Coop Minister: Social Aid Recipients Can Earn Income Through Red and White Village Cooperatives
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Cooperatives Minister Ferry Juliantono stated that families receiving social aid benefits (KPM), particularly under the Family Hope Programme (PKH), have the opportunity to earn income by becoming members of Village/Urban Village Cooperatives (Kopdes) Merah Putih.
Ferry explained that if social aid recipients become cooperative members, they are entitled to receive the remaining business results (SHU) at the end of each year.
“This SHU will serve as a significant additional income for beneficiary families. With the SHU, it is hoped they can move out of decile 1 (extreme poverty) and decile 2 (poverty),” Ferry said after meeting with Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf in Jakarta on Monday.
In addition, Ferry conveyed that social aid recipient communities also have the opportunity to become employees at Kopdes Merah Putih.
According to him, each village cooperative is planned to provide job opportunities for 15–18 people from beneficiary families, so nationally it is estimated that nearly 1.4 million PKH recipients can be absorbed as workers and receive regular salaries.
To support this policy, he stated that the Ministry of Cooperatives will issue special regulations to make the membership obligations for beneficiaries lighter.
Ferry emphasised that this legal framework is important so that beneficiaries are not burdened by membership fees, but can become independent through active participation in the cooperative.
“This legal framework is important so that beneficiaries are not burdened by membership fees. We want them to be independent, not just reliant on social aid,” he stressed.
The Ministry of Cooperatives will also conduct deeper discussions with the Ministry of Social Affairs, including integration of PKH beneficiary data, to ensure targeted recruitment.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Farida Farichah added that recruitment of workers for Kopdes is being refined. She emphasised the importance of integration with data from the Ministry of Social Affairs, particularly data on beneficiaries in deciles 1–4.
On the same occasion, Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf mentioned that there are currently around 8 million beneficiary families who will be encouraged to become members of village cooperatives.
From that number, according to him, not all will be recruited as employees, but all will be directed to become cooperative members to obtain sustainable economic benefits.
Saifullah further explained that recruitment of workers in village cooperatives will be prioritised for beneficiaries in productive ages according to their capacity and abilities.
He stated that the government will first map beneficiary families before providing various trainings.