Various questions about people’s experiences and perceptions of their own situation were posed during the focus groups and in-depth interviews. Respondents were asked (1) what they thought were the greatest challenges facing them and their communities, (2) the reasons households fall into or escape poverty, and (3) what the main needs of the poor in their communities are. Views on the challenges faced by themselves and their neighbors were varied, but three were most frequently mentioned:
expenses exceed income, which does not keep pace with the price of basic necessities; difficulty in finding jobs/security of employment;
expenses related to schooling constitute a financial burden to households.
Lack of capital for small business and poor infrastructure (including housing, roads, water and sanitation) were also mentioned, but less frequently. Box 1 highlights some typical comments from a sample of locations on the first theme.
Th e firs t of the thr ee mo st co m mo n co mp laints, that expenses are greater than incomes, is of course essentially a definition of monetary poverty. It was repeated across most kelurahan in our sample. It is noteworthy that most
comments were phrased in terms of costs of necessities rising faster than incomes, rather than simply incomes being too low. This suggests that many respondents feel they are worse
off than before (real incomes are lower). This question was also explicitly posed to participants. Indeed, participants overwhelmingly felt that the community’s economic situation had
Box 1: The Urban Poor Perceive the Cost of Living to be Increasing
“Here, everything is expensive. For example, if we earn 40,000 per day, it is spent to eat, pay rent, pay for water, not to mention the children's school fees. So if it is only 40,000 [Rp], we get minus earnings in one day” (man, Sibolga) “The daily life is rather hard, for example the [cost of] petroleum. The daily
needs are expensive. It is not like when Mr. Suharto became the president. It used to be cheap, the daily needs--rice [was] only 300 rupiahs. The salary of 700 rupiahs [could] be used to fulfill the daily needs for one month. But now
everything is difficult.” (male, Probolinggo)
“In the past, Rp. 10,000 was able to buy anything. Now Rp. 10,000 is only able to buy cooking oil. It can’t buy rice”(male, Pemantang Siantar)
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worsened in the last 5 years. Of all focus group and in-depth interview participants who
answered the question of whether the extent of poverty had changed in their community in the last 5 years or so, 72 said poverty had increased, 20 said it had decreased and 26 said that it had remained the same. Many of those who felt poverty had increased attributed this to a rise in
the cost of living, while others felt that limited job opportunities and loans for business were
also to blame. The finding that the majority of our focus group participants feel that
poverty has increased in the last five years is intriguing in light of the fact that, based on the national surveys, urban poverty has been declining steadily if moderately over the period. The contradiction could reflect that a certain subset of the poor (who have suffered
stagnant or declining real incomes in the last several years) tends to predominate in the focus groups, or that people tend to notice rising costs of living more than rising incomes (both are assuming of course that the Susenas data are accurate).
The second most frequent complaint relates both to the lack of jobs and the lack of long term employment (Box 2). The latter points to vulnerability – to unemployment, income
shortfalls, and poverty—as a major concern. Although somewhat less frequently than men, women also talked about unemployment or job insecurity, especially among youth and heads of household, as key problems in their communities. While some suggested that lack of education hampers opportunities, many also noted that even when young people have managed to complete their studies (high school or beyond) they often cannot find jobs.
Finally, the problem of high (and increasing) schooling expenses was frequently noted, both by women and men. Many respondents singled this expenditure item out from the household’s overall expenses. School fees were the most commonly cited education-related expenditure
that was placing financial burdens on families, although books and uniforms were also cited. This was true not only for parents who opted for private schooling, but also for parents
whose children attended public school, where fees are nominally free (Box 3). Some participants explained that there are costs and fees involved in certain school exams for their children.
Box 2: Lack of Fixed Employment is Perceived as Major Challenge
“[Poverty] is increasing now because the job availability is different than before. Now it is difficult finding a livelihood and job” (man, Astana).
“We have many children who have to go to school. But we don’t have [a]fixed job.” (man, Pemantang Siantar)
“It is the economic sector, since there are many jobless people in this RW and they live in a dirty area…In RW 3. there are many jobless people and unskilled laborers.” (man, Jakarta Barat)
“there are a lot of young people here who do not know where to channel their ideas. Hence things like [getting] drunk and fighting which are negative… it is rare here for youth to have high school education. Most of them only get the first elementary school and get unemployed” (woman, Cirebon)
“There are many, many graduate people who don’t have jobs” (woman, Surabaya) “Even with a bachelors degree, you still have difficulty getting a job (woman,
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These comments indicate that individuals place a high value on education for their children but find schooling expenses to be a significant burden, even though these costs presumably do not constitute a large share of overall household expenditures. A large body of research (see Glick 2008) points to the sensitivity of enrollments to school fees and other education costs. One reason why households may find it difficult to meet these expenses is that outlays for fees and other school expense such as books and uniforms charges typically come all at one point in time.
As noted, two other themes that came up, though with less frequency that the three just
discussed, were poor infrastructure and lack of capital. With regard to infrastructure, for
example, a man in Cengkareng Timur noted that “there are many jobless people in this RW and they live in a dirty area. People from RT8 until RT1 live by the side of the river and all the houses are improper to live in”. The women of Jakarta Barat, D.K.I. Jakarta provided a litany of concerns: damaged roads, poor housing, no place for littering, and drainage problems. Men in Cirebon, West Java also discussed infrastructure problems in their communities: lack of wells and thus of access to clean water, a dirty and contaminated river, uncovered ditches, no lighting on walkways, and damaged roads. One male participant explained: “The river around here is dirty and contaminated”; another one added that “it gets salty in the dry season”. Concerns about the river and waste disposal were repeated in a few other sites as well. In Astana, a woman complained: “Nearly all of the community throws their waste into the river. In the rainy season, it was flooding all over. If possible, as household mothers, to make the river cleaner, there should be a recycle bin so that people do not throw their waste to the river”. A man in Kebumen said: “In my area, there is a cow slaughterhouse. It is in the north side of my house. And the waste runs through my sewer near the kitchen of my house.” This respondent noted that formal mechanisms seemed not to resolve the problem, which has larger public health consequences “I have informed this to Pak RT, Pak RW and even to the kelurahan. But they keep throwing the waste in the same sewer. The smell is disturbing. It is very strong and the flies are so many. I
Box 3: Education is A High but Expensive Priority
“It’s about children’s school fee and daily life necessities…Now is not like in the past. They say that school fee is free but we must pay [more] than in the past. We must pay when we re-register in each school year” (women, Kediri)
“In public school its free but in private we still have to pay” (woman, Kulon Progo) “Less income, a lot of spending. These last few months, my child's school fee rises.”
(man, Sibolga
“The children are willing to continue to higher education. But we cannot pay the school fee. School fee for four children is so much. It cannot be compared to our income.” (man, Pemantang Siantar)
“BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah - school operational assistance) aid only covers up to junior high school degree. It hasn’t covered senior high school degree” (man, Surabaya)
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think they should have their own septic tank so they don’t harm others. I and my family members once suffered from skin disease”.
Finally, several, mostly male, participants talked about lack of capital to start or run
businesses (including for instance buying and working a field). A man in Surakarta, Central Java
explained: “The problem is we want to improve ourselves, but we lack funds. For example, if we want to start a business, we have an idea. But we lack the funds.” For some, loans were a way out of poverty for the unemployed: “The point is that the unemployed want to run a business, but there is no capital” (man, Astana). Another, in Cirebon, said: “The poor people have no funds. If they want to buy land or work on the land, we have no money”. Another man, in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi noted that even when loans were provided, the levels provided were inadequate: “For example, we [were supposed to] have 10 million [Rp] as capital from the government. But the fund given is only 1 or 2 million. I actually have an idea to run a business but the capital is not enough. It is not even enough to buy the desk, and not enough to buy the other instruments. So, the loan would be in vain. Therefore, we need more information about how to get a loan to run a business.”
When asked about temporary rather than permanent economic shocks, most respondents
mentioned specific educational expenses and poor health. While one-off or unforeseen
educational expenses reflect the general concern with education above, family members needing medicines, having accidents or requiring surgery and other forms of treatment were also mentioned by many.