Evaluating a Social Protection Program to Reduce Poverty

The Government of Indonesia has begun piloting PENA (Economic Heroes), a social protection program inspired by the evidence-based Graduation Approach.

The Graduation Approach centers on a larger one-time asset transfer and accompanying support, such as counseling, to help move households out of poverty.

However, additional innovation is needed to adapt elements of the graduation approach to the Indonesian context and facilitate implementation on a massive scale. With DIV support, Harvard researchers will innovate and test PENAs design, including streamlining it for scalability.

Along with partners, they will conduct a randomized controlled trial to rigorously evaluate several variations of PENA to understand: (1) whether it is more effective at improving key outcomes than current social assistance programs; (2) how to identify people who have the highest potential to graduate from social assistance programs; (3) which program variations are most effective; and (4) whether such programs can be made easier to scale without compromising effectiveness.