BRIN Researcher Recommends Gradual, Data-Based Evaluation of Free Nutritious Meal Programme

Improvements to this national-scale programme must in the future be based on indicators that are objectively measurable, rather than merely relying on subjective labelling.

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Yanu Endar Prasetyo, a researcher at the Population Research Centre of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), appreciated the National Nutrition Agency’s (BGN) willingness to evaluate and restructure the governance of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme.

During an interview session at the ANTARA Heritage Center, Jakarta, on Wednesday, Yanu assessed that the openness of the government and the BGN to listen to public aspirations is a positive signal for the improvement of the policy.

Nevertheless, Yanu warned that future improvements to this national-scale programme must be grounded in objectively measurable indicators, rather than subjective labels.

“A programme of this magnitude cannot rely on subjective indicators such as ‘wealthy schools’ or ‘poor schools’. Indicators must be objective; what defines a wealthy school? What defines a poor school? What constitutes the 3T (frontier, outermost, and least developed) regions?” he said.

He believes that the government essentially already possesses various strategic data points. The next challenge is how to integrate and consolidate that data into a single, transparent system so that the programme’s distribution is truly well-targeted.

Furthermore, the BRIN researcher, who has been involved in social research for 17 years, also highlighted the initial implementation design of the programme, which was deemed too rushed in pursuing universal scale simultaneously, resulting in the current necessity to narrow its scope.

“In terms of public policy and programme design, the approach should have been to target specific areas first, before moving towards a universal scale. This is now the appropriate momentum to restructure the programme,” he remarked.

Through the refinement of databases and well-planned targeting, Yanu is optimistic that President Prabowo Subianto’s noble ambition to provide nutritious meals for all Indonesian children can ultimately be realised comprehensively and sustainably.