Regarding The Handling Of Extreme Poverty In Kakung Village, Vice President Cecar, Mranggen Sub-district Head, Demak

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin asked several questions to regional heads or sub-district heads while reviewing efforts to deal with extreme poverty in Kakung Village, Mranggen District, Demak Regency, Central Java Province.

Kakung Village, Mranggen District is one of five villages in Mranggen District which is a priority locus for reducing extreme poverty.

To the Vice President, Mranggen Sub-district Head Wiwin Edi Widodo reported that Kankung Village was inhabited by 2,676 families consisting of 8,271 people and 258 families living in the village were poor.

"We have entered the PKH (Family Hope Program) as many as 80 household heads (KRT) and 342 household members (ART)," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, April 4.

Wiwin explained that the interventions that have been carried out by the government to overcome poverty include building 210 uninhabitable houses (RTLH) and 125 healthy latrines and distributing PKH assistance to 503 beneficiary families (KPM) and basic food social assistance for 193 KPM.

In addition, according to him, every year the residents of Kangkung Village get Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) from the Village Fund.

Responding to the report, the Vice President asked the community empowerment program run in Kakung Village so that residents do not continue to rely on assistance from the government.

"What is empowerment? Community empowerment so that it will not only rely on this, assistance, but independence," he said.

Wiwin explained that in an effort to empower residents, the government has held online sales training programs, sewing and workshop courses, training on washing soap from refined oils, training on the manufacture of snacks, and waste recycling training.

"Then (there is training) for tobacco assistance, because this village of Kangkung is also a good quality tobacco producer," he said.

The Vice President then asked about capital issues and Wiwin explained that there were already business entities that provided loans for residents' business groups.

"We at the sub-district level have an UPK business entity with Kuncuro Makmur, where residents who have activities as a group can apply for an easy, cheap capital loan, and there are no participant requirements," said Wiwin.

The Vice President hopes that the community empowerment program that has been implemented can accelerate the reduction of extreme poverty in Kankung Village.