Good targeting necessary in emergency assistance programs

Good targeting necessary in emergency assistance 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.