Reflection: They need job!
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070903.H05&irec=4 Indonesia's poor need social security, education and health The government recently launched a new poverty alleviation program called the Family Hope Program (PKH), a joint ministerial program that provides cash to poor families eligible for cash assistance. Expert advisor on human resources and poverty at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Bambang Widianto, talked recently about the program with The Jakarta Post's Desy Nurhayati. Question: What are the objectives of the PKH program? Answer: As we know, there is not yet a social security system for the poor in our country. It is the government's responsibility to ensure their well-being. Our concern is that the poor always lack access to education and healthcare. Despite the fact that a lot has been done by the government in improving their access by increasing the supply side, for example by building schools and community health centers, it hasn't done much to improve the demand side, meaning that poor people still can't get enough access despite the existence of such facilities. We have introduced programs that have started to reach the demand side, such as the Operational School Assistance (BOS) and Health Insurance for Poor Families (Askeskin) schemes. But, we haven't managed to solve the problems. We need a program that is really targeted at the poorest people. There are approximately 37 million poor people nationwide, or around 18.6 percent of the country's total population. Of this 37 million, 20 million are abjectly poor and are the targets of the PKH. Under the PKH scheme, poor families will receive cash assistance as long as they fulfill certain requirements, including sending their children to school and ensuring they have regular medical checks. The assistance is aimed at families expecting a new child or with children aged up to 15. Each family will receive fixed assistance of Rp 200,000 (US$22.2) annually, plus supplementary money depending on the state of the family. A family expecting a new child, or with children aged below six or between 12 and 15, will receive an additional Rp 800,000 per year. Those with children aged between six and 12 will receive an additional Rp 400,000. Thus, a family will be able to receive a minimum amount of Rp 600,000 and a maximum of Rp 2.2 million per year. What are the short-term and long-term goals of the program? We will run this as a pilot project for about two or three years, depending on the government's decision. During the pilot stage, we will disburse aid to the 500,000 poorest families in seven provinces: Jakarta -- particularly North Jakarta, West Java, East Java, West Sumatra, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo and East Nusa Tenggara. The short-term goal is to reduce the burden on these families, and the long-term goal is to eradicate poverty. It is hoped that the next generation will move above the poverty line, and benefit from better education, better healthcare. Can you explain tell us why the program is designed in this way? It is designed this way so as to be completely focused on the poorest families in the hope of improve their access to healthcare and education. With better healthcare and education, the quality of human resources in the next generation will be better. So the key is human investment. We're not merely giving them cash assistance, like charity. This is conditional cash assistance. We're requiring them to fulfill their responsibilities to themselves by sending their children to school, by ensuring they have regular medical checks. So, we're urging them to be aware that health and education are two important things for improving the quality of their lives. If they fail to meet the requirements, they will no longer receive the cash. How will this program be coordinated with other assistance programs, such as BOS and Askeskin? This program will go together with and complement the existing programs, such as BOS and Askeskin. In the education sector, for instance, if BOS only covers children within the school system, the PKH will reach those outside the school system. This means the program will cover targeted poor households that produce child workers and street children, and those who have never gone to school. How will the government ensure that the program will be on target? We already have an inventory of poor households from our previous unconditional Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) program. The Central Statistics Agency has conducted a survey to bring the poorest families into the scheme and exclude those who shouldn't receive the assistance. They have also conducted verification to ensure that those on the list are really eligible. So, we are really focusing on the poorest families. The Social Services Ministry has deployed monitoring teams in each subdistrict to verify the circumstances of the families so that the assistance goes to the right people. They also accept complaints if there are families who are eligible to receive the cash but have not been included on the list. In addition, they monitor the families to ensure that they fulfill the requirements, such as a minimum attendance level of 85 percent per year for families with children at school. Recipients can obtain the cash through their local post office. They will receive the exact amount they should, based on their circumstances. There will be no levies. We will apply a computerized payment system to avoid corruption. During the previous assistance program in 2005, the BLT program, the cash was directly paid to the recipients without any deductions. The recipients received the full amount of Rp 300,000 per family per quarter, through their local post offices. If any unexpected levies were imposed, these were outside our payment system. What will you recommend to make this program successful? It will require the cooperation of all the stakeholders. This is an interministerial program involving the Social Services Ministry, the Information and Communications Ministry, the Central Statistics Agency and the state postal operator, PT Pos Indonesia, with the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare acting as coordinator. We expect that each of the stakeholders will carry out this program properly based on their responsibilities. The central government needs to work together with provincial and regional administrations. If we succeed with the pilot project, we will expand the program in coming years to cover more families. This kind of program has been tried successfully in a number of countries, including in Latin America. The PKH is different from the BLT (the previous cash-assistance program), which involved the payment of unconditional assistance. Through the PKH, we are establishing a social security program for the poor. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! 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