Objective Measures of Family Welfare for Individual Targeting: Results from Pilot Project on Community Based Monitoring System in Indonesia

This report documents the results of a pilot project on a new poverty monitoring system that improves the current system in three areas. First, it involves the locals in monitoring poverty in their own area. Second, the poverty indicators are sensitive to local conditions, accurate, and cannot be easily tampered. Third, the results are expeditious, with only five months needed between the start of data collection to final publication. Given Indonesia’s geographical size and the decentralization that puts more power at the hands of the district governments in determining poverty alleviation programs, we believe that this monitoring system is the most suitable for Indonesia.