TNP2K launches IFLS-East 2012, its first for eastern Indonesia

11 June 2014

The National Team for the Acceleration of the Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) on 11 June 2014 launched the Indonesian Family Life Survey East 2012 (IFLS‐East 2012), the first IFLS dataset to focus specifically on the quality of family life in Indonesia’s eastern provinces.

The questionnaire-based survey, conducted by SurveyMETER on behalf of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Poverty Reduction Support Facility (PRSF) and TNP2K, analysed information gathered from households, schools and health facilities in seven provinces: East Nusa Tenggara, East Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Maluku Utara, Maluku, Papua and West Papua.

“IFLS is perhaps the best longitudinal dataset in Indonesia, and possibly in the world,” said Neil McCulloch, lead country economist at DFAT, at the event. Data from IFLS-East 2012 feeds into a larger IFLS dataset to provide extensive coverage across all of Indonesia. McCulloch added that he hopes researchers, government agencies and other stakeholders will use IFLS‐East 2012 that will, in turn, boost development in eastern Indonesia.

“Having accurate data on eastern Indonesia is absolutely critical to making developmental progress,” he said. “[As] the developmental problems in eastern Indonesia are the deepest … and access to facilities is the worst.”

Bambang Widianto, Deputy of Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation at the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia and Executive Secretary of TNP2K, opened the event, which was held at the Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta. In support of IFLS-East 2012, Widianto emphasised the importance of evidence-based data for implementing pro-poor programmes. This, he said, also motivated the launch of the Social Assistance Card (KPS) in 2013. KPS uses quantitative data from TNP2K’s Unified Database to provide 15.5 million of Indonesia’s poorest households with access to vital social assistance programmes, such as the subsidised rice for poor households programme (commonly known as Raskin) and cash for poor students (BSM).

“Hopefully, these efforts can be continued by the next government,” he said, in reference to the upcoming presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Researcher and Executive Director at SurveyMETER Ni Wayan Suriastini stressed the importance of IFLS-East 2012, as the previous IFLS surveys did not cover eastern Indonesia, due to safety and financial reasons. Since then, however, IFLS has grown to become a “standard” for longitudinal datasets.

The session was then split into two panel discussions, debating topics including the impact of health, education, food and conflict on poverty, as well as the processes involved in conducting surveys and creating datasets. Speakers included Bondan Sikoki (SurveyMeter), Ari Perdana (TNP2K), Jan Priebe (TNPK), Firman Witoelar (SurveyMeter), Neil McCulloch (DFAT) and Elan Satriawan (TNP2K). Several of the panellists argued that datasets are currently underutilised and underappreciated, and that modern technology and social media could to be used to disseminate the information and gather input from a wider audience.

Around 50 people attended the event, including representatives from Bappenas, World Bank, KSI, Demographic Institute at the University of Indonesia, TNP2K, PRSF and DFAT.

The IFLS-East 2012 dataset is available to the public at http://surveymeter.org/research/3/iflseast.