Using Child Malnutrition to Assess Implementation of Project in Indonesia

In general, the implementation period of a development project i.e. government programs or ADB agriculture and rural development project, is 4-5 years. The child malnutrition indicator, which is most appropriate to assess change within the period of project life, would be wasting. In general, a project is reviewed annually and at mid-term of the project where major design changes are often brought about. Since wasting is sensitive to change within this timeframe, timely interventions could be design and implemented.

Based on information from the previous section, it would appear that data from Village Health Post (Posyandu) where wasting information is routinely collected would be the most appropriate source. However, since the decentralization policy was put into operation in 1999, the responsibility of implementing the health program at the Village Health Post shifted from the Central Government to the district governments. Many district governments did not prioritize this program due to budget problems, so the program and the data collection was discontinued.

The feasibility of using the Posyandu data for assessing the poverty impact of projects of a short-term nature is therefore subject to the geographical coverage of the project. The availability of data in areas under project coverage will need to be investigated on a case-bycase basis.

In the case where a district under project coverage does not have the required data, the possibility of collecting child malnutrition for use in monitoring the project was also explored. Based on cost information from other surveys in Indonesia, it was estimated that data could be collected with additional cost of USD $1/household, during a survey. While cost of data collection does not appear to be a major impediment, implementation agencies of projects outside of Ministry of Health may not view primary data collection as their role.

As for a long-term project, since secondary data on underweight and stunting are routinely collected by the central government and are readily available on a nationwide basis, using child malnutrition as poverty indicator in such projects is feasible and is recommended.

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1. naveen
   (posted 17 December 2008 / 08:35:28 PM)
   
   This information explain clearly about the malnutrition and poverty,
   Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness.
   
   Poor children are the most prone to this and are often the victims to malnutrition, deficiencies, diseases and ultimately deaths caused by hunger.
   
   Today our world is home to 6.6 billion people. The United States is a part of the high-income group of nations which has a population of around 30 crores
2. ms.gilor araneta -tino
   (posted 02 April 2008 / 05:39:12 AM)
   
   Conditions tagged as underweight or underheight has been a problem for a longtime. If we dig further poverty is one cause. I am glad that the schools here in the Province of Albay are recipients of the Food for the School program. In its simple way, this is a BIG solution, RICE ON THE TABLE of every family. I'mm sure that this will help increase the nutritional status of our schoolchildren.