Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
The special theme of this issue of our newsletter is smallscale credit. How to deliver efficient and effective credit services to those individuals seeking small amounts of capital is not a new problem in Indonesia.
SMERU is at present undergoing an exciting transition. This is the last year that we will operate under the umbrella of the World Bank. Beginning in January 2001 SMERU will be operating as an independent research organization. 'The SMERU Research Institute' has already been established as a Yayasan and this will become effective next year.
For the past few months the position of fuel subsidies has been one of the most prominent issues in many discussions about the national economy as the Indonesian government considers the pros and cons of a signifi cant reduction or the complete removal of these measures. What will be the likely reaction of the wider community if these subsidies are removed?
In this edition, we invite our readers to broaden their understanding of the multi-dimensional character of poverty in Indonesia as well as relating some of the efforts to engage in more effective poverty reduction.
In this edition of the SMERU Newsletter, we focus our attention on rural issues and the agricultural sector. Even though the numbers have been declining, around 60% of Indonesia’s people still live in rural areas, and the agricultural sector still provides the main source of income for around 45% of the population.
