Empowerment of people needed, says economist
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)