Gov’t Committed to Tackling Extreme Poverty in W. Java: VP

INDUSTRY.co.id - As part of his working visit to West Java capital of Bandung, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin Wednesday (29/09) led a meeting to discuss measures against extreme poverty in the province.

The meeting was attended by among others Governor of West Java as well as regents of Cianjur, Bandung, Kuningan, Indramayu, and Karawang. These five regions are designated as priority areas for measures against extreme poverty in the province this year.

During the meeting, the Vice President underscored that ministries / institutions and regional governments have enough budgets to alleviate extreme poverty in the country, adding that the main challenge lies in making the poverty alleviation programs convergent and integrated to aim at the same target.

“This convergence is important to ensure that various programs are integrated from planning to implementation, so that the programs will surely reach the people who are eligible,” he said.

The convergence referred to by the Vice President is an effort to ensure that all extreme poverty alleviation programs starting from the planning stage until the implementation stage are focused on the same point, both regionally and in terms of the eligible targets of the programs.

The Vice President also stated that the Government is committed to speeding up the implementation, one of which is by increasing the budget allocation in the form of cash social assistance that is specifically prioritized for the five regencies.

Ma’ruf Amin also mentioned the necessity of data updating on the beneficiaries of the cash social assistance in order for the assistance to reach the right targets. In this regard, he specifically ordered Governor of West Java and the regents of the five priority regencies to immediately confirm the data and information on the beneficiaries in each regency.

In addition, the Vice President also ordered them to ensure that all extremely poor households in their respective regencies implement all programs, both programs for reducing the burden of community expenditure and community empowerment programs.

“The governor and the regents should also strengthen the planning and budgeting of extreme poverty alleviation programs in their respective Regional Budget,” he said.

The Vice President also advised business players operating in priority regencies to participate in efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by encouraging the convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs using the same approach and targets as government programs.

For the record, of the five regencies in West Java, the total number of the extremely poor reaches 460,327 people with a total of 107,560 extremely poor households.

The number consists of Cianjur Regency with an extreme poverty rate of 4 percent (90,480 people); Bandung Regency with an extreme poverty rate of 2.46 percent (93,480 people); Kuningan Regency with an extreme poverty rate of 6.36 percent (69,090 people); Indramayu Regency with an extreme poverty rate of 6.15 percent (106,690 people); and Karawang Regency with an extreme poverty rate of 4.51 percent (106,780 people).

This meeting is part of a series of visits by the Vice President to seven priority provinces to alleviate extreme poverty in 2021. On Tuesday (28/09), the Vice President held a virtual coordination meeting with governors of the seven provinces, namely Governor of West Java, Governor of Central Java, Governor of East Java, Governor of East Nusa Tenggara, Governor of Maluku, Governor of Papua, and Governor of West Papua, along with 35 regents.