Government Promotes Economic Empowerment Program To Handle Extreme Poverty In Indonesia

JAKARTA - The Presidential Staff Office (KSP) informed the public that the Indonesian government continues to strive to overcome the problem of extreme poverty in this country. In addition to the social assistance program (bansos), the government is also developing innovative programs in the field of economic empowerment, one of which is the Nusantara Economic Heroes (PENA) program.

PENA is one of the Poverty Graduation Programs designed to reduce extreme poverty. The PENA program provides business capital assistance worth 6 million rupiah to Beneficiary Families (KPM) who already have businesses and want to get out of social assistance dependence," explained Abraham Wirotomo, KSP's Main Expert.

Abraham also explained that the government does not only depend on social assistance such as the Family Hope Program (PKH), Basic Food, National Health Insurance Contribution Assistance Recipients (PBI JKN), the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP), and so on.

"It is impossible to reach 0 percent for extreme poverty if the government only relies on social assistance. Therefore, the government also involves other approaches by providing skills and capital to beneficiaries," added Abraham.

Meanwhile, KSP continues to monitor the distribution of social assistance programs during the first half of 2023 and oversees the coordination between these programs initiated by the government.

On Friday, June 16, a team of KSP experts visited Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, to gain experience from beneficiaries of social assistance programs and see how far they are involved in the Nusantara Economic Heroes (PENA) economic empowerment program.

According to information obtained from the Kulon Progo local government, the local community is more interested in economic empowerment programs than only receiving social assistance. The reason is, social assistance only provides temporary assistance to overcome social vulnerabilities. However, social assistance alone is not able to overcome poverty as a whole.

Through KSP, the government will continue to listen to the aspirations of the community, especially the beneficiaries. This will allow the government to continue to innovate in creating targeted social policies and being able to overcome the root of poverty problems," said Abraham.