Empowerment of people needed, says economist
JAKARTA (JP): High economic growth is no guarantee in alleviating poverty, but the poor must also be empowered to develop and strengthen their own economy, noted economist Mubyarto said here yesterday.
Speaking to reporters after hosting a session at an international conference on poverty eradication, Mubyarto described the empowerment of people's economy as a "guarantee" in the success of the poverty eradication program.
"Giving the poor opportunities (through easily accessed financial assistance) and trusting them 100 percent to develop their own economy is key to alleviating them from poverty," he said.
Mubyarto, a professor on rural economics at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, cited the government's 3-year-old special poverty eradication program, IDT, as an example of such empowerment.
IDT is an ambitious government program launched in 1993 to help eradicate poverty by raising the economic prosperity of poor villages.
Mubyarto said the program has covered 28,223 underdeveloped villages, which account for 43 percent of all villages in Indonesia.
Twenty-three percent of the underdeveloped villages are located in Java and Bali.
The program provides between Rp 20 million (US$7,000) and Rp 60 million in working capital for poor groups in the villages.
Mubyarto said as much as Rp 1.3 trillion has been distributed.
According to government statistics, the number of people living under the poverty line has been reduced from 70 million in 1970 to 25.9 million, or 13.7 percent of the population, in 1993.
Mubyarto said the government aims to reduce the number even further to just 2.7 percent of the population by 2005.
"The program has been very successful, and the people assisted through the program have testified that the trust given to them has boosted their self-esteem," he said.
Yesterday's conference, the Regional Workshop on Comparative Experiences in Poverty Eradication, was opened by UNDP's administrator James Gustav Speth.
The two-day conference was co-organized by the government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
State Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita, State Minister of Population Haryono Suyono, and Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya were also present yesterday.
Prior to yesterday's opening ceremony, Mubyarto led representatives from 14 Asia and Pacific countries participating in the conference on a field study to Umbul village, Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Sunday.
The village is said to be one of the success stories of the IDT program.
When asked, Mubyarto conceded yesterday that there has been some corruption in the channeling of IDT funds -- obtained through grants given by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development -- but said: "It's been little if there has been any." (aan)