The pandemic and its economic repercussions have prompted lots of countries to scale up their social help programs through a strong, digitized government-to-person payment system, a World Bank official has actually said.
” Countries that have actually advanced G2P [government-to-person] payment systems have actually been able to deliver money to vulnerable individuals much faster and much more secure than nations that do not have such a system,” World Bank Indonesia and Timor Leste country director Satu Kahkonen said during a current webinar.
She pointed out Chile, which has actually utilized its national ID-linked savings account to provide social assistance to about 2 million people throughout the pandemic, and Thailand, which used its nationwide digital identification system to deliver emergency situation support to 15.3 million additional homes throughout the pandemic.
She stated Indonesia had actually been able to scale up its social help programs such as the Family Hope Program (PKH) and the staple food card program. However she added it was essential to digitize the confirmation and onboarding process for help receivers and make sure that databases were interoperable between organizations to avoid overlapping recipients.
” That [digitization] would essentially enhance action time, and with time, it would likewise conserve cash for the federal government,” Kahkonen said.
Michael Wiegand, director for financial services for the bad at the Expense and Melinda Gates Foundation, said focusing on the digitization of social aid disbursement was key but that ensuring that such mechanisms did not leave out specific parts of society was equally crucial.
” We really require to ensure these systems do not exclude individuals which they allow them to get access to services they require. Being able to move these digital funds and convert them into money is vital,” he stated.
Indonesia, he included, must go beyond standard financial services so that its social aid beneficiaries could access aid quickly. He said the country’s flourishing fintech market might be leveraged to provide aid to recipients.
As more institutions get associated with providing social aid, Wiegand highlighted the need to guarantee that various help delivery systems were interoperable to permit receivers to select techniques preferable to them.
National Advancement Planning Company (Bappenas) deputy head of labor force and population Pungky Sumadi said the government had just recently teamed up with state-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia and had tapped into its extensive network throughout Indonesia to deliver social aid to far-flung regions.
Pungky included that the federal government was working to determine and use the preferred method of aid delivery for each of the recipients.
” We require to recognize and acknowledge the needs of the recipients. ‘OK, perhaps I am more comfy with ATMs, however possibly others will be more comfy with pawnshops due to the fact that they’re simply next door’, things like that,” Pungky said, adding that the process would demand additional personnels.
The federal government intends to use its nationwide ID database– which according to Pungky covers about 98 percent of the overall population– to enhance the identification and targeting of help receivers.
The federal government has actually assigned Rp 203.9 trillion (US$1391 billion) for social safeguard programs to support economically vulnerable groups during the pandemic. That figure includes Rp 37.4 trillion for the PKH program and Rp 46.3 trillion for the staple food card program.
The federal government has actually formerly gotten criticism for delays in the dispensation of help to qualified recipients of the PKH and staple food card programs, which mainly arised from a lack of reliable information.
A study performed by the SMERU Research Institute in 5 cities and regencies from late April to mid-May also discovered signs that the help disbursement had been mistargeted.
Andi ZA Dulung, a professional team member for the Social Affairs Minister, stated the federal government was looking for to broaden the social protection system, generally by updating the ministry ' s Integrated Data for Social Well-being (DTKS), to make it more responsive to future crises.
” The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for Indonesia to improve DTKS information. We are preparing a mass confirmation and evaluation in 2021,” said Andi. “Hopefully […] we can get more up-to-date information that leads to much better targeting of social help.”
He stated it would be crucial to enhance the strength of Indonesian households during the post-pandemic recovery.
