Local government coordination capacity in reducing stunting prevalence : cases of Bekasi city and Bogor city

Abstract

Stunting remains a global problem, including in Indonesia. Despite the nature of stunting reduction as a benevolent policy, which tends to be less prioritized by politicians, many countries have succeeded in reducing stunting. It raised a question: under what conditions does the government pursue stunting reduction? Most studies point out the commitment of political leaders as the main driver of the stunting reduction. However, in a democratic government, a political leader has a term limit, which makes him vulnerable to continuity of stunting reduction in the long term. Hence, I argue that the bureaucratic capacity could better drive stunting reduction since bureaucrats serve longer than political leaders. Focusing on coordination capacity, this research assesses the variation outcome of stunting reduction in Bekasi City and Bogor City during the changing landscape of stunting policies from 2018 to 2022 by employing a comparative qualitative method with Most Similar System Designs. This research concludes a strong capacity of street-level bureaucracy coordination was the core of Bekasi City’s better performance in stunting reduction compared to Bogor City. Therefore, understanding the need for a strong coordination capacity in bureaucracy and the impact of not having it can significantly contribute to increasing the successful delivery program of benevolent policy in a local government.