RI faces tough task in poverty eradication

JAKARTA (JP): Successful economic developments have reduced the number of people living below the poverty line, but the remaining 26 million poor Indonesians may be the toughest challenge yet, says a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) official.

As the world observes International Day for the Eradication of Poverty today, Indonesia faces the task of helping what the UNDP coordinator here, G. Ravi Rajan, calls the "hard core" poor.

"Economic growth has clearly contributed tremendously to poverty eradication. But it has to be admitted this is the hard core, this is going to be more difficult," said Rajan, who is also resident coordinator of UN operational activities in Indonesia.

"The challenge now is, to some extent, harder, though achievable," he said.

Official statistics here in 1993 showed that 13.6 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Poverty eradication has been described as a government obsession, and the observance of Poverty Eradication Day brings a worldwide commitment to the problem.

Rajan spoke of a "moral crusade" when talking about the estimated 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide.

He said the UNDP was making poverty eradication a priority and allocated 40 percent of its resources to it.

Apart from Southeast Asia, poverty had risen everywhere over the past few years, he said.

There are several causes but the two major ones are disparity and rapid population growth.

"It is a fact that people are not sharing equally the benefits of development," Rajan said. "Economic growth does more for poverty eradication than anything else, but we need more equity in the distribution of economic development".

Though poverty is an international problem, solutions must still be local in nature, he said.

"You cannot do an international program for the alleviation of poverty as you might have with other international issues. This has to be solved at both national and local levels," Rajan said.

The UNDP helps by relaying experiences and helping to design approaches which are conducive to such efforts.

The creation of an enabling framework is an often-overlooked element because sometimes policies are simply not promoting the eradication of poverty, he said.

Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita recently criticized the ineffective use of funds in poverty eradication programs.

"We're actually not too short of developmental funds...the available funds aren't being utilized the way they should," Ginandjar said.

Armed with multinational experience, the UNDP works with governments to create strategies to help break down the complex barriers restricting the poor's progress.

"Our job is not so much implementation at the provincial level. We're usually at the upstream end. Here we try and help in designing approaches," he said.

He said the complexity of the problem dictates that specific programs have to be designed. "You cannot have a blanket program anymore across a country. You have to identify them (the poor) and have very targeted programs".

Rajan said it was important to create an environment where the poor themselves are participating in their betterment.

While much work remains, Rajan recognized the strides Indonesia had made.

"Indonesia is certainly engaged in it. You have to acknowledge that Indonesia has done very well so far," Rajan said.

"It is a very interesting stage in a country's development to reach this particular level and to go forward," he said. (mds)