in the year 2050, millions of citizens are vulnerable to old age poverty, since many of them will have little extra income (e.g. from savings or pension) to finance their livelihood in old age.
SMERU’s study on return migration (2014) has established a comprehensive migrant reintegration framework for Indonesia, enabling the mapping of reintegration programs in Indonesia. Most programs direct return migrants to self-employment, creating a wide gap between existing programs for selfemployment and those for wage employment.
Expenditure changes and poverty impact. This paper looks first at new data sources on changes over the last year in expenditures and asset ownership and asset sales as proxies for income changes due to the crisis. These data dispel the notion that half of Indonesia’s population will slip below the poverty line (predictions which were analytically unsound in any case).
