Empatika was commissioned by UNDP Accelerator Labs to better understand the complex challenges faced by ‘People in Need of Social Welfare Services’ such as street workers (identified by the Indonesian government as Pemerlu Pelayanan Kesejahteraan Sosial or PPKS) in Jakarta, including the key factors shaping their motivation and decision-making. The study focused on street workers who actively earned income through street-based activities, such as busking, begging, scavenging, and performing. 

The study process began with scoping in various areas of Jakarta through community observation and informal interactions with street workers over multiple days. This provided an opportunity to build relationships with potential participants, and refine the study's focus. Following this, three participatory focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 30 participants, including both adult men and women classified as PPKS. The study explored street workers’ daily lives, earnings, spending, forms of support and information, and life aspirations.

Insights from this study are intended to help UNDP Accelerator Labs empower street workers and other PPKS by facilitating collaborative engagement among the government, social enterprises, MSMEs, and CSOs.

Some of the key insights included:

• Participants tend to manage their income and expenses on a daily basis. They prioritize daily needs and rarely plan for monthly income or expenses. Opportunities that may be more lucrative or provide future opportunities are not considered attractive or possible unless they provide daily cash income.

• Many participants felt embarrassed by others’ judgment of street work and the broader stigma associated with this work. Further, the hardships they often face while living on the street causes them to distrust strangers. This results in many keeping their distance from their other neighbors and the wider community, resulting in relatively weak social relationships that may hinder their access to support and assistance. 

• Some participants do not have important documents such as birth certificates and identity cards in their possession, which makes it harder for them to access social assistance and health insurance. 

• Most participants have access to phones and the internet, but they are sometimes without these devices for months at a time as a result of using them as loan collateral. Internet use is typically used for entertainment and communication with their loved ones.

• While participants wanted to transition to off-street work and in many cases understood that there were jobs and training available, they had few examples of role models who had successfully made this transition. Without role models or advice from people they trusted, they struggled to identify what opportunities might exist and how to pursue them.

• Most participants have limited mobility, spending most of their time on the streets where they work due to long hours and the need to maintain their established work areas. Since they primarily move around the city by foot within a small geographical area, opportunities in other parts of Jakarta are largely inaccessible to them.