City to set up task forces to help the poor

City to set up task forces to help the poor

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration plans to establish
working groups in every subdistrict to help assist the Social
Office in helping about 600,000 poor people.

Head of the city Social Office, Emon Setia Sumantri, said
yesterday that the working groups, whose members will be
volunteers, are expected to intensify the city administration's
efforts to help the poor achieve a better life.

The 600,000 people who are said to have "social problems"
include street children, beggars, prostitutes, former convicts
and drug addicts.

According to the Social Office, as of last year Jakarta had
683,813 people in need of social help, of which only 29,102 had
received attention from the office. A further 51,111 of the total
received attention from private organizations, the office says.

Emon said about 9,300 volunteers, 857 social organizations and
74,170 members of youth organizations are expected to help the
office with the project.

"At the moment there are only 93 institutions, 39 of which are
state-owned social institutions, attending to the needy people.
The other 54 institutions are managed by private organizations,"
he said.

Emon said the office faced several constraints in dealing with
the people. "Urbanization is the first thing to blame for the
increasing number of vagrants, while getting accurate data and
the number of such people is not that easy," he said. He added
that low-quality training and employers' reluctance to hire
rehabilitated people did not help the rehabilitation efforts.

"Another thing that curtails the programs is the fact that
most of the people to be rehabilitate have a very limited
educational background," he said.

One of the working groups' jobs will be collecting accurate
data on the number of the people to be assisted. "This is very
important," he said.

Emon did not mention money as one of the constraints, nor did
he say how much money has been earmarked for the program.

Many people have been skeptical about the rehabilitation
program as many of the rehabilitated people are reported to
return to their old ways soon after they completing the programs.

Emon acknowledged this, saying that the establishment of the
working groups is expected to minimize such shortcomings. "It's
impossible for the city administration to do such a job alone,
without private volunteers," he said.

He said that, in the long run, the working groups will be
meaningful in narrowing social gaps and increasing the poor's
standard of living. (yns)