Central Java Wins Mandaya Award 2026 as Top Province for Poverty Reduction
The Central Java Provincial Government has received the Mandaya Award 2026 from the Coordinating Ministry for Community Empowerment. The award recognised the Best Provincial Government in Poverty Reduction.
Central Java shared the category with three other provinces: Lampung, Gorontalo and South Sumatra. Central Java Governor Ahmad Luthfi accepted the award at the Mandaya Award ceremony at the Plaza Jamsostek Ballroom in South Jakarta on Tuesday (27 October).
The event was attended by Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar, along with several relevant ministers and deputy ministers. Luthfi described the award as recognition of Central Java’s efforts to alleviate poverty, including through community empowerment.
“Central Java Province has received the Mandaya Award, as one of the provinces committed to poverty alleviation and community empowerment. This is national recognition given by the Coordinating Minister to Central Java and its regencies and municipalities,” he said in a written statement on Tuesday (27 October).
The poverty rate in Central Java was 9.21% in March 2026, equivalent to 3.29 million people. This was down 0.18 percentage points from 9.39% in September 2025.
Luthfi said the progress needed to be sustained through collaboration among stakeholders, including the provincial, regency and municipal governments, village administrations, ministries and agencies, and Baznas Central Java.
He also praised the private sector’s contribution through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. Community empowerment has also been strengthened through the Kecamatan Berdaya (Empowered Subdistrict) programme.
“The provincial government cannot work alone. We are applying collaborative government involving various parties, including 177 universities. We are deploying academics to help reduce poverty,” he said.
Several Central Java regencies also received awards. Kebumen, Pemalang and Wonosobo were named Best Regency Governments in Reducing Poverty, while Pekalongan Regency was recognised for its strong commitment to poverty reduction.
“This proves that the outcome of development activities is that people can become empowered and prosperous,” Luthfi said.
Syamsudin Isnaini, head of the Central Java Provincial Bureau for Public Welfare and Poverty Reduction, said the province had developed three strategies to reduce poverty. The first is providing assistance to people who are genuinely unable to support themselves and those in vulnerable circumstances.
The second strategy is to reduce pockets of poverty through the One Regional Government Agency, One Assisted Village programme. According to Syamsudin, the programme has been operating effectively for more than five years.
The third strategy is community empowerment, which has had a significant impact because it is carried out with the private sector and other central government agencies. It includes training and the provision of capital by the government, CSR programmes, Baznas and other parties.
Muhaimin said the Mandaya Award symbolised a transformation in poverty alleviation in Indonesia. The approach, he said, was moving away from a focus on social assistance towards community empowerment.
This includes providing children from poor or underprivileged families with access to proper education through Sekolah Rakyat (People’s Schools). He added that the fall in Indonesia’s poverty rate over the past two years had depended on contributions from many parties, including academics, regional governments and the private sector.
“We want to drive this transformation by empowering communities so that Indonesia can become a strong and independent country,” Muhaimin said.