Transparency 'key' for safety net funds
JAKARTA (JP): Transparency in the social safety net scheme is increasingly urgent given the plan to distribute funds of billions of rupiah to 1,500 subdistricts next month, a social researcher said.
Isono Sadoko of the Bandung-based Akatiga research center, said on Friday "that transparency is urgent to enable monitoring by the public" and to ensure the funds reach the needy.
On Thursday, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare/Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono said that between Rp 250 million and Rp 750 million would be transferred to each of 1,500 subdistricts (approximately 15,000 villages) over the next three years.
"Each district is to decide its own programs according to their people's needs," Haryono said citing the project's bottom- up approach. The project is funded by the government and donor organizations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations Development Program.
Isono, who is a social development specialist for the World Bank here, told The Jakarta Post that the social safety net scheme proposed to distribute funds of a nature and amount for which the country was not yet equipped.
Local officials will be required to publicize the amount of money available for welfare projects and then help the local populace to determine how best to use the funds. He pointed out that the number of non-governmental organizations involved in channeling the funds was small in comparison to the number of subdistricts due to receive money in the future.
On Thursday, the National Development Planning Board's deputy head for economic affairs, Gunawan Sumodiningrat, was quoted in Kompas daily as saying that only 20 to 30 percent of Rp 17.25 trillion made available for the social safety net program had been absorbed so far.
"On one side there is the pressure to channel the funds quickly," Isono said, noting that the absence of adequate monitoring procedures and worries of massive leakage once the money had been released were counterbalancing this need.
Gunawan also noted different data used to determine who is eligible for assistance, and that administrative problems were being encountered at the regency level.
Haryono acknowledged the complexity of distributing funds to so many scattered subdistricts, but said tight monitoring procedures would be put in place to avoid any abuse of the money.
The Kecamatan (subdistrict) Development Program (PPK) is aimed to encourage people's participation to create more job opportunities in rural areas.
Haryono noted that independent institutions will be involved in monitoring the use of the funds, including universities and non-governmental organizations. Bappenas chairman Boediono said earlier that state agencies including governors' and regents' offices would be involved in supervising the projects. (01/anr)