Social Welfare Index

Background

The Ministry of Social Affairs, which is mandated by the 1945 Constitution as the government institution tasked with efforts to address poverty and improve social welfare, needs to make and develop an instrument to measure a person’s welfare and happiness index—in this context, every Indonesian citizen. The instrument is intended to measure the index accurately and objectively based on indicators.

The Ministry of Social Affairs uses the Social Welfare Index (SWI) as the main indicator in the Ministry of Social Affairs Strategic Plan 2020–2024. The use of the SWI has been approved by the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency as the partner of the Ministry of Social Affairs in addressing poverty and social welfare issues in Indonesia.

Since 2017, SMERU has contributed to the formulation of the Inclusive Economic Development Index, the improvement to the Indonesian Democracy Index and the Culture Index, as well as the updating of the Youth Development Index. With such experiences, SMERU is interested ini assisting the Ministry of Social Affairs in developing and measuring the SWI.

Objective

This study is aimed at formulating the SWI to describe the welfare condition of the poor and vulnerable. This study is specifically directed at:

formulating the conceptual framework of the SWI,
determining its indicators and developing its measurement guidelines,
conducting a trial measurement and evaluation of its feasibility, and
carrying out a final measurement.

Methodology

This study will use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative approach is used to build the conceptual framework of the SWI; determine its dimensions, indicators, and their weights; and evaluate its feasibility. SMERU will conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) with experts and stakeholders, as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders to evaluate the validity of the index measurement results. Meanwhile, the quantitative approach is employed to develop a guideline for measuring indicators, determining the weight of each dimension and indicator, as well as carrying out the SWI measurement.

The SWI is formulated through six stages. In the first stage, SMERU will conduct preliminary research, which is also the first part of a series of studies on the formulation of the SWI. This study will be followed by a study on the progress of the SWI.

The current study only sees the following two stages.

Formulating the objective and definition of and determining the dimensions of the SWI, including:
1. Conducting a literature review
2. Designing the in-depth interview instrument
3. Designing the FGD instrument
4. Consulting experts through in-depth interviews
5. Discussing and drafting SWI’s proposed definitions, coverage, and dimensions with experts and stakeholders through FGDs
6. Presenting and discussing SWI’s proposed definitions, coverage, and dimensions with experts and stakeholdres through FGDs
7. Finalizing the conceptual framework of the SWI
Formulating SWI’s operational indicators and definitions, including:
1. Mapping the availability of secondary data
2. Consulting experts through interviews at the national and regional levels
3. Conducting FGDs with experts and stakeholders to formulate indicators
4. Collecting secondary data at the national level
5. Carrying out a trial measurement of the indicators
6. Examining its validity and reliability
7. Conducting FGDs with experts and stakeholders to determine indicators