Luhut Reveals Expansion of Indonesia's Social Assistance Using AI: Here's the Programme!
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The government is promoting the expansion of digitalisation in social assistance to transform the paradigm of social aid into an ecosystem that drives community economic independence by utilising artificial intelligence. The programme, named Pro Kesejahteraan Rakyat or Pro-Kesra, forms part of the poverty reduction strategy. Beyond mere provision of social assistance, Pro-Kesra aims to encourage community productivity so that people can become economically independent, not just receiving aid but also motivated to strive.
Head of the Government Digital Transformation Acceleration Committee, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, explained that this functional expansion will change the face of government and save on budgets.
“Digital transformation through the adoption of public digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence as a catalyst for national priority programmes to realise better governance,” Luhut stated at the Ministerial-Level Meeting on the Expansion of Social Assistance Digitalisation Coverage and Empowerment, at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Office, Jakarta, quoted on Wednesday (12/5/2026).
Minister for State Apparatus Utilisation and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) Rini Widyantini explained that this social assistance transformation is to ensure social aid becomes a driver of community independence. This independence is promoted through integrated, precise, and sustainable public services.
Rini said that government services are oriented towards the needs and characteristics of citizens and support citizen empowerment towards sustainable independence. The strategic step is through updating and verifying cross-sector data in real-time.
“In this way, access to services becomes simpler, easier to understand, and inclusive for all,” Rini remarked. Integrated verification and authentication are carried out to accelerate service processes.
Its implementation will be carried out gradually, in stages, and sustainably. The Ministry of PANRB will strengthen this programme from the governance and regulatory harmonisation side.
“Its implementation will be expanded gradually towards a national scale with impact,” Rini emphasised. Rini added that the Ministry of PANRB and Bappenas are facilitating the alignment of services and cross-ministerial/institutional service standards for the welfare card and business card managers.
From another perspective, Head of Bappenas/Minister for National Development Planning Rachmat Pambudy explained that Pro-Kesra supports the independence of poor and vulnerable communities through economic empowerment. On a macro level, the goal is to accelerate poverty graduation for striving and working.
The benefits of this programme for business empowerment include increased capacity, access to marketing, access to financing or funding, and access to partnerships. Strengthening workforce capacity. Meanwhile, for strengthening workforce capacity, the benefits include increased capacity through training or mentoring, access to job distribution, and access to apprenticeships.
The follow-up of this programme is implemented through the Social Welfare Information System (SIKS) and the UMKM Service Application System (Sapa UMKM). In general, the targets of this programme are poor communities and vulnerable groups consisting of women, the elderly, disaster victims, and people with disabilities.