The "Education for All policy" is one of the Indonesian government's solutions to return children who work in the street to formal schooling. Unfortunately, access to higher education, which can enable vertical mobility for these children, is constrained by many factors, including financial opportunities. This study examines the…

This study explored learning competency based on the Indonesian National Examination focusing especially on chemistry performance and the circumstances of senior high school students and teachers in rural areas of Simeulue Island, Indonesia. The National Examination total score and chemistry score for students in rural areas were consistently…

The function of empowerment is to equip people with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives that can sustain and improve both personal and societal well-being. Empowerment can occur by means of education, as well as by supportive programs in social work, community development, and philanthropy. Especially when intended for the poor, marginalized,…

This article presents an interview with Alice G. Dewey, professor emeritus at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and granddaughter of the renowned American philosopher John Dewey. She is an economic anthropologist who did ground-breaking research on local markets in Indonesia in the 1950s. She recently co-edited "Surviving Against the Odds:…

In this address, I ask: What do we bring as anthropologists and educators to our work? Two projects frame my arguments: my work with teachers in Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and my term on a school board in an impoverished U.S. city. I conclude that at a time when challenges are simultaneously local and global, immediate and long term,…

We investigated cultural influences on young children's acquisition of social-cognitive concepts. A theory of mind (ToM) scale (Wellman & Liu, 2004) was given to 129 children (71 boys, 58 girls) ranging in age from 3 years 0 months to 7 years 10 months. The children were from three distinct cultural groups: (a) trash pickers…

Literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and a crucial element in the universally recognised right to education. However, illiteracy continues to exist as a global challenge, and many individuals still lack the basic literacy skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of…

Smoke from massive wildfires blanketed Indonesia in late 1997. This paper examines the impact that this air pollution (particulate matter) had on fetal, infant, and child mortality. Exploiting the sharp timing and spatial patterns of the pollution and inferring deaths from "missing children" in the 2000 Indonesian Census, I find that the…

This is a study on 422 female prisoners in peninsular Malaysia. More than half of the female prisoners are foreigners, mainly from Indonesia and Thailand. This study surveys the background of the respondents and identifies factors that may have influenced them to commit the offences. Female prisoners in Malaysia, particularly those who are…

This paper focuses on two important dimensions of Indonesia's development record: education and health. The paper investigates the extent to which the poor benefit from public and private provisioning of these services. Multiple rounds of annual household surveys document a reversal in the rate of decline in poverty and a slowdown in improvements…

The literature suggests that growth of rural industries in developing nations indicates rural poverty and lack of farm employment rather than rural development. A survey of 115 small producers of various goods in rural West Java (Indonesia) confirms that most are poor, have little education, and undertake production for survival reasons. Contains…

Using micro-level public opinion data from the "Pew Global Attitudes Project" 2005, this study investigates the effect of educational attainment and income on support for democracy in five predominantly Muslim countries: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Turkey. Holding all else constant and compared to not finishing primary…

We use rich data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey to assess the relationship between mothers' access to social capital via participation in community activities and their children's health. We exploit the advantages of longitudinal data and community fixed effects to mitigate some of the concerns about spuriousness and reverse causality that…

It is generally agreed that spending on education and health is key to poverty reduction, but simply allocating more resources to these sectors does not ensure that poverty actually declines. On the basis of four in-depth case studies (on Indonesia, Madagascar, Peru and Tanzania) and three Technical Papers on malnutrition and primary education in…

This book, the last volume in a three-part series, draws on a large-scale worldwide poverty study to present the views, experiences, and aspirations of poor people in 14 selected countries. In each country, interviews and discussion groups were held in 8-15 rural and urban communities that reflected the most prevalent poverty groups and the…