Government Strengthens Use of Digital ID for More Targeted Social Assistance Distribution

The government is accelerating digital transformation in the distribution of social assistance (bansos) through the use of the Digital Population Identity (IKD), which is integrated with national population data. This move is expected to improve the accuracy of beneficiary targeting while creating a more transparent, efficient, and well-targeted social assistance distribution system. The initiative was socialised by the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) of the Ministry of Home Affairs during a Dukcapil Rebranding event in Natar District, South Lampung Regency, on Monday (20/7/2026). The event, held in collaboration with Commission II of the House of Representatives, was attended by regional apparatus organisations, sub-district heads, village heads, social facilitators, and the public. Dukcapil also provided mobile population administration services for residents. Agus Irawan, Director of Regional Population Data Integration at Dukcapil, stated that the digitalisation of social protection is an implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure to strengthen public service governance. He noted that the use of population data integrated with IKD will serve as a crucial foundation to ensure social assistance is received by eligible citizens. The digitalisation of social protection is designed to improve the targeting accuracy of social assistance by reducing both inclusion and exclusion errors, ensuring that eligible citizens are not overlooked while ineligible recipients are minimised. In addition to improving accuracy, the new system is expected to enhance transparency and accountability in the process of determining aid recipients. Agus explained that the government is developing a National Targeting System that utilises Digital Public Infrastructure. The system integrates various services, including authentication using IKD or biometrics, the Social Protection Portal, the National Socio-Economic Single Data, the Government Service Interoperability System, and administrative data from various ministries and agencies. Through this system, citizens can apply for social assistance digitally via the Social Protection Portal using IKD authentication.