Labuan Bajo, NTT (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) is targeting the completion of a women's empowerment program through the Local Food Garden scheme to alleviate poverty and child health problems in the 3T (Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost) regions within three years.

Deputy Minister of PPPA Veronica Tan said the program aims to make food sovereignty the entry point for strengthening women’s roles in economic affairs and family nutrition in underdeveloped regions.

"Women's empowerment is our three-year target. Our entry point is through this Women's Local Food Garden," Veronica stated after a restorative social forestry forum with the Ministry of Forestry at the Bambu Lingkungan Lestari Foundation Campus in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday (May 7).

Veronica is optimistic that the women’s empowerment program through the Local Food Garden scheme can significantly address poverty and child health issues in Indonesia’s 3T regions, strengthened by cross-sector support, including the Ministry of Forestry’s allocation of 648.65 hectares of social forestry land to six forest farmer groups in East Nusa Tenggara, most of whom are women.

By utilizing land access through social forestry, she ensures that female farmers in NTT have strong economic independence, thereby reducing social vulnerability within their families.

This is inseparable from the prevalence of stunting in NTT, which remains at 31.4 percent, far above the national average.

Meanwhile, cases of violence against women and children continue to be a serious challenge rooted in economic issues, she added.

"I am touched and I also express my gratitude for the cooperation between ministries and institutions. This is the result of collaboration and openness to finding ways and innovations to move forward as a pilot project to make NTT a national model for food sovereignty and women's empowerment," Veronica remarked.

She added that the program's success over the next three years also depends on collaboration between local governments, foundations, and the private sector through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs.

This will enable more families to gain benefits from food sovereignty and women’s empowerment initiatives of this kind.

"We encourage all local governments to implement this program not only here, but also in Maluku, Papua, and elsewhere," she disclosed.



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