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Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf held a meeting with the World Bank representatives in Jakarta on Thursday (Dec 12, 2024). (ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Social Affairs) - 

VOInews, Jakarta : Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf held a meeting with the World Bank Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste Carolyn Turk to discuss collaborative strategies that can be carried out to alleviate poverty.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs invites the World Bank to be involved in our priority work, for instance, in increasing the capacity of social assistants and empowering Beneficiary Families through care economic schemes," Yusuf noted in a statement on Thursday (Dec 12).

During the meeting, Director Carolyn Turk lauded the Indonesian government’s efforts in poverty alleviation, including establishing a single poverty alleviation data.

Carolyn emphasized the importance of an integrated data system to ensure the accuracy of assistance.

"Without having a strong integrated data system, we do not know how many types of assistance a family receives. One, two, three assistance, or even none at all?" she remarked.

She highlighted that the World Bank strongly supports the integration of various data currently being processed by Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

Carolyn deems it necessary to conduct data integration despite the possibility of encountering technical and political difficulties.

Hence, she also lauded the works between related ministries and institutions in poverty alleviation efforts.

Carolyn stated that the World Bank supports the empowerment program that the Ministry of Social Affairs currently promotes.

Regarding the empowerment efforts, the World Bank Regional Director for Human Development Alberto Rodriguez highlighted the importance of the government's role in supporting the creation of a productive environment.

"First, we want to ensure that beneficiaries can graduate and be productive. A productive environment must also be created to support productivity," Alberto stated.

During the meeting, the Indonesian government and representatives of the World Bank also discussed the lifelong protection scheme pursued by the Ministry of Social Affairs—on how the ministry provides social protection for unborn babies in the form of maternity care to the elderly//VOI-Antara