Coordinating Ministry Launches Garuda Programme in NTT to Accelerate Extreme Poverty Eradication

The Coordinating Ministry for Community Empowerment, represented by Deputy for Coordination of Village, Disadvantaged Regions, and Specific Regions Empowerment Abdul Haris, attended a coordination meeting on optimising poverty alleviation and extreme poverty eradication in Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The event also marked the launch of the GARUDA Programme in the province. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, officials from the NTT provincial government, regency and city governments across NTT, universities, and representatives from relevant ministries and institutions. Abdul Haris stressed that achieving the target of zero percent extreme poverty by 2026 and reducing the national poverty rate to five percent by 2029 can only be realised through strong synergy between central and regional governments with well-targeted policies. He noted that poverty indicators must form the basis of policy-making to ensure budget allocations genuinely impact public welfare. NTT is a priority province as it has the fifth-largest poor population in Indonesia. Of the 3,442 villages in NTT, 876 are priority poverty villages with poverty rates above 20 percent, particularly in East Sumba, Kupang, South Central Timor, and Southwest Sumba regencies. Meanwhile, Kupang City, Manggarai Regency, and Alor Regency have been designated as barometer areas for achieving the zero percent extreme poverty target by 2026. In the education sector, it was reported that the Indonesia Pintar Programme has reached 475,975 students in NTT, though tens of thousands of students have yet to receive benefits. The government emphasised the importance of reducing school dropout rates and optimising the Sekolah Rakyat programme to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. ‘Education is the most effective instrument to break the intergenerational poverty chain. Children who attend school today are families that will escape poverty tomorrow,’ Abdul Haris stated. On the occasion, he officially launched the Garuda Programme in NTT Province as a community empowerment model based on local potential to improve welfare. The programme emphasises that poverty alleviation cannot rely solely on social assistance but must be strengthened with empowerment that enhances skills, opens business opportunities, and creates sustainable income sources.