The Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis collaborated with the Indonesian Ministry of Social Welfare and researchers from the State Islamic University (UIN) to design a major asset-based, poverty-alleviation pilot project in Indonesia. The government committed significant resources to this 5-year study, which formed a major part of the welfare rethinking in the Indonesian Department of Social Welfare’s five-year plan (2006-2010). This pilot study operated in impoverished localities in parallel with Indonesia’s successful microfinance program (Cooperative Micro Businesses, or KUBE program). Discussion of asset building has grown steadily in Indonesian government circles since the idea was introduced by CSD at a conference on poverty alleviation in Jakarta in March 2005. At a series of presentations given in Indonesia by CSD, and in ensuing meetings held in March 2006, the Indonesian Minister of Social Welfare, Mr. H. Bachtiar Chamsyah, expressed the government’s high interest in studying asset-based policy exploring its future expansion.
Project: Indonesia: Asset-Based Policy Development
Citation
Sherraden, M., & Zou, L. (2006, April). Asset-based policy in Indonesia: Pilot study and emerging opportunities (CSD Policy Brief No. 06-26). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.