Jakarta Housewife Becomes Social Assistance Proxy to Help Cover Children's School Fees

The harshness of life in Jakarta compels mothers to join in the struggle to support their family’s economy. In the capital, mothers’ roles extend beyond managing the household and children; most of them must also strive to earn money to assist their husbands. Housewives in Jakarta seek additional income through various means, including formal office jobs, street vending, or even becoming proxies for social assistance (bansos). She recounted that her entry into becoming a bansos proxy began when neighbours frequently asked for her help in collecting disbursed social assistance. “I often help people collect bansos such as for the elderly, disabilities, Kartu Anak Jakarta, and Kartu Jakarta Pintar (KJP),” said Refa during an interview in the South Jakarta area on Wednesday (8/4/2026). She is usually asked to collect these bansos funds at Bank DKI Jakarta ATMs located in every sub-district. However, besides being withdrawn as cash, some of the disbursed bansos funds can also be used to redeem subsidised food items. For instance, one elderly or disability bansos card can obtain a subsidised food package worth Rp 96,000 containing five kilograms (kg) of rice, one chicken, one kilogram of beef, one kilogram of mackerel, and chicken eggs. Meanwhile, for KJP bansos, the basic food package costs Rp 126,000 with the same contents, but includes an additional carton of milk. Therefore, many bansos recipients leave a balance in their ATM to redeem these subsidised food items. However, redeeming subsidised food is not easy. Bansos recipients must first register online to obtain a barcode, then queue for hours to collect the basic food package at the designated outlet. Consequently, many bansos recipients use Refa’s services to collect these subsidised food items, as they are reluctant to queue and find it difficult to obtain the barcode.