Social Affairs Ministry optimises digital social assistance data towards 'One Data Indonesia'
The Ministry of Social Affairs is optimising the integration and updating of data for families receiving social assistance by involving the RT/RW (neighbourhood/community) networks and volunteers to ensure targeted distribution, moving towards ‘One Data Indonesia’.
Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf stated in Jakarta on Tuesday that the updating of social assistance recipient data is currently underway nationwide, utilising a process that integrates digital technology-based data collection, or the digitalisation of social assistance.
“This data is dynamic, so we are continuously coordinating and performing updates alongside ministries, agencies, and local governments. We are now also inviting RT/RW across Indonesia, through regents and mayors, to be involved in this updating process,” he said.
He explained that the digitalisation of social assistance is being developed gradually, expanding from 40ad43 regions to currently covering 258 regencies/cities.
The target by the first quarter of 2027 is for half of the population, or approximately 48 million families, to be registered within this social assistance digitalisation system. This aims to minimise the risk of data discrepancies and accelerate the distribution of social protection assistance.
“We are moving towards ‘One Data Indonesia’, so eventually, this social assistance data will be integrated through a national data interconnection system built under the coordination of the central government,” he said.
According to him, the digital system will automatically verify and determine a citizen’s eligibility as a social assistance beneficiary. This step is also paired with an open ‘public proposal-rebuttal’ feature, where the entire community can access and correct data transparently, in accordance with the directives of President Prabowo Subianto.
He added that if all families are properly recorded, there is a possibility that the quotas for social assistance programmes, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT), could increase because the number of recipients will be more robust. The quota for social assistance beneficiaries currently managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs is still fixed at 18.3 million people.
“This is an extraordinary change, a transformation from data that was previously closed or scattered across ministries and local governments to being open and unified. If there are still technical internet constraints in the field, joint teams, including those from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, continue to work on fixing them,” he said.