Cash Transfer Programs: An Institutional Management Lessons from Semarang Central Java Indonesia

Abstract

Social protection is one of poverty alleviation programs that is conceptualized as a set of public actions to address poverty. The most popular program is cash transfer. In October 2005, Indonesia government made an unpopular policy that removed fuel subsidy. The subsidy was changed to be Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) and Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT). This study is preceded for three purposes; they are (i) describing condition of cash transfer program in selected Asian countries; (ii) analyzing factors that affect cash transfer program ineffectively in Central Java; and (iii) analyzing assessment of cash transfer program in Central Java, based on government’s perception. A summary of cash transfer schemes in selected Asian Countries showed that social protection scheme in Asian countries relied on cash transfer. Another concern was about the development of harmonized approach for the identification of poor households. The result of the study showed that reports of public dissatisfaction of cash transfer in some areas indicated that the program might experience problems.

Keywords: Institutional Management, Poverty, Cash Transfer Program, Central Java Indonesia