 With the ratification of the MDGs by the Indonesian parliament and with the presidential address of November 2006, the overriding principle of the Indone-sian development is that it is people-centered, i.e. that development should be for the people and done by the people. It is in that vein that the people need to be empowered and to be given all opportunities to participate fully in the process of development.
On the other hand one is dictated by the commitment to utilize the MDGs as the focus of activities and the goals which needs to be strived for. In this regard, in the Indonesian context one would see the convergence of goals and target groups of both the MDGs and the Eight Functions of the Family, and hence this refreshed paradigm of family welfare enhancement. Another striking feature of this convergence is founded on empowering all segments of the population.
In addition to the MDGs, DAMANDIRI Foundation is of the conviction that the basic principles dictating activities in empowering Indonesian families and direct-ing them towards enhancing their socio-economic welfare status, are the Eight Functions inherent in all Indonesian families, and which are imperative to be ad-hered to. Most recently DAMANDIRI Foundation launched the POSDAYA model for grass-roots family empowerment and development.
These points are to be examined in the following notes.
THE SETTING: THE INDONESIAN POPULATION AND THE FAMILIES
At the moment the Indonesian population is estimated at around 220 million. Of the more than 13,000 islands, Java, Bali and Madura are the most densely popu-lated, with a total of 76 percent inhabiting the three major islands.
With the Total Fertility Rate estimated at 2.1, and the annual population growth rate stands at around 1.6 percent.
With marked successes in the family planning and reproductive health programs, going in tandem with the health program, the profile of the population has un-dergone significant changes. These changes are attributable to the rapid demo-graphic transition relative to those occurring in western countries. Whereas in the western societies the transition took 100 to 150 years, in most developing societies the tempo took only 30 years. The result is that the population has be-come younger in structure, a greater proportion are living in the urban areas, and have higher aspirations for change and progress.
What one would see at the moment is that the below 15 years of age segment remains at 60 million over time, yet those of 15-65 years has doubled compared to the total in 1970.
If the quality of the population at large is not significantly improved, it is feared that living standards will not improve, or worse -- it could deteriorate. This con-jecture is based on the fact that the high poverty incidence of today and that of the immediate years past, could result in the lower quality of children –in terms of education and health -- who in turn could become inferior adults, and hence unprepared for the increasingly stringent competitive life of the future.
As the greater proportion of the population is in the younger age brackets, and further considering that a significant portion belong to the underprivileged, it is most desirable that efforts to alleviate poverty be concentrated to the younger segments who have children under 15 years old. This is a more guaranteed way of reaching the majority of the poor, and ensuring the safest path into the fu-ture.
Another phenomenon is the rapid rise of new cities which actually are lacking in social infrastructure, hence the lack in access for the population at large to the most essentials of social services.
In those elements the role and empowerment of local communities and of each member of the families become paramount indeed. That leads us to the massive efforts in breaking the poverty chain, some resulting in successes and some oth-ers have become mere lessons learnt.
WHO ARE THE POOR, WHY ARE THEY POOR, and WHERE ARE THEY?
Out of the various methodologies which have been tried to identify the "who" of the poor and underprivileged, two readily comes to the fore. First, is the sample surveys done by the Central Bureau of Statistics, and second is the Family Regis-tration done by BKKBN.
The sample surveys do not identify individual families nor persons and the nature of their poverty, i.e. what lacks caused them to be poor. They do give indica-tions the cross-sectional characteristics of the poor. Hence when the question on "where" the poor are, the data does not yield the required information.
On the other hand, BKKBN's family enumeration and registration do provide all of those questions. The specific origin and root of poverty are identified, and who they individually are is also given clearly.
In BKKBN’s family enumeration individual characteristics of the families are cate-gorized into 5 groups, i.e. the Pre-Prosperous, the Prosperous Stage 1, Prosper-ous Stage 2, Prosperous Stage 3 and Prosperous stage 3+. The first category includes those who are unable to fulfill their basic human needs in terms of food, clothing and their dwelling. The contrast to that category is the Prosperous Stage 3+ which would include all the securities to carry their off-springs into the futures, both in material and the non-material wealth. Whereas the categories in-between the two are the progression towards the ultimate stage.
Important to underscore is that each and every family in the country are re-corded and registered by name and addresses. Hence one would know who and where and why they are poor, and therewith appropriate interventions can be undertaken. For example if the origin of poverty is dire lack schooling, the inter-vention should not be rice subsidy, also the origin is lack of food then clothing should not be the solution.
REVIEWING THE EIGHT FUNCTIONS OF THE INDONESIAN FAMILY
In the mid 1980s Prof Dr Haryono Suyono, the then chairperson of BKKBN launched the concept of the eight functions of the Indonesian family. The concept was the brainchild of his keen observation and insight of the Indonesian family life, encompassing the diverse ethnic societies in the country, and experi-ences gained in leading the Indonesian Family Planning and Reproductive Health program. Those eight functions are the following,
FIRST, is the religious function with which families are to become the ultimate and foremost conveyance for all members to the adherence to the believe in the One God with all their conviction and total commitment to the Almighty.
This is foremost considering that the first pillar in the Indonesian constitution is "believe in the One God". This applies to all denominations across the Indone-sian society. Therefore the oft seen custom of always saying grace to the Al-mighty before embarking on even the slightest of deeds.
SECOND, is the cultural function where families are geared towards preserving the national cultural heritage, which among other things dictates the upholding of high esteem for those deserving and dignity of oneself and of one's commu-nity.
This is of particular importance considering the rapid influx of global influence and the strong currents of external cultures.
THIRD, is the function of affection and care whereby families are becoming the ultimate and foremost vehicle for nurturing love and affection among all mem-bers of the family, between parents and spouses, between children and their parents, among the children and their relation with the community.
In this regard, the adherence towards building a strong resilient family is of prime importance. The family is herewith transformed into a strong cohesive en-tity, able to withstand even the strongest of threats and negative influences.
FOURTH, is the sanctuary function, where families are becoming the ultimate protection in giving justice and manifestation of truth for all the children and their descendants.
The application of this principle is that all members are given appropriate protec-tion from the legal and sociological standpoint, and that all members are given just and equal treatment with respect to their rights and obligations.
FIFTH, is the reproductive function whereby families bear the responsibility of regulating and planning for the desired birth spacing and number of off-springs, such that the later generations are assured of higher and of superior quality.
In this regard the family as an entity could reap the best out of the planned number of children and of proper birth spacing. These, in turn, enhances the best of health for the mothers and better opportunities for the future of their children.
SIXTH, is the socialization or education function, whereby families assume the role as both schools and teachers in converting children to become manifest in-tellectual examples for themselves and for the community.
In this regard it is often said that education actually starts at home and begins with the parents. If the parents are adequately educated then the children would have a better headstart in the education system. Relying solely on the prevailing educational system would not guarantee that children will grow to be-come humane and highly ethical persons.
SEVENTH, is the economic function wherewith families are motivated to prepare themselves as self-fulfilling units of the society in both their physical and spiritual needs, and whom are able to be fully self-sufficient with abilities they have pride in.
It is most apparent that employment opportunities does not come by without proper and appropriate preparations by those seeking and deserving. It is there-fore thought of that for individuals and families to become active participants in economic ventures, and to be gainfully employed in the economy, the whole family as a total unit should be involved in economic ventures for the betterment of the whole family.
EIGHT, is the environmental function wherewith families are able to sustain both the physical and non-physical environment of the family, which would in-clude developing and nurturing networks and networking, which are external to the family.
The gist of the eight functions of the family is that the things we posses and util-ize today are actually borrowed from the future generation. Therefore, whatever we do to preserve and conserve the environment today will become our concrete inheritance for our children and the generations next.
The importance of preserving, and even developing a conducive environment in-deed needs to be emphasized as it goes hand-in-hand with the dynamics of ac-tive family life development towards the enhancement of family welfare.
It is important to note that those eight functions have undergone stringent test through time, and has proved to be appropriate for the Indonesian society and culture. Each and all functions contain the physical and spiritual elements re-quired to carry the society safely into the future.
THE EIGHT FUNCTIONS AND THE MDGs
As one could readily observe the MDGs is indeed all encompassing and compre-hensive. It is, however, not location nor country and culture-specific, and hence need to be further elaborated into particular conditions. For example, the para-mount cultural and value system is not taken into consideration. In other words "belief in the One Almighty God" is not considered important, whereas in the Eight Functions of the Family, it is exactly the overriding credo of family devel-opment.
The second function which calls for the preservation and the upholding of cul-tural heritage is also not specifically mentioned as one of the MDGs. This is un-derstandable as culture is inherent in people’s life which changes overtime, par-ticularly in the inter-generational process. Yet, culture also is the crux of peo-ple’s intelligence, and hence the building of the preservation of culture in the education goals of the MDGs. Therefore, the education goals of MDGs is so much value-laden and culture-based, although the concept of univerversal edu-cation is to keep widest possible access for school-going children to the school system, and keep them the longest in the system and to achieve the highest possible levels.
The third of the Eight Functions is nurturing love and affection among all family members. Within the context of the MDGs, this function could be made part of the Promotion of Gender Equality and Empowerment, i.e. that women members of the family are accorded similar rights and obligation as the men. Further-more, the MDGs also has the goal to Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other dis-eases. Perhaps the underlining of HIV/AIDS is in order as this can be best pre-vented through stronger sharing of love and affection in family life.
The fourth of the Eight Functions is giving sanctuary to all members of the fam-ily. The objective of this function is to create a situation that all members of the family feels protected and safe within the family circle. This function is all en-compassing in the sense that the feeling of security can take many manifesta-tions, e.g. safe from hunger and poverty, safe from external diseases, and safety from outside influence which only the intangibility of culture and religion can bring.
The fifth of the Eight Functions is most direct, i.e. the reproductive function. This appears to be closely linked to the fifth MDG of improving maternal health in the the family and society. Also closely linked is the reduction of child mortality as this is one of the determinants of fertility rates.
Sixth of the Eight Function is the socialization and education function. This can be directly linked with the MDGs’ universal primary education or creating the widest access to education for all, especially the poor and underprivileged.
Seventh of the Eight Function is the economic function, whereby all members of the family are given appropriate and adequate opportunities to contribute to the economic wellbeing of the family. This function has no direct linkage with the MDGs, yet is very tangibly linked to efforts to eradicate poverty. In the Indone-sian context one of the obsession of the government and other segments of the society is to enhance the role of women in the economic sphere, such that their potentials could be directed to contribute to the family income. Hence the most appropriate link would be to the promotion of gender and empowerment of women. A note of caution is submitted under this rubric that child labor is to be avoided at all cost.
The eighth and last function of the Eight Function is preservation of the envi-ronment and attain the sustainability of finite resources within and surrounding the families. Goal number eight of the MDGs dictates exactly that point, i.e. to ensure environmental sustainability.
To encapsulate this paragraph the difference is that in the context of MDGs the spectrum is macro in scope, whereas is the Eight Function it is more on what in-dividual families at the grass roots can do to materialize those ideals. On the other hand, the similarities are most striking, indicating that eventhough the MDGs was conceived as a result of world-scale deliberations, the enduring test in family life in the most basic levels of the society has proved that the world actu-ally have so much in common.
TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: MEASURING THE PROCESS, THE EFFECTS AND THE IMPACT OF FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
One could also draw the conclusion that while the measurements of the MDGs is universal and somewhat standardized, location and culture specific measure-ments would dictate policy measures more appropriately. As an illustration, as also aforementioned, religion and religious life is most important in the Indone-sian mainstream. That is not mentioned as a target, nor as a preamble in the MDGs.
Further, let us take education as an illustration. Common wisdom would insist on measuring the result of education as the lowering of illiteracy and the in-crease of graduates, even perhaps the degree of social change achieved. While those are true, for most developing countries, the more mutable indicator would be the total number of students of school-going ages, thus increasing access to the school system. The concern here is more on increasing the coverage and access rather than the quality of education. True, quality is imperative, but cov-erage and access should be overriding. A point worth thinking about is whether the schools are free of tuition costs, i.e. subsidized, and whether the costs are prohibitive for the average poor.
Health, certainly is one of the obsessions in the Eight Functions of the Family, which is also a goal in the MDGs, especially women's health. The MDGs goes even further by expressly targeting on the health and mortality ratios of infants and children. The measurement should not only be the number of hospitals or health centres. Rather, it would be better to increase access to those centers. Medical and paramedical personnel siting idle at the centers will not solve the health problems. They should be assigned to do more outreach work.
Sustainability is another point requiring thoughts on. The term denotes continu-ity and growth. Measuring growth is straightforward for as long as one is certain what the growth is about. Continuity is more problematic as one would have to be cognizant that the term has also the element of change embedded.
The environment is categorically mentioned in the Eight Functions, reflecting the quality of life. Measurements are abound, yet the socialization nd the utilization of those need to be further eaborated. Complex measurements such as the lead content of the air we breathe, the mercury contents of coastal waters are the mere two which have not yet drawn the interest of the people at large. In this, one would readily observe that the Eight Functions is more workable and com-prehensible to the population at large.
THE POSDAYA MODEL
It is along those lines of thought that DAMANDIRI launched the POSDAYA model for grass-roots empowerment and family development. POSDAYA advocates for the empowerment and active participation of all members in the family to strive for betterment. The POSDAYA model combines and converges the MDGs, the Eight Functions of the families, and even the HDI into a single compact and streamlined concept for social development with the family as focus. Further-more the POSDAYA is a model for empowering all families and all within families, and nurtures harmony within the family and among families.
If one would look at the family as the smallest unit of societal life, with POSDAYA all members of the family, from infants to the elderly, are of equal importance and have tangible roles and rights embedded. All of these should be clearly de-liniated and exercised in the strive for better families in the future.
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