Early Experiences of Beneficiary Choice in Government-to-Person Payment Architecture in Indonesia

The report has four main chapters, followed by the conclusion and policy recommendations. Chapter 2, context provides overviews of the three programs, including enrollment, the payment process, and demographic characteristics of the beneficiaries. Chapter 3 explains the payment architecture used to distribute social assistance in Indonesia. It also explains how it can be further transformed to improve the experience of beneficiaries in receiving social assistance and to empower beneficiaries to access and use financial services. Chapter 4 presents evidence to show beneficiaries' experience with different payment methods, cashing out, and digital financial services. The study also investigates the early experiences of implementation of beneficiary choice and whether designing social assistance delivery that includes beneficiary choice can introduce positive outcomes that are not found in programs without such choice. The final chapter presents the conclusion and policy recommendations. In annex 1, the study details the regression models used for beneficiary choice analysis