Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of Children Under Five Years of Age Suffering from Stunting in Magelang Regency, Indonesia

This study is set out to examine the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of stunted children under five years of age in Magelang Regency, Central Java Province. Indonesia. It used questionnaire surveys (structured interviews) to collect data on 266 heads of households with stunted children under-five that had been selected using a tiered sampling method, then analyzed the data in the SPPS program. Also, in-depth interviews were conducted with informants from these households and staff of community health center, Health Office, Social Office, and Regional Development Planning Agency (BAPPEDA), and the resulting data were processed and analyzed through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, conclusion withdrawal, and verification. The quantitative data were tested for validity using the statistical procedures provided in the SPSS program, while the qualitative data were examined for their reliability by the triangulation method. The results showed that the majority of stunted children under-five in the regency had normal birth weight and length, received a complete series of immunization, and were breastfed. Furthermore, about one-third of the mothers were employed, showing that many of the families observed are less stable economically. This study also found that parents still lacked the knowledge to recognize stunting in their children, about 80 percent of which did not realize that their children experienced impaired growth and development. Another finding is that government programs have reached 50 percent of families with stunted children under-five.

The Impact of Fiscal Policy on Welfare Improvement in Indonesia: Study of Impact of Premium Assistance Beneficiaries on The National Health Insurance, Physical Special Allocation Fund for Health Sector, Education Sector, and Village Funds to Human Development Index

One of the objectives of the fiscal policy is to improve public welfare. Still, there are funding constraints to improve welfare in some countries. Therefore, fiscal management to increase welfare must be implemented efficiently and effectively. In this research, to improve welfare, the fiscal policy will be focused on health, education and community empowerment which are the components of the HDI. This research used quantitative method with regression equation to explain the impact of fiscal and social policy, in the form of Recipients of Health Insurance Contribution Assistance (Penerima Bantuan Iuran Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional/ PBI JKN), physical special allocation found (Dana Alokasi Khusus/DAK) for health and education sector, village fund, region’s budget expenditure, locally generated revenue (Pendapatan Asli Daerah/PAD), and poverty level on human development index (HDI) improvement. The locus for this research is all regencies/cities in Indonesia that use panel data. The results of this research were divided into three findings. First, there were research variables with unidirectional results and significant improvement on HDI, which are physical DAK for the health and education sector, village funds, social expenditure, and PAD. Second, there were variables with unidirectional impact but it does not have a significant impact on the HDI improvement (i.e. PBI JKN). Third, there were variables with unidirectional and significant impact, such as personnel expenditure, material expenditure, capital expenditure, and poverty level.

Determinants of Commuter Worker Income in South Sulawesi during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The development and ease of access to transportation in South Sulawesi Province opens up opportunities for the workforce to work in areas that are administratively different from their residence as commuters. Commuter workers tend to increase every year. When Covid-19 hit the economy in Indonesia, te government issued various policies to suppress the spread of the Covid-19 virus. One of them is by implementing Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) which was also adapted by the South Sulawesi Provincial Government. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on commuter workers is still not a concern, especially even though the restrictions on economic and social activities have a significant impact on the working hours and income of commuter workers. This study determines the factors that affect the income of commuter workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the results of the August 2020 National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) data processing, it shows that the income received by commuter workers during the Covid-19 pandemic is influenced by the variables of working hours, business fields, employment status, policies for implementing Work from Home, education level and gender.

Methodological Reflections on Online Data Collection during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The pandemic closed the door for the use of conventional, face-to-face data collection methods. At the same time, it built a momentum for the exploration and utilization of online data collection methods. However, the belief about superiority of the offline data collection persists. The literature review and the authors’ research experience reveal that offline and online data collection methods yield similar result in terms of data completion and quality. All data collection methods contain weaknesses and strengths. Nonetheless, the online data collection methods are very versatile. They allow the researchers to choose the tools that best align with their research objectives.

Womenomics and Migrant Workers Policy: Can They Solve Labor Shortage in Japan?

Aging population threatens economic conditions in Japan which results in a condition of labor shortage, furthermore the government provides Womenomics’ and accepting migrant workers policy to solve the issue. This research aims to give an understanding about Japan’s labor shortage condition and how it can be solved by Womenomics and accepting migrant workers. Therefore, this research emphasized the labor shortage conditions and the failure factors of Womenomics’ and accepting migrant workers in Japan. Essentially, this study applied the qualitative case study method by referring to the literature review conducted by previous studies. The findings of this research are meant providing suggestions to Japan’s government about how important it is to enforce appropriate policies to tackle labor shortages and to minimize policy failure of policy implementation.

International Migration and Aspirations among Young People: Who Desires to Migrate?

The dispatch of migrant workers from Indonesia is still quite high. Efforts to improve socio- economic status are still motivated by high rates of migration. Children left by migrant parents experience a greater emotional burden due to parenting issues. This study attempts to examine the aspirations of children and adolescents left by migrant parents based on data from the Child Health and Migrant Parents in South East Asia (CHAMPSEA) study. Analytical descriptive was used to describe children’s aspirations towards migrations on migrant and non-migrant households. This study found that children gave a bad perception when mothers had to migrate. Emotional closeness between children and mothers makes the children feel sad when being left by parents. However, once the children’s desire to migrate, especially in the ‘young adult’ group of children is precisely high. Having seen by sex, boys have a higher desire to migrate than women.

The Influence of Characteristics of Worker and Business on the Income of Informal Sector Workers in Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta has excellent human resources, but informal sector workers are threatened with low income. This article aims to examine how the influence of worker and business characteristics on informal sector workers’ income in Yogyakarta. Characteristic of workers consist of education, work or business experience, status in the household, marital status, gender, and age. Then business characteristics consist of types of business fields, working days, hours of work, length of work, use of internet technology, and financial bookkeeping. The study was conducted quantitatively using secondary data sources obtained from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) in August 2018. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. The findings show that both partially and simultaneously, each factor of the two characteristics has a significant influence on the income of informal sector workers in Yogyakarta.

Spatial Disparity of Knowledge Levels on Reproductive Health among Indonesia’s Adolescents: Spatial Analysis of 2017 IDHS Data

The high number and percentage of Indonesia’s adolescent population cannot be separated from the problems related to adolescent reproductive health, especially the lack of knowledge about reproductive health among Indonesia’s adolescents in. This study aims to analyze the spatial distribution of knowledge on adolescent reproductive health in Indonesia. This study is a quantitative study using secondary data of 2017 IDHS data. Adolescent reproductive health knowledge is measured in a composite index by taking into account the five indicators, including knowledge of signs of puberty, fertile period and risk of pregnancy, anemia, HIV/ AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections. This study used a comparative spatial analysis. The results confirmed that there were differences in the spatial distribution of the adolescents’ knowledge level related to reproductive health in each province based on the adolescents’ characteristics, including sex, age, and education level.

Community Involvement in Urban Water Management: The N Park Resort Condominium Rainfall Harvesting and Water Saving Project in Penang, Malaysia

Community engagement and involvement is vital for the success of urban water management. However, poor public engagement, cheap water tariffs, apathetic attitude and lack of public interest are identified as the main reasons for high water wastage in Penang State, Malaysia. The N Park Resort Condominium rainfall harvesting and water saving project in Penang, Malaysia is a prime example of successful urban water management involving government, private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities. The N-Park condominium consisting of 965 units is the first condominium in the country to initiate a community water- saving project. Started in August 2009 and completed in December 2010, the project is jointly implemented by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) Malaysia (Government), Water Watch Penang (WWP) (NGO), N-Park Management Corporation (NPMC)(Community) and the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PWSC). The methodology involved installation of a rainwater harvesting system, installation of water-saving devices and a water-saving campaign. Results of the project showed that the rainwater harvesting system was most successful as the rainwater harvested was used for gardening, washing common areas and toilets, flushing toilets, and washing vehicles. The installation of water-saving devices was also successful as it resulted in substantial water savings. Results showed reduced total water usage from 8 to 25 % between September 2009 to March 2010. The greatest reduction by 50 % was between May and July 2011, followed by 47.5 % in January 2011. During the time of the project, the amount of water saved was equivalent to RM1,3971 in monetary savings per month. Over a year, this is translated to a savings of 16,818 m3 of water or the equivalent of RM 16,782. More recently, between February 2020 and April 2021, the average water saved was 5852 m3 per month or averaging 48.77 % per month, equivalent to about RM34,255. Results also showed enhanced water awareness and better relationships between neighbours. Overall, this project proved that collaboration between government-private sector-NGOs is workable, and the project can be replicated nation-wide in apartments, hotels, factories, universities, and schools.

Comparison of Child Health between Sandwich Generation and Non-Sandwich Generation

Sandwich Generation must treat two generations simultaneously and undoubtedly, having an impact on health in the sandwich generation, the previous generation, and the following generations. This study used IFLS data in 2007 and 2014 because IFLS provides longitudinal data that can see the relationship between sandwich generation households and children’s health status with the Multinomial Logistics Regression method. The results showed that the BMI of non-sandwich generation children was higher than the group of sandwich generation children and was statistically significant, so it was concluded that there were differences in the average BMI between groups of sandwich generation children and non-sandwich generation children. BMR of sandwich generation children is lower than the group of not sandwich generation children and statistically significant, so with these results, it can be concluded that there is a difference in the average BMR between groups of sandwich generation children and non-sandwich generation children. The status of sandwich generation where relative to non-sandwich generation is only significant if the child is obese. Meanwhile, the status of the sandwich generation, which is relative to non-sandwich generation, significantly affects BMR for children in both the below-average BMR category and above-average BMR category for the overall sample.