New Direction for MBG: Focus on Malnourished Children

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme, which was previously distributed universally to all children, will now focus on those who are malnourished. This new direction for MBG is a directive from President Prabowo Subianto. Children from economically capable families will not be prioritised as recipients. The Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana, is ready to implement President Prabowo’s instructions. This phenomenon places Indonesia among the top five countries with the highest nutrition problems. However, there has been a decline in the prevalence of stunting to around 19.8% in 2024. This prevalence below 20% is the first time in Indonesia’s history. “The BGN’s 2026 policies will be adjusted in line with the president’s instructions, namely improving the quality of services and the effectiveness of the programme,” said Dadan to Kompas.com on Tuesday (14/4/2026). The goal is one: to ensure the programme is distributed to the right targets. The team is named the Beneficiary Optimisation Team. This team, according to Nanik, will start working at the beginning of next week with the first survey in the DKI Jakarta region. “Next week, the survey will begin in Jakarta (DKI) to identify the beneficiaries,” said Nanik to Kompas.com. Therefore, she is coordinating with the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) as well as the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), including for the exchange of beneficiary data. Later, the team formed by BGN will still validate the data by going directly to the field.