Our Expertise
The urgent need for micro data to identify poverty conditions initially emerged from the high rate of program undercoverage and leakage that occurred in several poverty reduction programs in Indonesia. In additon, the decentralization era in Indonesia requires that local officials own disaggregated data for policy intervention.
This edition of the SMERU Newsletter presents summaries, analysis, and opinion on the implementation of the BOS Program based on the results of the rapid appraisal of The SMERU Research Institute on the implementation of the BOS Program during the first semester of the 2005/2006 academic year. This edition is also enriched with the contributions of guest writers.
Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia. The poverty rate in this province is higher than that of the national average. Statistics Indonesia (2004) indicates that the proportion of the poor population in Indonesia is 17%, while the proportion of the poor in NTT is 28%.
The role of regional government in poverty reduction has become increasingly important since the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001. Since then, a number of public policies that directly influence the lives of the community have been devolved to the district governments.
The impact of supermarkets (including hypermarkets) on the existence of traditional markets has recently become a topic of heated public debate. The 1998 liberalization of the retail trade sector provided the impetus for the emergence of various foreign supermarket chains in Indonesia.
