"Budget is not the main issue for poverty eradication, as ministries, institutions, and regional governments' budgets are all sufficient. The main challenge right now is to converge and integrate various programmes to achieve the poverty eradication goal," Vice President Amin emphasized.
Amin highlighted convergence as the main factor in the extreme poverty eradication mission, as the programme's planning, budget allocation, prospective recipients' verification, and the final execution must precisely target residents who most need it.
"I instruct the governor and district heads of priority regions in Papua to work hard to ensure all target residents are accommodated by the programme and receive cash and empowerment benefits," the vice president stated.
Related news: West Papua government should resolve extreme poverty by 2021-end: Amin
The vice president confirmed that the government had considered the latest poverty statistics to allocate additional funds for the cash benefit programme in Papua's five priority districts where most cases of extreme poverty were reported.
"For the programme at the end of 2021, the government had allocated additional funds for basic foods and village's direct cash benefits to reduce cases of extreme poverty in Papua's five priority districts," Amin noted.
Papua's five priority districts -- Central Mamberamo, Jayawijaya, Puncak Jaya, Lanny Jaya, and Deiyai -- had recorded extreme poverty cases in 89,500 households, with a total of 196,120 people, he stated.
Earlier, Vice President Amin had presided over a dialogue with the Papua regional government, the regional leadership forum, and local figures to discuss extreme poverty eradication and advancement of regional development in the Papua Governor Office, Jayapura, on Saturday (Oct 16).
The vice president's official visit to Papua is the sixth leg of his marathon trip to seven provinces, with districts designated as priority for the poverty eradication programme.
VP Amin had departed for the last leg of his visit to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday (Oct 16) to preside over the poverty eradication planning meeting scheduled for Sunday (Oct 17).
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Translator: Hendrina DK, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
