While Indonesia has seen good economic growth, it has also seen rising inequality in the last two decades. Currently, the country ranks number six in greatest wealth inequality in the world. MAHKOTA supports the Government of Indonesia to improve its social protection system and to reduce poverty and inequality. MAHKOTA operates as a flexible facility, working primarily with the Secretariat of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), a think tank under the purview of the vice president, to deliver innovative policy reforms and initiatives.

MAHKOTA uses a flexible structure to provide strategic and technical program oversight, identify and articulate policy reform opportunities, procure personnel, provide financial support, and offer logistics and administrative services to the MAHKOTA core team and TPN2K, and provide monitoring, evaluation and learning for the program.

MAHKOTA’s goal is “a comprehensive and equitable social protection system for the whole of Indonesia by 2025.”

The outcomes of the program are:

• Quality of the national social protection system is improved.
• More comprehensive and joined up social protection and labor market policy is delivered.
• Synergies with wider social and economic policy and planning are enhanced.

Current results include:

• Supported major Government of Indonesia poverty reduction programs, such as the electricity subsidy reform program which targets only poor households registered in the Government poverty database.
• Increased coverage of social protection; working with Ministry of Social Affairs to link poor households into local social assistance programs through correct referral channels to facilitate poverty reduction.
• Increased access to health services by providing support to an evaluation of the National Health Insurance (Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN)) which in turn informed the Ministry of Finance on JKN deficits and revised pricing structures.
• Reduced poverty and inequality through revisions on regulated village funds with an expected improved consideration of village poverty levels and fund allocations.