Good targeting essential in emergency aid programs

Alex Arifianto, The SMERU Research Institute, Jakarta

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla has proposed a new crash program designed to help around 250,000 farmers across Java, currently experiencing crop failure due to the ongoing drought. The program will comprise three parts: a public works program designed to supplement the income of farmers suffering from the drought, a free rice distribution program and delivery of water tanks to regions that have no access to clean water. The total cost of the program is estimated at Rp 150 billion.

The program is scheduled to last for two months, with each farmer in the program receiving a flat wage of Rp 15,000 per day, at an estimated cost of Rp 75 billion. Meanwhile, the free rice program will distribute 20,000 tons of rice to these farmers. The programs will run in August and September 2003.

The prolonged drought is blamed on excessive logging and the resulting inability of farmland to absorb water. It is estimated that about 100,000 hectares of farmland in Java have suffered from crop failure, while another 450,000 hectares will suffer from water shortages.

While the government's plan to help farmers is commendable, some concern exists regarding the effectiveness of this crash program in alleviating the suffering of these farmers. Past experience shows that crash programs aimed to alleviate the suffering of the poor were not very effective, given that they were not well targeted.

There are several reasons for this. Often, the government relied on data that had not been updated for some time.

Changes caused by population movement and income mobility were often not reflected in the data. The result was a mismatch between the number of people categorized as poor in the data and the reality on the ground, which resulted in districts receiving less -- or more -- assistance than they really needed.

There is also concern that the government has arbitrarily imposed a benefit level that is much higher than the sustainable level needed by the poor. Consequently, the program will attract not only poor workers, but also the nonpoor. The fact that the government plans to pay everyone participating in the planned public works program Rp 15,000 per day is of concern because this amount is more than the minimum wage in most districts affected by the drought. Many of the participants would therefore not necessarily be poor households.

Another factor that renders crash programs poorly targeted is the fact that once assistance arrived in the villages, local officials often ignored the eligibility criteria set down by the government and distributed assistance to every resident rather than to those deemed eligible for it, as determined by government data.

While at times this policy might be necessary to maintain a sense of justice among villagers and maintain local cohesion, it negates the purpose of crash programs -- to help only those who are truly in need of assistance.

For instance, many eligible households in the cheap rice program carried out during the 1997/1998 economic crisis received less rice than they were eligible for because the rice was distributed to all villagers instead of just them.

These programs are also exclusively planned by central government agencies that do not take into account conditions at the local level. Turf battles among such agencies also caused these programs to be mistargeted, as each agency created its own programs without regard to effectiveness and efficiency.

Lack of coordination within central government agencies and with local governments also delays the implementation of the program, as can be seen from media accounts on the implementation of the drought program so far.

Finally, decision-making in the programs tends to be monopolized by government bureaucrats with little or no participation from community and civil society organizations in implementing and monitoring them.

As long as non-governmental stakeholders are excluded from active participation in these programs, they are potentially open to abuse for the political or personal gain of government officials. The programs are liable to leakage, fraud or waste, as has happened in the past.

In order that this proposed crash program (or other, similar programs) is effective, good targeting is essential. The government should take an inclusive approach by incorporating all those who are eligible for the program into it, regardless of their residency or marital status, gender or other characteristics.

At the same time, the program should be monitored carefully to ensure that only those who are eligible for the program's benefits are included.

Especially for public works programs, the government should set program benefits at a low enough level so that only those who are truly poor are induced for participation. Doing so would make the program better targeted, because only those who were really poor and needed the assistance offered by the program would be interested to join it.

The program should also be decentralized so that local governments are able to target the program to the population that really needs it, based on the most updated data that they have. Finally, all stakeholders should be allowed to participate in the implementation and monitoring of the program so that possible abuses can be kept to a minimum, and the program can fully meet its population targets.

The writer is a researcher with the SMERU Research Institute, a Jakarta-based public policy institute. The views expressed here are personal.