Social Welfare Minister Praises Jember Regency for Directly Verifying Data on Extremely Poor Residents

The appreciation was directly conveyed by Agus Jabo when receiving an audience with Jember Regent Muhammad Fawait and his team at the Ministry of Social Affairs office in Central Jakarta on Thursday (7/5/2026). “We are grateful if the local government carries out ground checks like this. After all, this is all for the citizens, our people,” he stated in a written release on Thursday (7/5/2026). The verification and validation of data conducted by the Jember Regency Government aims to identify potential beneficiaries of the 2026 Social Forestry Programme and to obtain accurate information regarding Decile 1 data for social assistance recipients and non-recipients. Agus Jabo stated that President Prabowo Subianto has instructed that the extreme poverty rate must reach zero percent this year. To achieve this target, close collaboration is needed between the central government, local governments, and other stakeholders. One of the efforts by the Ministry of Social Affairs is to direct all work programmes towards graduation so that the community no longer depends on social assistance. “The Minister has emphasised that whatever is under the Ministry of Social Affairs, the strategy is only one: graduation from poverty alleviation. Whether it’s the Directorate of Community Empowerment, Rehabilitation, or Social Assistance, the goal must be graduation and alleviation. So we are all heading in that direction,” he explained. In that meeting, Jember Regent Muhammad Fawait stated that the verification and validation process is still ongoing. He revealed that this data analysis involves civil servants in the Jember Regency Government environment. Before going into the field, they first received training from the BPS and PKH Assistants. “All our civil servants, numbering over 21,000, we have made it mandatory, without exception. Including the Acting Secretary (Acting Jember Secretary Akhmad Helmi Luqman), I also ordered him to go down,” Fawait revealed.