For the residents of Banyuwangi, finding out whether they would receive social assistance used to be a long journey. They had to handle document signing at the village office and wait for eligibility announcements from exhausting village meetings. Not to mention the transportation costs they had to pay, under the situation where money for groceries was often barely enough.

What frustrated residents the most was the time. They could wait for months, up to 200 days, just to find out whether they were eligible for assistance. That uncertainty felt increasingly burdensome and caused constant worry.

Moreover, behind the spirit of togetherness in village meetings, there lingered long-unanswered questions. For years, who was entitled to receive aid was not determined solely by data, but by the outcome of village deliberations. This otherwise noble process often left poor residents with nagging doubts: subjective decisions, neighbors who were better off getting registered, and those most in need feeling "invisible."

But now, a fresh breeze is blowing through their villages. Since the Banyuwangi Regency Government, together with the Task Force for the Government Digital Transformation Acceleration Committee (KPTDP) and private partners, launched the Social Protection Portal (Perlinsos) in 2025, the previously complicated process has changed dramatically.

A Revolution from Home: Just One Minute

Everything changed when the Banyuwangi Regency Government and the KPTDP Task Force launched the Perlinsos Portal. This system utilizes Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), such as Digital Population Identity (IKD) and integrated data from the Population and Civil Registration Office (Dukcapil) to the Social Security Administrator (BPJS).

Previously, the waiting time from registration to determining eligibility status took 75–200 days; now it takes just 1 minute to a maximum of 6 hours. This transformation has not only made the process faster but has also significantly increased service capacity. Previously, one caseworker handled 5 cases per day; now, they handle 50 to 200 cases in the same amount of time.

The costs resident must pay are now close to zero rupiah. No more motorcycle taxi fares. No more anxiety about losing their rights when having to entrust aid disbursement to relatives or neighbors who have access to ATMs.

"The positive impact also makes recipient data more valid and development equity more evenly distributed. It also helps avoid 'placeholder' recipients," said one Family Hope Program (PKH) caseworker in Banyuwangi.

For Those Not Yet Digitally Literate: Caseworkers as Helpers

Admittedly, not all Banyuwangi residents are familiar with gadgets. Consider Kalipuro Village, where nearly 400 beneficiary families are elderly. Most work as farm laborers or are housewives who spend their days managing the household. Unsurprisingly, many residents do not own mobile phones, let alone have Digital Population Identity (IKD). For them, technology is an unfamiliar world. 

This is where the role of PKH caseworkers becomes crucial and essential—helping and accompanying residents with technological limitations. They assist residents starting from the registration process, collecting population data, to ensuring eligibility status is correctly received.

Their presence is like a bridge spanning the gap between residents' limitations and the ease of the digital system. Without them, those most in need would struggle to benefit from this digital social assistance system.

Banyuwangi's Perlinsos: Hope and Valuable Lessons

The experience in Banyuwangi shows that digitizing social assistance is a major step in the right direction. However, the journey toward a truly fair, targeted, and sustainable system still requires hard work. Especially in optimizing digital infrastructure and strengthening institutional support on the ground.

Furthermore, there is another equally important aspect to consider. As the registration door widens, the workload of caseworkers and field social service officers has dramatically increased. They are required to work faster and more accurately. Unfortunately, there is no middle ground or concrete action yet to support their work. We see the need for fair adjustments regarding what they can and cannot do. They must not be burdened with great responsibility without adequate protection and support.

However, the conclusion above did not come suddenly. The AMANA Solutions team arrived at it in a way that sounds simple: listening—but with high dedication.

We contacted 111 PKH caseworkers by phone, listening to the small stories of officers who deal with residents every day. We tried to capture real field conditions, from caseworker capacity, infrastructure and system readiness, to various operational obstacles. From this, it became clear that the main challenge lies not in the capacity of implementers, but in system limitations—such as suboptimal reliability, layered processes, and weak data integration and institutional support.

Not only that, we also held lengthy discussions through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with around 30 social assistance caseworkers in Banyuwangi, spread across three types of villages: urban, peri-urban, and rural. Through these conversations, the team began to understand: the extent of officers' capabilities, how digital systems perform in the field, and whether relevant institutions are supportive enough.

Based on this situation, improving system reliability and strengthening inter-agency data support are urgent priorities. Because in the end, technology is just a tool. What matters most is how that tool serves those who need it most—quickly, accurately, and without leaving anyone behind. This valuable lesson is essential for the planned expansion of the social protection portal program to 42 regions in Indonesia.

As one social assistance recipient in Banyuwangi put it:

"Now, with a data-driven system, I am beginning to feel hope that assistance will truly reach the right hands. Digitalization, we believe, can be the solution to ensuring that social assistance recipients are accurately targeted—no longer just a promise, but a certainty that those who deserve to receive, will receive."

The full Social Return on Investment (SROI) study report on the Banyuwangi Perlinsos Portal can be accessed at: http://bit.ly/SROIPerlinsos