Coverage and Targetting in the Indonesian Social Safety Net Programmes.

The social safety net programmes, which were created by the Government of Indonesia in early 1998, are intended to help protect both the traditionally poor and those who have become the newly poor -- due to the economic crisis -- in coping with the impacts of the crisis. The objectives of the programmes include: ensuring the availability of food at affordable prices, supplementing purchasing power through employment creation, and preserving access to critical social services, particularly health and education. The findings of this study indicate that in many cases the programmes have not reached the specified target groups due to low coverage and loose targetting. The effectiveness of the programmes varied across different programmes and regions. The general conclusion from this study points to the need for improvements in the implementation of the programmes, particularly in terms of targetting the beneficiaries of a particular programme, and in raising coverage within the target groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]