Dinar Dana Kharisma

Dinar Dana Kharisma currently works at the Directorate of Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment, Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS). Since 2008, he has participated in the designing and evaluation process of various national social protection programs, including the conditional cash transfer Program Keluarga Harapan, National Social Security System (SJSN), as well as the Integrated Social Service and Referral System (SLRT).

Ehtisham Ahmad

Professor Ehtisham Ahmad has been Directing a Project on Sustainable Transitions in China and Mexico, at the Grantham Research Institute at the LSE over the past three years. He also worked with the ADB to provide recommendations for consideration for the 14th Five Year Plan. During the past decade, he has been Visiting Professor at the LSE, Pao Yu-Kong Professor at Zhejiang University, Senior Fellow at the Center for Development Research, University of Bonn as well as Senior Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science/Ministry of Finance Research Institute (2018-21).

Vivi Yulaswati

Vivi Yulaswati is the senior advisor to the Minister of National Development Planning for Social Affairs and Poverty Reduction. Her main responsibility is to do analysis and provide advice to the minister on social and poverty reduction related issues, policies, and strategies. She currently leads the National Secretariat for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She has extensive experience in designing major poverty reduction programs in Indonesia, including community driven development, conditional cash transfer, and some subsidy reforms.

Shu Cai

Shu Cai is an Associate Professor in Economics of the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Jinan University (Guangzhou, China). His research areas include Development Economics, Labor Economics, and Applied Microeconomics, with particular interests on investigating migration, poverty alleviation, and subjective well-being. He is currently working on projects to evaluate a government-led microcredit program in poor rural areas of China based on a randomized controlled trial.

Xia Li

Xia Li obtained her Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ursuline College. She is a young entrepreneur and the Founder of Shenzhen Power-Solution Ind. Co., Ltd., a solar company dedicated to supplying the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) people with high-quality and affordable solar solutions. Her work contributes to the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7) and poverty alleviation (SDG 1).

Nidup Tshering

Nidup Tshering works as a Social Development Consultant (GAD) for ADB in Bhutan. With a background in Development Management, he has been working with ADB for the last twelve years designing and implementing social projects. His recent works include the development of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) Blueprint for Bhutan.

Social Protection Policies in Asia: Challenges and Solutions

Social protection helps lift people out of poverty and enhances access to basic social services. It also builds human capital while increasing access to formal employment, incomes, and savings. In Asia, social protection programs in East Timor, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Krygyz Republic, and South Korea share common challenges that hinder people from enjoying their benefits. These include difficulty in targeting beneficiaries, inconsistent policies, and lack of funding.This presentation proposes several recommendation to address these difficulties.