East Nusa Tenggara

ABSTRACT

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is one of the provinces in Indonesia with a relatively high poverty rate. For this reason, many poverty reduction programs have been implemented in this region, including microfinance services. This study aims to look at the dynamics of the supply of, and demand for, microfinance services in connection with poverty reduction in NTT. A qualitative approach was adopted to understand these dynamics by collecting primary and secondary data on microfinance regulations and services, especially in Kabupaten Kupang and Kabupaten Manggarai.

Kabupaten Sumba Timur is one of 29 kabupaten/kota that were included in the test piloting of the JPK-Gakin program. Since 2003, the local health agency (Bapel) has been quite successful in managing this program. The program that is funded by the government from fuel subsidy allocations has already touched the poor whose numbers are quite significant (75% of the population are poor families) in Sumba Timur.

The study explores the community’s understanding of the condition of their welfare and the experiences associated with the ups and downs of welfare. This report was written based on various reports generated in the two studies of Moving Out of Poverty carried out by SMERU. The main focus of the study is on the movers group, the group of people who managed to improve their welfare, both those who managed to move out of poverty and those who have not yet been able to do so.

Following on successes in several South American countries, Indonesia initiated its own pilot conditional cash transfer program beginning in 2007 called, Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH). The program follows a similar design to South American models in that it designates the mother (or the woman in the household) as the primary recipient of the transfer. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study that focuses on the impact of the program on intrahousehold gender relations.