The Effectiveness of the Raskin Program

The Raskin program is a subsidized rice program for poor families which provides 10 kg of rice per poor households at the price of Rp1,000 per kg. This report describes the findings of the study undertaken by the SMERU Research Institute to uncover the effectiveness of the Raskin program in achieving its objectives as well as to obtain lessons learned to improve the program. This qualitative study uses three different approaches to data collection: document review and secondary data analysis or meta- evaluation; interviews of key informants at the central level; and field study. The findings suggests that, in general, the Raskin program indicates relatively low effectiveness, that many problems emerge in the distribution of the rice from the primary distribution point to the beneficiaries, and that the issues faced are actually similar each year. The low effectiveness of the program is indicated by the lack of program socialization and transparency; inaccurate targeting, amount, and frequency of rice received by beneficiaries, as well as price of rice; high cost of program management, ineffective monitoring and evaluation; and ineffective complaint mechanism.