Challenge
The origins of the PEKKA program are from two different sources. First, as early as 1999, the Ministries of National Development Planning (Bappenas) and Home Affairs (Kemendagri) asked the World Bank to design targeted programs for vulnerable widows. The National Statistics Board was showing high poverty rates among female-headed households, and further poverty assessments also showed that the incidence of poverty among widows accounted for a significant share of the rural very poor, particularly in the conflict provinces. Second, information from quantitative and field reviews of World Bank-financed national community development projects showed that vulnerable wi