Karinakas Foundation, in close collaboration with SurveyMETER, held a Dissemination of Data Collection Findings for Aging Study on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at the Aveon Hotel Yogyakarta. It is one of a series of studies on Health and Healthy Aging Services in the Districts of Sleman and Gunungkidul which is also collaborating with SurveyMETER.

The dissemination was carried out in collaboration with the Governments of Sleman and Gunungkidul Districts under support from the Caritas International and Caritas Indonesia institutions.

The dissemination participants comprise representatives from the Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY) province, namely the DIY Elderly Commission and the DIY Social Service. Then representatives from related agencies from Gunungkidul and Sleman districts consisted of the Social Service, Health Office, DP3AP2KB, Agrarian Affairs & Spatial Planning, Department of Population and Civil Registration, Human Development and Cultural Affairs, BAPPEDA, Sub-district Social Welfare Worker (TKSK), and representatives of active aging cadres.

The event commenced with remarks from the Secretary of the Gunungkidul and Sleman Regency Social Services, then succeeded by a speech by the Director of Karinakas, RM Martinus Sutomo Pr. He expressed his gratitude to all parties who supported this activity, including SurveyMETER, who had fostered from initial preparation to preparing the report.

“Hopefully, the results of this activity will be advantageous for improving older adult care services in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY),” disclosed RM Martinus Sutomo.

Furthermore, the presentation of the dissemination material was delivered by Sister M. Huberta FSGM from Karinakas as the activity coordinator. She conveyed the process of field activities, what had been done, and follow-up plans that would be carried out. The study was conducted in one village each in Sleman and Gunungkidul Districts.

The subsequent presentation was delivered by Dr. Ni Wayan Suriatini, M.Phil, Executive Director of SurveyMETER, who presented the results of the related study. Among the pivotal points from the study conclusions, Suriastini conveyed, referring to the findings of a data collection study which captured the condition of older adult citizens in the two study areas, including older people who need the Long-Term Care (LTC) Program and their needs, it is necessary to improve the quality of elderly care services at Community Health Centers which can be utilized as means and capital in improving older adult services at the facility.

“Therefore, an elderly integrated community-based health service system (community care hub) is also needed to improve health services for older adults,” insisted Suriastini.

Bappenas in carrying out the Pilot for Establishment of Long Term Care Services and Systems, received technical support (Technical Assistant—TA) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In November 2022, the Asian Development Bank conducted a series of field visits to the five pilot project areas of TA 9928 REG: Developing Innovative Community-Based Long-Term Care Systems and Services. After more than two and a half years of providing online implementation training, meetings and mentoring, the ADB team had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with all Community Care Hub (CCH) teams. In a marathon, the ADB Team met with the CCH team from Melinggih (Gianyar) and Pedungan (Denpasar City) in Bali Province as well as Banyuraden (Sleman), Guwosari (Bantul) and Wirogunan (Yogyakarta City) in D.I Yogyakarta Province. The meeting started at Melinggih on November 15 2022 and continued the next day at Pedungan. Then on 18 November ADB continued its visit to Banyuraden and Guwosari and closed the series of field visits on 21 November 2022 by visiting Wirogunan.

During this meeting, SurveyMETER, which coordinated the pilot implementation in five locations, had the opportunity to guide discussions with stakeholders from each area such as the local village/lurah, Puskesmas, PKK, elderly Posyandu and other elderly services. Topics such as the success of CCH, service delivery from CCH and hopes for 2023 are quite interesting things to discuss among them. In addition, the ADB team also held in-depth discussions with the Community Care Hub team to explore each other's understanding of care and support programs for the elderly. At each meeting, the ADB team visited a variety of active elderly activities. Starting from yoga, creative economy, brain exercises, to making traditional herbal medicine. In addition to observing the activities of active elderly people, they also had the opportunity to visit bedridden elderly or in the category of vulnerable elderly level 3. Visits to the elderly give them a better understanding of what is already going well and which areas need further support.

During the visit, the ADB team also held a one-and-a-half-day workshop with national and international consultants from the Community Care Hub. Taking place at the SurveyMETER office on 19-20 November 2022, this event became a long overdue in-depth discussion event for national/international consultants and ADB. The results concluded in the workshop are expected to facilitate and make easier for Community Care Hub services in the future.

This brief but quite profound meeting is a concrete manifestation of the seriousness of Bappenas, ADB, SurveyMETER and national/international consultants in dealing with the problems of the elderly in Indonesia. Aging is an unavoidable process. Aging in a comfortable place and safe community regardless of income level or ability is the hope of a quality life that is coveted by the elderly.

Established in 1947, the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is an international professional association of researchers in surveys and public opinion research. This year, the conference took “75 Years of Worldwide Public Opinion Research” as its theme, and presented the event with prominent speakers in public opinion research. Over 250 researchers from 57 countries attended the conference.

SurveyMETER – the only representative from Indonesia and first to attend the prestigious event – presented two papers in this forum using data from the 2018 World Values Survey (WVS). First paper “Parents’ perceptions on teaching social values and character to their children at home in Indonesia” was presented by Ni Wayan Suriastini, the Executive Director of SurveyMETER. It highlighted values of Indonesian parents’ inclined to be passed down to their children and also looking at parental background affecting this particular issue. Second paper “Internet access and perception on science and technology in Indonesia”, discussed by Dwi Oktarina, researcher from SurveyMETER, argued that people who accessed the internet daily were less likely to have stronger opinion on science and technology than their counterparts. Bondan Sikoki, the founder of SurveyMETER and co-author of the first paper, also present and participated in this event.

On-going conversation and publications with respect to public opinion from various countries around the world broaden knowledge and insight of the participants. Research focusing on public opinion is critical to ensure people’s voices are heard and democracy is being carried out properly.