This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Jakarta Child Card (Kartu Anak Jakarta – KAJ), a social welfare initiative introduced by the Jakarta Provincial Government in 2019 to address gaps in early childhood development (ECD) policy. The program was designed to reduce malnutrition, improve early childhood education (ECE) enrollment, and promote inclusive welfare coverage for children aged 0–6 from low-income families. By offering direct cash transfers along with complementary benefits—such as free public transport and access to affordable nutritious food—the KAJ aims to fill the policy void left by national programs like Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) and Program Indonesia Pintar (PIP), which mainly target school-aged children.
Guided by Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, the study explores how institutional contexts, actor behavior, and co-production mechanisms influence policy performance. The researchers conducted a qualitative case study between October 2023 and January 2024, collecting data through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and document analysis. Participants included provincial and district-level officials, PKK community facilitators, and KAJ beneficiary parents from five administrative regions of Jakarta.
Key findings highlight both successes and ongoing challenges. The KAJ program successfully reduced child malnutrition from 14,849 cases in 2020 to 6,084 in 2021 and increased ECE enrollment from 36.68% to 37.25% in the following year. These achievements are largely attributed to the co-production approach, where local cadres and mothers play an active role in data verification, fund utilization, and community monitoring. The combination of top-down governance (policy design and funding by the provincial government) and bottom-up implementation (community engagement and local verification) has been instrumental in enhancing policy effectiveness.
Nevertheless, the study identifies several structural and operational shortcomings. Data fragmentation and limited digital integration hinder accurate targeting and monitoring of beneficiaries, while urban migration adds complexity to database management. The pandemic further weakened the role of community facilitators, reducing parental education efforts and community outreach. Additionally, low paternal engagement remains a critical gap, limiting the potential for holistic family participation in child development programs.
In the discussion, the authors emphasize that effective policy implementation extends beyond financial assistance—it requires robust institutional coordination, social inclusion, and continuous learning through participatory governance. The IAD framework reveals that sustained co-production is only achievable when institutions actively invest in reliable data systems, provide consistent training and incentives for community facilitators, and foster both maternal and paternal involvement in ECD activities.
In conclusion, the study asserts that the success of the KAJ program lies in its collaborative governance model that empowers communities to co-deliver public services. It demonstrates how co-production can mitigate policy fragmentation and improve social welfare outcomes in rapidly urbanizing contexts. The authors argue that integrating institutional theory with participatory policy approaches provides a more holistic understanding of policy performance, particularly in developing countries where governance structures are often fragmented.
This article contributes to institutional and governance scholarship by empirically validating the role of co-production in strengthening policy implementation capacity. It advances theoretical understanding of how institutional design, actor interaction, and shared governance can collectively enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of social policy innovations aimed at early childhood development in urban settings like Jakarta.
Authors: Sulikah Asmorowati, Violeta Schubert, Mary S. Mangai, Jusuf Irianto, & Junaida Ismail
Published in: Child & Youth Services, 2025
