ResultsinBrief

Evidence, Innovationand Practice

Most Significant Change within the Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation

Number 2 | June 2015

Background

In 2007, the Indonesian government piloted a conditional cash transfer programme in 7 provinces with the goal to alleviate poverty: the Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH), or Family Hope Programme. The programme transfers cash to poor families on the precondition that they fulfil certain requirements with regard to health and education. Since 2007, the programme has expanded and now spans most of Indonesia.

From June 2014 - May 2015, ResultsinHealth and the Sociology Study Centre of the University of Indonesia (LabSosio) were contracted by the Poverty Reduction Support Facility (PRSF) of GRM International to conduct a Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation. Graduation refers to the recertification process (which happens after 5 years of receiving cash transfers) of PKH participating households in regards to their socio-economic status and eligibility for participation. For those participants who have experienced an improvement in their socio-economic condition and/or no longer meet the PKH requirements for participation, payments will cease. These households are considered to have ‘graduated’ from the programme. The eligibility criteria for families to be able to participate in the programme are that (1) they have school-aged children; (2) they have a child aged 0-6 years; and/or (3) have a pregnant/lactating mother in the family.

The study conducted by ResultsinHealth and LabSosio was intended to investigate the impact of the loss of cash transfers on the livelihoods of the families. The main objective was to describe the processes related to the socio-economic conditions faced by PKH households, following their graduation from the PKH programme. In addition, the study explored the role of complementary interventions in achieving graduation from PKH, in order to improve the design and implementation of the PKH programme.

During one of the field visits, data was collected using the Most Significance Change (MSC) technique. The MSC technique is a qualitative method that documents (both expected and unexpected) programme outcomes as experienced by stakeholders (including beneficiaries). In short, MSC is about conducting MSC interviews with these stakeholders, focusing on the most important changes that occurred in their lives as a consequence of an intervention. The use of the MSC technique in this particular research enabled the identification of changes and patterns of changes that occurred in the lives of graduated PKH households.

MSC within the Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation

Story selection level 2: Jakarta workshop 1

Results selection

level 1

Story selection level 3: Jakarta workshop 2

Results selection

level 2

Beneficiary story of change

Stakeholder story of change

Final results after story selection level 3

Story selection level 1: Local workshops

Primarydata

DKI Jakarta

West Java East Java West Su-matera

North Sulawesi

East Nusa Tenggara

West Suma-

tera

West Java

Figure 1: Story Selection Process

MethodsThe change stories of PKH stakeholders were collected in 6 research locations, in 6 provinces. They were then summarized into one-pagers and analysed in 2 ways; by conducting primary and secondary analysis. The primary analysis was a participatory process where groups of stakeholders came together in selection workshops, choosing the story that represents “the most significant change” caused by the loss of PKH payments. This analysis was conducted through 3 levels of selection

workshops, resulting in 1 beneficiary and 1 stakeholder story being chosen as the most significant (see Figure 1). In addition, secondary analysis (qualitative analysis of the full package of stories) was conducted by the research team through the use of Nvivo software and content analysis. During the secon-dary analysis, trends and patterns of both the general and the most significant changes were identified within a village and between villages.

FindingsUsing the MSC technique, the storytellers were requested to share the most significant change that occurred in their lives after PKH graduation. In this study, 45 Most Significant Changes were identified. The changes were categorized into (1) changes in economic conditions, (2) changes in the quality of human resources (human capital), (3) changes in social and public participation, (4) changes in dependency on social assistance, and (5) other changes. The changes may be positive (supporting the improvement of the households’ socio-economic condition) and negative (resulting in a declining socio-economic conditi-on) in nature. An overview of these changes and their nature (positive or negative) can be found in the table below.

In accordance with general change patterns, changes in the quality of human resources - particularly regarding the importance of education for children - were most frequently mentioned as the Most Significant Change after the loss of PKH assistance. The nature of these changes tends to be positive (i.e. an increased awareness of the importance of education for children) rather than negative (i.e. a pessimistic attitude towards children’s education and the inability to fulfil children’s educational needs). Additional most significant changes that were mentioned have to do with employment, the motivation

to work and entrepreneurship and are indirectly related to the increased awareness of the importance of children’s education, as those changes are motivated by the beneficiaries’ desire to keep their children in school.

Changes in economic conditions are selected as the most significant changes in four provinces (West Sumatra, West Java, North Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara). These changes are mostly reported as positive changes (i.e. PKH graduated households are capable to find alternative sources of income to replace PKH assistance after graduation). In this category, one negative change is reported as the most significant change, which had to do with the failure to manage income-generating activities.

Changes in social participation are selected as the Most Significant Changes in West Sumatra, West Java, Jakarta, and North Sulawesi, and were positive in nature (i.e. an increase in social activities in the community and the availability of assistance). Negative changes such as no longer participating in social gatherings or PKH-supported activities were selected as the most significant change in West Sumatra and DKI Jakarta.

Table 1: Overview of type & nature of the most significant changes

Type of Changes

Frequency of Changes per Province

West Sumatra

West Java DKI Jakar-ta

East Java North Sulawesi

East Nusa Tenggara

Total

Economic Condition

3+ 3+ 2+ 3+ 11+

1- 1- 2-

Human Capital2+ 2+ 2+ 1+ 3+ 10+

1- 1- 4- 4- 10-

Social/Public Participation

1+ 1+ 1+ 1+ 4+

1- 1- 2-

Dependency on social Assistance

1+ 1+

1- 1-

Other Changes 2+ 1+ 1+ 4+

+ = positive change and – = negative change

MSC within the Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation

Evidence, Innovationand Practice

Contact information Additional information can be obtained from:E: aryanti@resultsinhealth.org T: +31 71 760 1200I: www.resultsinhealth.org

Conclusion The majority of the most significant changes that occurred in the lives of PKH graduated households have to do with the importance of children’s education, followed by changes in employment, motivation to work and entrepreneurship, and changes in their financial situation. The changes in employment, motivation to work, entrepreneurship and financial situation are indirectly related to the awareness of the importance of education for children, as those changes are motivated by the beneficiaries’ desire to keep their children at school. This seems to be in line with the objective of the PKH programme, which is (a) to change the behaviour of parents towards the education of their children and (b) to increase the number of children who complete secondary level education.

The key informants and the members of the selection committees highly appreciated the use of the MSC method in this research. They felt that they were very much involved in the data analysis process through their participation as

storytellers and members of the selection committee. Moreover, this participation enabled them to learn about the implementation of the PKH programme in other locations and the different changes that have occurred in the lives of other PKH graduated households.

The use of the Most Significant Change technique enabled the research team to identify changes and patterns of changes that occurred in the lives of graduated PKH households after the loss of PKH payments. In addition, the use of the MSC technique facilitated the triangulation of findings and a deepening of the understanding of the data collected. Some of the changes identified confirmed findings of data collected using other data collection methods (for example, the association of the PKH programme with children education), and some of them provided new insights (such as changes in personal administration).

Acknowledgements The Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation was conducted by ResultsinHealth (Aryanti Radyowijati, Marije Veenstra, Rima Irmayani and Rutger Top), in collaboration with the Sociology Study Centre, Faculty of Social and Political Science (LabSosio), University of Indonesia.

This research was commissioned by the TNP2K (Tim Nasional Percepatan Penanggulangan Kemiskinan - Indonesian National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction).

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MSC within the Longitudinal Qualitative Research on PKH Graduation