Poverty eradicating requires sharper priorities

Indonesia has 10 years to realize the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which it agreed to in 2000 along with 190 other nations. The goals are poverty and hunger eradication, gender equality and women's empowerment, universal primary education achievement, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development. The Jakarta Post's Hera Diani spoke to the UN Ambassador for MDGs in the Asia-Pacific region, Erna Witoelar, about how the country is doing. Following is an excerpt of the interview:

Question: The government has launched many poverty eradication programs but they seem to be ineffective. Your comment? Answer: It takes correct targeting and intervention for the programs to be effective.

So far, the programs have been too centralized, with no clear idea of where the pockets of poverty are. And the programs were created with a "one-size fits all" approach.

The poor do not always need money. Sometimes they just want land security so they won't be evicted, or access to markets, or health insurance.

Different intervention is needed for poor people in different areas. If the intervention is of the right kind, then the poor can improve themselves.

So, the better we can identify where there are pockets of poverty, the better we can identify their needs and the poverty eradication programs will be effective. It would be better if the poor were also involved in the programs to decide for themselves (how they could be helped).

You said the programs are too centralized, what about regional autonomy?

It's a problem because of the lack of "pro-poor" policies and "pro-poor" attitudes of local administrations. If they lack a budget, they can ask (central government) for a special budget to eradicate poverty in their region.

Each region's own budget is actually enough to eradicate most forms of poverty, but the problem is priority. Often the priorities are to renovate a regent's house, buy cars or clothes for officials, a budget for political needs -- anything else but the poor.

When we combine power with concern, poverty can be eradicated in no time. Power has only resulted in many ignorant leaders, while concern has resulted in thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with limited reach and no significant impact. The ideal thing is partnership between government, businesspeople and NGOs.

The deadline of the MDGs is only 10 years away, are you optimistic that our country can meet the goals?

If it's business as usual, there's a reason to be pessimistic. But I push people to be aware, from the President to NGOs. The more people know about the MDGs, the better.

We don't have to call them MDGs, we just need to get the message out that everyone must be free from poverty, every child must go to school and no mother should die while giving birth.

All of these are the government's obligations, but the fact is, none of the MDG goals are handled by the government alone. Therefore, it will take the government to create a conducive atmosphere to increase the participation of wider society.

Among the goals, what is the most urgent thing to improve or eradicate?

Through the entry point of (solving) poverty, the rest of the goals can be reached. However, there are different entry points for different regions.

There is a region with a malaria problem, for instance, so the entry point should be environmental rehabilitation. In a region with a high rate of maternal mortality, the entry point should be increased medical staff and access to medical services. Our clean water supply is still very poor; urban slums are also a problem.

Again, the more accurately a local administration identifies its region's needs, the more effective it will be.

The MDGs are a frame for holistic, integrated development. Once our leaders have these ideas in mind, then they will design programs that encompass several goals at once. For instance, providing lunch at school can overcome malnutrition, it gives more reasons for children to go to school and removes one burden of poor parents to provide meals for their children.

Even though the MDG solutions are imposed locally, provincial or central government should encourage development by beginning pro-poor policies, such as microcredit for women or poor people, and cross-subsidies for infrastructure in remote areas.

The government's focus must be shifted as well. They have been supporting the middle and upper classes, hoping that their success will trickle down. But this approach has failed, so real work at the lowest level is needed.

What should be done about the rising malnutrition problem?

First, all the media coverage about severe malnutrition and all should not be taken negatively by the government, but instead appreciated for what it is, signposts to pockets of poverty.

The malnutrition problem is a blessing in disguise as it is an indicator of pockets of poverty. Don't just cure each patient, but go there and prioritize developing those regions because at the end it all boils down to poverty.

This malnutrition problem is not just the government's mistake, it's a collective mistake. The media mostly talk about politics, investment, celebrities. Helping society is usually done through philanthropy, it's still a charity event instead of being about people's empowerment.

If it was up to me, I would invite every media organization, and ask them to help map poor areas so that the poverty budgets would go to those areas first.

There is plenty of money available from the middle and upper classes who can afford to and are willing to eradicate poverty. However, the bridge or the facilitator does not exist. This should have become the government's role so that the development funds can be targeted well.

Compared to other countries in Asia, how are we doing in reaching the MDGs?

We're in the middle. Some countries like Thailand and Malaysia are included in the MDG plus, which means that some of the goals have been reached and the rest can be reached long before 2015.

Some of the MDGs are categorized as minimum development goals, and we can reach them. But if the situation isn't handled well, things could get worse. More people will go hungry, more mothers would die in labor ... There are actually many ways for the government to eradicate poverty. I'm sure every business is willing to donate money, if they are asked in the right way.

Another thing, of course, is good governance and no embezzlement.