Realizing Inclusive Access to Social Protection

It has been two years since the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia was responded to with social protection policies from the government for the poor and vulnerable groups, but the implementation has not been felt by all affected communities. This emerged during a discussion session in a socialization related to social protection between community groups and policy makers organized by the Tifa Foundation with the theme "Realizing Inclusive Social Protection Access". This socialization was carried out in 5 villages in West Nusa Tenggara (Pejanggik, Loang Maka, Gereneng, North Jenggik, and Loloan) and 5 villages in East Java (Orobulu, Gluranproso, Candi Pari, Wringin Anom, and Jemundo) on May 17-30, 2022.

This activity is a part of the HEAL (Promote Human Rights and Equality to Achieve Sustainability) project which aims to promote human rights and equality to achieve sustainability in the context of responding to this pandemic. The socialization related to social protection is intended to, (1) provide an understanding to villagers, especially vulnerable groups, about various social protection programs (starting from the central, district and village levels), including the criteria and distribution mechanisms, (2) open a space for dialogue between the Inclusive Village Forum (a forum formed with village stakeholders), vulnerable groups with the village government and representatives of the District Office in discussing issues of fulfilling social protection, (3) promote transparency and accountability of social protection programs to be more inclusive and (4) build an understanding of village stakeholders regarding the need for affirmation for vulnerable groups in obtaining social protection.

This activity is a follow-up to the results of the Tifa Foundation's research in August 2021 on the situation of fulfilling the human rights of vulnerable groups during the pandemic with the finding that some vulnerable groups in 10 villages did not get information about social assistance and did not even receive social assistance. In addition, differential treatment appears in the form of access to information that is not up to date and invalid data also affects the impact of social assistance received by the community. On this occasion the Tifa Foundation HEAL Project Manager, Zico Mulia, conveyed the achievements of the HEAL program in the first year and a series of HEAL activities in the second year as well as the Tifa Foundation's commitment to encouraging the fulfillment of the rights of vulnerable groups.

Speakers from policy makers were also present. From West Nusa Tenggara Province, the Social Affairs Office, Community and Village Empowerment Office, and Bappeda from Mataram City, East Lombok District, North Lombok District, and Central Lombok District as well as government representatives from each village were present. Meanwhile, the speakers from East Java Province included the Social Affairs Offices from Sidoarjo, Gresik, and Pasuruan Districts as well as the Family Hope Program facilitators and the government from each village. On this occasion, the speakers from the Social Service conveyed about social assistance programs that can be accessed by the poor, including vulnerable groups, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH), Health Insurance Beneficiaries, Non-Cash Food Assistance, Direct Cash Assistance, Smart Indonesia Card-Bidikmisi, Electricity Subditions, and MSME Assistance.

The Community and Village Empowerment Office had the opportunity to convey the inclusive village program targeting vulnerable groups including the challenges faced in the implementation of social assistance. Problems that surfaced in the forum such as, (1) very low accuracy, (2) different program targets, (3) problems with updating integrated data, (4) limited access to documents, and (5) slow distribution of money and not on target. The strategies undertaken to overcome these challenges include (1) collecting initial sources of information for the identification of poor people who are eligible to receive assistance and data collection, (2) collecting supporting data sources for determining potential beneficiaries such as NIK data, and (3) collecting supporting instruments for verifying data on multiple beneficiaries, and (4) taking on the role of public media for beneficiaries in the context of transparency and social accountability.

Representatives from Bappeda conveyed the role of institutions in the planning function and making inclusive policies through regional recovery programs in the form of social protection. In addition, PKH facilitators from each village in East Java conveyed about the components of the PKH program such as the health component consisting of pregnant women, toddlers, and early childhood, the education component for school children from elementary to high school, and the social welfare component aimed at the elderly and severely disabled. Meanwhile, resource persons from village government representatives explained about the village fund cash transfer program, distribution mechanisms, complaints, and challenges in its distribution. It was revealed that the slow distribution of social assistance often occurs due to data anomalies. This is due to the frequent change of domicile of residents and insufficient quota so that assistance cannot target all communities. On the one hand, participants from vulnerable groups (women, elderly, disabled, and religious and belief minorities) and the village government stated that they benefited from the knowledge about social assistance from the central and regional governments and village funds from this activity, although there are still many challenges that occur in the field.

The socialization was attended by 50 people in each village who came from villagers, especially from vulnerable groups (women, youth/young people, elderly, disabled, and religious/belief minority groups), members of the Inclusive Village Forum, and local village government officials such as the village head, BPD and its staff. This program is part of a series of HEAL project activities for the second year. Project HEAL is implemented in collaboration with a consortium of Tifa Foundation, Save the Children Indonesia Foundation, and Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, with the support of the European Union.