Dr Sudarno Sumarto will reflect on two decades of welfare policy reform in Indonesia, with a particular focus on the importance of evidence-based policymaking.
Event Details
This event is co-hosted by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and the ANU Indonesia Project. It will take place on the UGM campus, in Yogyakarta. It will be a hybrid event, and registration is now open.
Date: Friday 24 October 2025
Time: 8:30 - 11:25am WIB / 12:30 - 3:25pm AEDT
Registration
To attend in-person (UGM, Yogyakarta), register here.
To join via Zoom, register here.
Abstract
Poverty alleviation and social welfare programs in Indonesia have undergone significant transformation in the past two decades, with an increasing emphasis on evidence-based policy and program design. Nevertheless, recent developments have raised concerns regarding the waning reliance on rigorous evidence in the implementation of some large-scale social programs, potentially undermining the effectiveness and impact of these programs.
In light of these challenges, the main speaker of the 9th MPPF, Dr Sudarno Sumarto, will reflect on the two decades of welfare policy reform in Indonesia, placing special emphasis on the importance of evidence-based policymaking. He will be joined by two distinguished speakers who will deliver complementary perspectives on the topic.
Program:
08:30AM WIB Registration and doors open
08:50 – 09:00AM WIB // 12:50 - 1:00PM AEDT Opening and remarks
- Didi Achjari (Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business UGM)
- Firman Witoelar (ANU Indonesia Project)
09:00– 10:00AM WIB // 1:00 - 2:00PM AEDT Mubyarto Lecture keynote speaker
- Sudarno Sumarto (SMERU Institute)
10:00 – 10:35AM WIB // 2:00 - 2:35PM AEDT Discussion
- Elan Satriawan (FEB UGM)
- Putu Geniki L. Natih (FEB UI)
10:35 – 11:25AM WIB // 2:35 - 3:25PM AEDT Q&A Session
11:25AM WIB // 3:25PM AEDT Closing
Mubyarto Public Policy Forum
This annual public policy forum series is named in honour of Professor Mubyarto, a prominent economist at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, who was probably one of Indonesia's most influential intellectuals on the issue of rural development between the 1960s and 1990s. The goal of the forum is to stimulate a debate on key development policy issues in Indonesia. The main target groups are key policy makers in government agencies, international institutions (including donor agencies), and internationally oriented business leaders, as well as senior academics, economic researchers, and graduate students. This annual major academic and policy forum is organized by the ANU Indonesia Project, in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Gadjah Mada.
Event Speakers
Sudarno Sumarto
Sudarno Sumarto is a Visiting Professor at the Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School. Before coming to CID, Harvard, he served as a policy adviser for the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) under the Office of the Vice President of Indonesia from 2010 to 2024 and was a senior research fellow at the SMERU Research Institute.
Elan Satriawan
Elan Satriawan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was Chief of the Policy Working Group, a policy think tank under the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K).
Putu Geniki L. Natih
Putu Geniki L. Natih is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (FEB UI) and a researcher at the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM FEB UI) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), Oxford University. Putu was a Jardine Scholar at Trinity College, the University of Oxford, where she completed her DPhil in social policy.