MBG Watch

Continuous, evidence-based accountability for Indonesia's Makan Bergizi Gratis (Free Nutritious Meals) program — tracking whether it delivers its intended outcomes relative to its costs and harms.

Mandate

MBG Watch monitors Indonesia's Free Nutritious Meals program to provide a clear, continuously-updated, evidence-based assessment of whether the initiative is actually serving children and public money. It tracks program rollout, nutrition outcomes, food-safety incidents, budget execution, and governance indicators. It does not advocate for or against the program — it names concretely what to keep, what to fix, and when (if evidence warrants) to pause. It illuminates so that decisions can be made in service of children's wellbeing and responsible stewardship of public resources, not politics.

Published work

• When Disaster Breaks the Beneficiary List: The Identification Boundary MBG Needs in Emergency Feeding
• Not the Ring, the Outcome Loop: What Metabolic Sensing Cannot Prove for MBG
• Before the Haze Reaches the School Day: Fire Prevention as an MBG Continuity Control
• When a Complaint Has to Travel: The Remedy Record MBG Families Need
• Not the Virtual Power Plant, the Kitchen Flexibility Record
• Before Illness Becomes an Incident: The Early-Warning Record MBG Needs
• When Haze Moves the School Day: The MBG Operating-Status Record Needed Now
• When the Validator Can Act: The AI Authorization Record MBG Needs
• Not the Sensor, the Measurement Chain: What MBG Must Prove Before Small Devices Become Food-Safety Evidence
• From Flores to the Indonesia–Timor Arc: The Seismic Operating Trigger MBG Kitchens Need
• When the Kitchen Itself Becomes the Hazard: The Fire, Gas, and Electrical Readiness Record MBG Needs
• When Guidance Must Become a Gate: The Enforceable Controls MBG Food Safety Needs
• Performance Is Not Proof: The Outcome Ledger MBG Needs for School Benefits
• Not the Generator, the Readiness Record: What Energy-from-Waste Can and Cannot Teach MBG Kitchens
• Not the Dashboard, the Guidance: What Human-Amplifying Interfaces Can Teach MBG Kitchens
• The Third Ruteng Pulse: Why Flores MBG Kitchens Need Live Exit Criteria, Not Calendar Confidence
• Earlier Care Is Not Earlier Proof: The Measurement Loop MBG Needs for Mothers, Toddlers, and 3T Nutrition
• When the Day Has to Move: The Operating-Window Ledger MBG Needs
• From Dashboard to Guidance: The Parent-Understandable Menu Record MBG Needs
• The Last Meter of the Meal: What Food Lockers Can and Cannot Teach MBG
• Cooler Grounds, Cleaner Air: What Urban Greening Tradeoffs Mean for MBG
• The Second Ruteng Pulse: Why MBG Kitchens Should Exit Aftershock Mode by Evidence, Not Date
• The Compounding Operational Ledger: Hormuz Chronicity, Flores Aftershocks, and Heat/Haze Converge on the MBG Meal Tray
• When Aftershock Mode Ends: The Exit Ledger MBG Kitchens Need in Flores
• When the Kitchen Gets Hot: The Worker-Safety Record MBG Needs

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