Conquering The Conflict-Induced Poverty: Does Cash Transfer Help?

Abstract

The intergenerational aspect of poverty explains the need to address child poverty. Empirically, child poverty is found to be correlated with family structure and living conditions. Children living with single mothers and in unsafe environments are more likely to be poor. The region of Eastern Indonesia has the highest percentage of poor population in the country and relatively prone to conflict. By employing logit and OLS model using IFLS East 2012 data set this research aims to investigate the association between conflict, family structure, and child poverty. It also tries to evaluate the contribution of government’s cash transfer in lessening child poverty. Results suggest that household head’s education and gender explain child poverty while conflicts have an adverse economic impact on poor families. The study also finds that poverty alleviation program cannot thrive without comprehensive community empowerment.