VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin holding a dialogue with students and teachers at SD Negeri Inpres VIM 1 Kotaraja, Abepura, Jayapura city, Papua on Friday (October 15, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-Setwapres) - 

The Indonesian government has set the target of lifting 196,120 Papuans residing in five districts out of extreme poverty this year, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said.

During a coordination meeting at the Papua Governor's Office on Saturday, he informed that the 196,120 residents are among the approximately 2.1 million extremely poor nationwide, who will be targeted by the poverty alleviation program in 2021.

“In 2021, we will resolve extreme poverty in around 2.1 million citizens spread in seven provinces, including Papua, where five districts (of the province) are prioritized in 2021,” the Vice President said.

According to Amin, the five Papuan districts were prioritized based on the percentage of extreme poverty levels combined with the number of extremely poor people in the area.

“Especially for the five districts in Papua that are prioritized in 2021, the number of extremely poor people is 196,120, with a total of extremely poor households reaching 89,500,” he expounded.

While 30.84 percent or 67,720 of the 196,120 targeted Papuan residents are from Jayawijaya district, 26.53 percent or 35,180 are from Puncak Jaya district, 30.52 percent or 54,920 are from Lanny Jaya district, 29.19 percent or 14,200 are from Central Mamberamo district, and 32.48 percent or 24,100 are from Deiyai district, he informed.

The targeted residents have been identified based on a global measurement by the World Bank that has defined the extreme poor as those who are living on less than $1.9 per day, Amin explained.

Regarding the handling of extreme poverty in 2021, the Vice President emphasized that there is no problem regarding funding because the government has adequate funds to resolve extreme poverty.

"However, the biggest challenge now is how to make these programs convergent and integrated into targeting the same target," he added.

Therefore, the Vice President has instructed all levels of the Papuan provincial government to prioritize the convergence of programs from ministries and non-ministerial government institutions so that the assistance is accurately distributed to beneficiaries//ANT