GoTo Group is conducting trial runs for the distribution of free lunches to school children, a cornerstone programme of Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto that’s set to be rolled out next year.

The pilots, which started in May and will run until next month, involve the drivers and food vendors on the GoJek platform, Ade Mulya, GoTo’s chief of public policy and government relations, said in a statement. It’s estimated to reach 15,000 students from dozens of schools across cities in the Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi regions, he added.

The home-grown e-commerce and ride-hailing company said the trials are intended to gain feedback on food delivery timeliness, menu variation, production costs, as well as food waste management that can later be adopted by the government.

GoTo’s pilot run could help shed light on the impact of Prabowo’s US$30 billion free meals programme on Indonesia’s micro-economy, not just improving child nutrition and school attendance, but also boosting incomes for local food sellers and delivery riders. Its extensive fleet could also be crucial to address logistics challenges seen in similar feeding plans in India and China.

The free meals programme, which is set to start on Jan 2 targeting 15 million beneficiaries, is estimated to add 0.1 percentage point to Indonesia’s economic growth next year. Private companies and local authorities have been doing their own pilot programmes in recent months as Indonesia’s newly formed national nutrition agency finalises the implementation of the programme.

  - Bloomberg