Examining emerging social policy during COVID-19 in Indonesia and the case for a community-based support system

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to examine an emerging model of social policy governance during the COVID-19 crisis. Our observation indicates although positive welfare model reform that leads to protective-developmental orientation is underway, there remains important issues that need to be addressed. We recommend developing a community-based support system that is able to capture the community’s needs based on their real-time conditions, especially for vulnerable groups which have often been neglected. This system would provide better direction for governments, NGOs, and donors to more effectively allocate resources to communities, and be applicable should a similar crisis arise in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• social safety nets
• developmental
• protective
• welfare reform

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tauchid Komara Yuda

Tauchid Komara Yuda (SCOPUS ID: 57201631933) is a research and development associate in the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Universitas Gadjah Mada. He earned a Bachelor of Social Science (2018) in Social Policy from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia and holds Master in Development Policy from Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (2020). He is one of the selected students fellow of the Australia National University (ANU) – Indonesia Gifted Researcher Program 2017. Yuda’s academic interest centres on the change of the welfare regime in historical and political perspective as a loop to look at welfare distribution practice over time. He published several peer-reviewed articles in the reputable policy journals such as: International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy (2020;2019), Asian Social Work & Policy Review (2019), and Journal of Asian Public Policy (2019;2018).

Janianton Damanik

Janianton Damanik (SCOPUS ID: 57192676817) is a Professor at Department of Social Development and Welfare, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He holds PhD in Social Geography form Universitaet Bielefeld, Germany, and had ever been a guest lecturer at the Hochschule Konstanz, Germany, and focused on the issue of community livelihood, community life satisfaction, local community empowerment, especially through community-based tourism schemes. Some of his scientific publications have been published, among others, in the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social and Community Studies, Journal of Heritage Tourism, and the Asian Journal of Tourism Research

Nurhadi

Nurhadi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He was formally trained in social policy and social work in the University of York, United Kingdom. His PhD thesis focused on child labour in Indonesia. In general, his focus of interests are in the area of child and family policy, social security/social protection, and social policy for developing countries or global social policy. He teaches introduction to social policy, social policy and globalisation, social security, and social work for undergraduate students. He also teaches social policy planning, social analysis, and comparative social policy for master students. In 2007, he published a book on social security and poverty reduction (in Indonesian). He also wrote some journal articles and book chapters on poverty alleviation, social philanthropy and community empowerment. His latest book chapter (2020) analysed community responses toward pandemic, entitled “the development of social capital during COVID-19 mitigation” published by Gadjah Mada University Press.