MBG to Focus on 3T Regions, VP Gibran Urges Faster Kitchen Licensing

Vice President (Wapres) Gibran Rakabuming Raka has stressed that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme must be prioritised in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions. “MBG will be more targeted if focused on 3T areas,” Gibran said during a visit to SD Wolomoni, Niowula Village, Detusoko District, Ende Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, after reviewing the programme’s readiness on Thursday (18/6). He assessed that areas like Niowula Village, which are far from urban centres, are the ones most in need of the government’s nutritious food programme intervention. “Areas like this are precisely the ones that need MBG the most,” Gibran stated, adding that the programme is expected to help ease the burden on families in the region. During the visit, Gibran also received a report that the MBG kitchen in Niowula Village has been completed but is still awaiting the inspection and feasibility test process from the central government. He emphasised that this process must be accelerated so that services can commence promptly. On the other hand, the Vice President acknowledged that the implementation of MBG still faces a number of challenges, particularly regarding governance and oversight. “I am aware that this MBG programme still has many shortcomings. Going forward, there must be more improvements, governance must be improved to be more efficient, and corrupt practices must be eliminated,” he said. Gibran also conveyed that the school holiday period will be utilised by the government to conduct a thorough evaluation of the MBG programme, including reforms at the National Nutrition Agency. “Now there is a school holiday break. This is the right time for a comprehensive evaluation, especially regarding governance,” he stated. He affirmed the government’s commitment to continuously improving the MBG programme to be more targeted and free from irregularities. “Going forward, we will continue to improve it so that it is more targeted and corrupt practices do not occur again,” he stressed.