Dr. Sudarno Sumarto is currently Senior Research Fellow at SMERU Research Institute and was the director of SMERU for nearly 10 years. He was also a lecturer at Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Bogor, Indonesia. He has a PhD and an MA from Vanderbilt University and a BS from Satya Wacana Christian University (Salatiga), all in economics.

Sumarto has contributed to more than sixty co-authored articles, chapters, reports, and working papers, including “Tangible Information and Citizen Empowerment: Identification Cards and Food Subsidy Programs in Indonesia”, February 2018; “Evolution and Implementation of the Rastra Program in Indonesia”, November 2017; “It’s All in the Timing: Cash Transfers and Consumption Smoothing in a Developing Country”, November 2015; “Assessing the Political Impacts of a Conditional Cash Transfer: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in Indonesia”, December 2014 and “Study on Teacher Absenteeism in Indonesia”, December (2014);

As well as conducting research and writing papers, Sumarto has worked closely with the Indonesian government, giving advice on poverty issues and government poverty alleviation programs.

Sumarto has spoken on poverty and development issues in Australia, Chile, Peru, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Japan, Morocco, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, among other countries.