Posts tagged under Indonesia
Financial behaviour among the urban poor: Borrowing
In our survey on urban poverty and service provision we collected a total of 1,398 responses from four cities (Jakarta, Manila, Hanoi and Vientiane). Our sample included 69% women and 31% men. 87% of respondents indicated that they are the head of the household (513 respondents), or the wife (702 respondents) of the head of household. The average age was 43 years with an average household size of five members.
In this blog post I will give you a quick look at our results with regard to the borrowing behaviour of the urban poor in our sample.
When asked whether they borrow money regularly, 62% of respondents from Manila and Hanoi affirmed. Borrowing was much less prevalent in Jakarta and Vientiane, at 28% and 27% respectively. The primary sources of loans were relatives and friends. More than half of respondents in all four cities turned to someone they know to ask for small loans. The clear lack of alternatives became apparent when 22% of respondents said that they take loans from informal money lenders – often at annual interest rates higher than 100%. In that regard, Manila stood out with 42% of those regularly borrowing using informal money lenders.
Making a living without bank account
In Depok, one of Jakarta’s many suburbs, the team met and spoke to Eva P., the 26 year old owner of a warung (small shop) located just outside a traditional market. She is one of approximately 2.5 billion people without access to formal financial services.
In Eva’s hometown of Bengkulu, there were not many employment options after graduating from school. As with most of rural Indonesia, the only jobs available for her were agricultural. This prompted Eva to migrate to Jakarta in 2004, in search of better options.
Upon arrival, she immediately set up her own shop by building a stall next to the traditional market by Depok Baru Train Station. Her shop has remained in the same location for almost 8 years, surviving several police crackdowns on informal businesses in public spaces. She now sells a wide variety of food, drinks, and cigarettes to a clientele comprised mostly of jitney drivers, street musicians and motorcycle cabbies.
Surviving as a motorcycle cabbie in Jakarta
Mr. Karlan is a 54 year old native Jakarta resident who has spent the last six years of his life working as a tukang ojek, or motorcycle taxi driver. He chose his current profession after deciding that his aging body was no longer suited to handle the physical strains of working in construction. His decision was also made easier by the fact that he owns a motorcycle, a luxury that not all motorcycle cabbies have.
Karlan makes an average of IDR 100,000 (US$ 11) per day, while spending about IDR 25,000 per day on the road for meals, cigarettes, and fuel expenses. Thus, he earns IDR 2,250,000 per month to spend on his family, provided that he is able to work every day. This puts his family of four barely above the US$ 2 per day mark that some are currently using as the new poverty line. Unfortunately, this is only possible because he owns his own motorcycle. Other motorcycle cabbies would have to pay rental fees ranging between IDR 25,000 – 40,000 per day, which would slash that household income in half.
ATM Urban Poverty Series
In 2012, we traveled to four cities and conducted a survey on the challenges for the urban poor. The result are four bulletins containing primary data and case studies from the field.
Jakarta’s Poor – Strategies for protecting migrants
Manila’s Poor – Bridging service gaps
Hanoi’s Poor – Empowering Hanoi’s Poor
Vientiane – Poor, but Different
Fighting the Rural-Urban Education Gap in Indonesia
Image courtesy of www.indonesiamengajar.org
Our newest guest blogger Patrya Pratama is a first year MPP student at LKYSPP.
Irma (8 years old) has been much more enthusiastic about school recently. She does not want to miss school anymore, and even often goes back to school later in the afternoon for extracurricular activities or simply for reading books at the school’s small library of only 100 books. Her parents confessed that previously, Irma would rather stay at home or play with her friends because her teacher was often absent. Then, teachers from other classes would just leave the students with some tasks or exercises that Irma could not even understand. Even when her teacher was present, Irma thought that the class was really boring. But things started to change when Mr.Andrio came. He was present for class every day and even organized extracurricular activities like boy/girl scouts every Friday and extra reading classes every two days.
Jakarta’s Free Medical Services: What Problems Remain?
Bianca Ayasha is a second year MPP student at LKY SPP
The newly elected Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, affectionately referred to as Jokowi, launched the Jakarta Health Card program on November 10th, 2012. The program is part of his goal to provide free health care for all residents of Jakarta, especially the low and middle income groups. The Jakarta Provincial Government aims to disburse four million Jakarta Health Cards in total. Cardholders will be eligible for free medical treatment in 340 local clinics (Puskesmas) or 88 regional general hospitals (RSUD) as well as some private hospitals that are participating in the program.
The health care services are funded by the Provincial Health Insurance budget (Jaminan Kesehatan Daerah), so only residents of Jakarta are eligible to receive the program. Proof of residency in Jakarta is the one requirement to obtain the Jakarta Health Card. This is done by showing their Identification Card (Kartu Tanda Penduduk) or Household Information Card (Kartu Keluarga).
A resident of Jakarta showing her Jakarta Health Card (Kartu Jakarta Sehat) given out by the Jakarta Provincial Government. Photo courtesy of KOMPAS.com
Mobile phones and social media in the global south
While the benefits of e-governance have been observed in many high-income developed economies, there is still much skepticism about its applicability in the global South. E-governance or ‘electronic governance’ is the application of information and communications technology to government functions and processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Unlike the comprehensive planning, political and technical support that e-governance projects in developed countries have, many of the e-governance projects implemented in developing countries do not have such an advantage. Furthermore, they depend to a large extent on existing budgets and external funding which are extremely limited.
With the rise of the Indonesian middle class as per capita incomes increase, internet usage has surged by 1500 percent since 2000 (Internet World Stats, 2010), making e-governance solutions more plausible. According to web statisticians Socialbakers, Indonesia is estimated to have 37 million Facebook users, second only to the United States. The availability of low-cost handsets on the market has helped propel the adoption of smartphones and it is expected that smartphone uptake will rise by 68% this year (International Data Corporation, 2011).
Guest blog: Will GM crops help feed the poor?
The following is a post from guest blogger Sri Ranjini Mei Hua, a research associate at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. We hope you enjoy the read!
Image by BASF – The Chemical Company
At least one-third of Indonesia’s babies and toddlers below two years old are stunted as a result of being severely malnourished—which means that they are considerably shorter than children of their age. In addition to a lack of health staff and treatments, the poor quality of food further exacerbates the problem.
With rising prices of pesticides and fertilizers, farmers and fishermen invariably end up with poor harvests due to rampant pest attacks. These problems are not particular to Indonesia, but are also prevalent in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
As GM crops were aggressively marketed as the solution to end world hunger, farmers and families were promised increased yields and incomes. The deputy minister of Indonesia was even convinced that GM food was “help from God”.
However, since the introduction of GM foods in India just a couple of years ago, doubts abound that this green revolution is really the miracle it appears to be.
the vicious cycle of violence for Jakarta’s poor
Here’s a simple visualization of the vicious cycle of violence that plagues the slums of Jakarta. This analysis is based on the team’s interviews with University of Indonesia professor of sociology Dr. Paulus Wirutomo and several members of Jakarta’s slum communities. For more information about violence in slums, make sure to read ATM Bulletin 16 here on this blog.
Bulletin 16: Jakarta’s poor and strategies for defusing violence and protecting migrants
Jakarta’s poor need help
Jakarta, Indonesia: capital of Southeast Asia’s largest democracy and the fourth most populous country in the world at 238 million (2011 data). Home to over 23 million people, the Greater Jakarta Area (Jabodetabek) is the largest megacity in Asia and the third largest in the world.
To outsiders, Jakarta is a shining example of Indonesia’s development. To businesses, it is a thriving market with a skilled labour force and skyrocketing consumption rates. To its middle class, it is a city that is still able to provide everything they need, despite stressful levels of congestion. But to its poor, Jakarta presents a very different picture.
Jakarta’s poor live in the scattered pockets of urban slums and witness a very different side of the city. To the poor, Jakarta is a city where basic services are out of reach and decent job opportunities are scarce. Despite their best efforts, they struggle even for minimum subsistence. How can a city growing so fast leave so many behind?
