Our Expertise
This book consists of papers that present the findings of research done by the SMERU Research Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. Most describe the effects on the poor of the Indonesian economic crisis of 1997-98 and the response of the Indonesian government in the form of a Social Safety Net consisting of poverty mitigation programs.
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.
In response to the economic crisis of 1997—1998, the Indonesian Government introduced a series of poverty alleviation programs that together constituted the so-called Social Safety Net (JPS). But although the negative effects of the crisis on social welfare began to decline as the economy slowly recovered and macroeconomic stability was restored, the poor and vulnerable still very much needed assistance in the post-crisis period.
The Indonesian experience of implementing social protection programs during the economic crisis of the late 1990s and also during the post-crisis period shows that targeting in programs of this kind is always difficult. As a consequence, social protection programs always suffer from the problems of undercoverage and leakage at the same time.
This paper seeks to answer whether or not rural urban migrants make it, i.e. whether or not they are able to, at least, achieve a socioeconomic and health status similar to that of their nonmigrant counterparts living in the same city.
