Unconditional or direct cash transfers
185 programmes. Meanwhile, other households
including the very poor households that are not eligible for the PKH will still receive BLT
cash payments and Raskin rice. When BLT programmes have been implemented in the
past, poor households received assistance of IDR120,000–IDR350,000 per month. At the time
of writing this report, when the BLT programme had ceased to be implemented, eligible
households should have been able to receive assistance in the range of IDR20,000–250,000 per
year.
The findings of various studies have indicated that much of the assistance received by
households benefitted children. Rice from the Raskin programme was used to feed children,
while the savings due to the subsidized cost of the Raskin rice could be used to supplement their
nutritional needs with vegetables and sources of protein, as well as other needs. The number
of children who benefitted from the Raskin programme was significant – according to 2009
SUSENAS data, the percentage of children from households who were recipients of the Raskin
programme was 41.22 per cent of all Indonesian children see Table 6.8.
Table 6.8: Children living in households that received various forms of government assistance
Indicators Children of all the children in Indonesia
2009 2003
Annual Changes
Households that receive health insurance Jamkesmas
Households that receive subsidized rice Raskin Households that receive anti-poverty credit KUR
Households whose children receive scholarships 15.52
46.1 2.11
7.49 9.34
41.22 5.99
3.65 -1.03
-0.81 0.65
-0.64 Source:Estimatedusingdatafrom2003and2009SUSENASPanel,exceptscholarshipfromSUSENASMSBPdataareweightedby
population.
During the qualitative studies in North Jakarta and East Sumba, a few respondents stated
that the Raskin programme was very helpful in ensuring adequate food consumption for the
family, and reducing the cost of rice. Although the quality of the rice was often poor, this was
accepted by households as the price was far below the market price.
Assistance from the BLT programme was partially used by recipient households to
meet the needs of children. Data from the SUSENAS surveys and analysis by the SMERU
Research Institute 2008 based on data from BPS – Statistics Indonesia showed that recipient
households used BLT funds to meet various needs. Types of uses that could benefit children
directly included food purchases, medical expenses and school fees. A substantial
proportion of recipient households used the BLT funds to meet these basic needs; 15−42 per cent
used the funds for medical expenses, and 11−27 per cent used the funds for school fees Table
6.9.
Table 6.9: Use of unconditional cash transfer BLT funds, 2005 and 2008
Type BLT 2005
BLT 2005 BLT 2008
Phase I Phase I
Phase II Phase I
Consumption Medical expenses
School fees Number of households n
99 42
27 2,685
90 15
11 89
96 41
27 1,968
80 32
13 90
Source:DataprocessedfromSUSENASirsttwocolumnsandSMERUResearchInstitutenexttwocolumns