VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to encourage the development of animal protein foods that could prevent stunting.

At a meeting with the ministry here, Thursday , BKKBN Chairperson Hasto Wardoyo stated that the MoU would be the basis of cooperation in realizing stunting-free and advanced human resources by developing local animal protein-rich food products.

"We express our gratitude to Minister (Sandiaga Uno), who has made the MoU for us. Later, the creative economy industry would help develop local animal protein products," Wardoyo noted, as per the statement here, Saturday.

He said that in order to realize an advanced Indonesian generation, the nation must revamp its food consumption outlook, as most residents currently rely solely on instant foods while neglecting animal protein, such as eggs and fish.

Through cooperation with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, the agency head expressed optimism that the high percentage of young pregnancies in tourism areas would also be reduced.

Meanwhile, Minister Uno said that the development of more quality and sustainable tourism and creative economy sectors must be utilized to create new jobs and business opportunities to bolster the residents' livelihoods.

However, those goals would be achieved if quality and prosperous residents were first reached by innovation, adaptation, and collaboration, as well as the spirit of prompt, collective action and steps to reap the online potential, he remarked.

"We need to go hand in hand and committed to protecting, helping, and supporting (each other) in our efforts to realize common progress," Uno stated.

The minister also expressed optimism that cooperation between the ministry and BKKBN would motivate all stakeholders and bolster tourism and creative economy development through the pentahelix approach. (Antaranews)

The Health Ministry's Secretary General Kunta Wibawa noted that as of November 2022, coverage of the National Health Insurance (JKN) Program's participation had reached 89.7 percent of Indonesia's total population of around 275 million people.

"This includes JKN participants that are not active or in arrears of contributions or do not pay contributions," Wibawa noted at the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day 2022 webinar, held with the theme of "the Acceleration and Transformation for Health Service Access for All" followed online on Saturday.

He expressed hope that the role of the National Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) and relevant ministries and agencies would be strengthened in boosting the coverage of JKN participation and the number of active participants of the program.

"In essence, what we are pursuing is participants, who actively pay contributions," he remarked.

Wibawa expressed optimism that by increasing the coverage of active participation, by 2024, all of Indonesia's population would become active participants of JKN and get the benefits of health insurance.

The ministry's secretary general stated that in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), one of the visions in the health sector was to improve health services to reach Universal Health Coverage, especially the strengthening of primary health services by enhancing promotive and preventive health programs supported by innovations and technologies.

"We have also carried out health transformation by changing the mindset, from curative to promotive-preventive, especially increasing the services of community health services (puskesmas) and integrated health posts (posyandu), including our second pillar, namely providing referral services," he stated.

He explained that for the enhancement of referral services, the government aims to make all hospitals in the country, from the district, city, to provincial, and the national levels, to be able to provide health services for the four most deadly diseases in Indonesia: cancer, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

He remarked that the role of various parties from the government, private sector, academics, and the community is crucial in creating a healthy and productive society, as health is the basic capital of national development. (antaranews)

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno launched the National Tourism Development Index (IPKN), with the objective of raising awareness of various parties about the importance of developing tourism ecosystems.

"IPKN is expected to be one of the indicators for strengthening Indonesia's tourism sector," Minister Uno noted in his remarks at the 2022 National Coordination Meeting for Tourism and Creative Economy in Jakarta, through an official statement here on Saturday.

With IPKN, Uno is optimistic that Indonesia's tourism sector will be more superior and known in the international market, so that it has the potential to penetrate the world's top 30 targets in the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI).

Furthermore, Uno advised all levels of the central and regional government to provide a strong commitment, innovate, and always collaborate in developing the potential of the tourism ecosystem in their respective regions, so that the IPKN assessment in the regions can get better.

On this occasion, he also announced the five categories of the IPKN assessment sub-index.

"The five sub-indexes are an enabling environment, travel and tourism policy enabling conditions, infrastructure, travel and tourism demand drivers, as well as travel and tourism sustainability," Uno remarked.

Deputy for Strategic Policy at the ministry Nia Niscaya noted that the IPKN is a strategic initiative to increase Indonesia's ranking on the TTDI according to the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020–2024.

The IPKN was developed by lowering the TTDI concept that was adapted to conditions in Indonesia.

The IPKN framework consists of five sub-indices, 16 pillars, and 61 indicators as benchmarks for inclusive and sustainable tourism development.

This framework forms the basis for evaluating the availability of regional data compiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).

"This framework does not only focus on ways to increase tourism development based on the achievements of the data you have," she stated.

"However, this is to see whether the local government has a strategic plan that is able to encourage progress in tourism development, with the commitment of the local government," Niscaya remarked.

Through IPKN, local governments can also find what are the advantages and disadvantages of each based on data as the basis for formulating national and regional policies.

In future, compilation of the IPKN will be announced periodically every year.

"The index is based on the latest data from BPS, namely data for the past year," she stated. (Antaranews)

Deputy Manpower Minister Afriansyah Noor is offering training for members of the community to encourage them to open their own micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to anticipate mass layoffs (PHK) due to the recession.

"With a recession or inflation hitting Europe and the United States, there will be massive layoffs, especially in labor-intensive sectors. Indonesia is one of the countries that exports labor-intensive products, such as shoes, footwear, garments, and textiles," Noor stated in Bengkulu City, Saturday.

Hence, the Ministry of Manpower and all governments at the provincial, district, and city levels are preparing Vocational Training Centers (BLK) to train people to be capable of being MSMEs entrepreneurs, he remarked.

He noted that the development of BLK across Indonesia aligned with President Joko Widodo's direction of developing 34 BLK or Central Technical Implementation Units (UPTP) in 34 provinces.

“The president’s target is to focus on building 34 BLK or UPTP under the Ministry of Manpower outside the four newly formed provinces,” he remarked.

If the training provided is able to help the community (members) in growing their own MSMEs, then the economy will remain stable despite the mass layoffs ahead of the recession, Noor remarked.

Earlier, he also reviewed the development of BLK to become a national-scale UPTP located in Panorama Village, Bengkulu City.

"We are observing the preparation location for the large UPTP BLK from the Ministry of Manpower, where we have collaborated with Bengkulu Province to jointly build the BLK," he explained.

He stated that construction of the UPTP BLK Bengkulu aims to benefit people in Bengkulu Province, and although the UPTP is on a national scale, it will prioritize the people of Bengkulu.

Meanwhile, Bengkulu Governor Rohidin Mersyah stated that the Bengkulu Provincial Government had prepared 2.3 hectares of land for the construction of UPTP BLK in Panorama Village and six hectares of supporting land in the Air Sebakul area. (antaranews)