Family welfare census to begin in January 1997

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to conduct a nationwide census on family welfare next year to pinpoint households who are still living below the poverty line.

State Minister of Population/Chairman of the National Family Planning Board Haryono Suyono said the census would be used by the government to reallocate its aid for least developed villages.

Haryono told the media Rp 60 million (US$10,900) in working capital would be allocated to each of the identified villages over three years.

"In 1998, the government will continue the villagers' empowerment through the aid," he said here Monday.

The government in 1994 began their program to alleviate poverty by granting Rp 20 million to least-developed villages in Indonesia for three consecutive years.

The funds are raised by Yayasan Dana Sejahtera Mandiri, chaired by President Soeharto, and has accumulated more than Rp 1.7 billion.

Haryono said the census, which is expected to cover 42 million families, will run for three months beginning in January.

"As the survey is very important, I hope the families will answer the questionnaire honestly," he said.

Recent records show that there are 17.6 million poor families in Indonesia.

Haryono said the census would also record the number of poor children and physically disabled family members.

He explained that such data would be used by institutions such as the National Foster Parents Movement and the Ministry of Social Affairs to intensify their effort to help people.

Haryono also announced that his office, in cooperation with the National Foster Parents Movement (GN-OTA), will issue a voucher aimed at financing six million poor children to complete their education.

The voucher, worth Rp 10,000, serves as a savings certificate at Bank Rakyat Indonesia where the movement deposits its funds collected from foster parents.

"We encourage people all over Indonesia to buy the voucher next year during Christmas and the fasting month to donate to the poor children," he said.

Haryono said his office had distributed 500,000 vouchers to governors in 27 provinces to stimulate public participation in the foster parents movement. (09)