What is the influence of global health initiatives on national attention to the health and well-being of Indonesia’s population? How do local actors navigate challenges in maintaining resources, managing bureaucratic systems, and meeting accountability and audit demands imposed by these initiatives? This panel addresses these questions through findings from two months of ethnographic research on stunting intervention programs in three locations: Padang (West Sumatra), Semarang (Central Java), and Manggarai (East Nusa Tenggara). It examines development planners’ political interests in using digital information systems for stunting reduction and explores local responses to these digital bureaucratic technologies as a lens to assess their empowerment effects in ensuring equitable health access for marginalized communities often excluded from health digitalization processes. By addressing themes of governance systems, health metrics, development actors, and the emotional dimensions of global health implementation, the panel provides insights into contemporary development in Indonesia.