Digitalisation of Social Protection Must be Accompanied by Strengthening Regional Infrastructure

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Executive Director of CORE Indonesia, Mohammad Faisal, stated that the expansion of digital social protection must be accompanied by the strengthening of infrastructure and human resources (HR) in the regions to ensure that service transformation can run effectively and reach those in need, particularly in rural and remote areas.

“I believe that given Indonesia’s current condition, not all issues can be resolved or overcome through digitalisation if not all residents are digitally literate, especially in rural and remote areas,” Faisal told ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday.

Faisal noted that expanding the digitalisation of social protection is a positive step as it can encourage the equitable distribution of aid to low-income communities. This policy also has the potential to help reduce economic inequality, both between social groups and across different regions.

However, the effectiveness of digitalising social protection must also consider the readiness of regional infrastructure, which remains a challenge. This is because not all parts of Indonesia have the same level of internet access and digital literacy, while some regions with high poverty rates are precisely those with limited digital access.

“These poverty pockets are located in areas where internet access is difficult. No matter how much digitalisation is pursued, if the infrastructure does not support it, it cannot work,” he said.

According to him, the development of digital systems needs to go hand-in-hand with the provision of supporting infrastructure so that people in the regions do not face obstacles in accessing social protection services. Strengthening human resources at the regional level is also necessary to ensure that the systems built can be operated and utilised optimally.

In addition to infrastructure issues, he noted that the government also needs to ensure the quality of beneficiary data collection. Data accuracy is a crucial factor in determining the precision of social protection distribution. Digitalisation is expected to help reduce the potential for leakage and targeting errors, but it still requires periodic evaluation mechanisms.

“The use of digitalisation in social protection is expected to reduce leakage and targeting errors. However, an evaluation mechanism is still necessary,” he said.

He explained that the implementation of digitalisation needs to consider the characteristics and readiness of each region. Digitalisation cannot fully resolve social protection issues if the gap in access and the community’s ability to use technology remains high.

Strengthening digital infrastructure, increasing the capacity of regional human resources, and improving data quality can serve as evaluative points to ensure that the expansion of social protection not only accelerates administrative processes but also improves the equitable access to aid.