"The number of distributed village funds rose by 20 percent as compared to the distribution period on July 1 last year that reached Rp26.71 trillion," he said at an online press conference on Monday.
Village funds have been disbursed to 72,155 villages, or 96 percent of villages, an increase of 4 percent compared to July 1, 2021, when 68,101 villages received the funds, he informed.
The village funds were utilized for the distribution of cash assistance (BLT), amounting to Rp8.69 trillion, to 6,382,618 beneficiary families (KPM), he said.
"In terms of occupation, 88 percent of the recipients comprised farmers, fishermen, including laborers," he added.
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At least Rp994.08 billion of the funds were used for the Village Cash Labor Intensive Work (PKTD) program, which absorbed 560,497 rural workers.
"They encompassed 64,903 women, 227,224 workers from poor families, and 168,937 workers from the unemployed group," he said.
The village funds were also utilized for the COVID-19 Safe Village program (Rp2.74 trillion), food resiliency program (Rp5.46 trillion), and other village priority activities (Rp12.92 trillion).
The minister further informed that the proportion of women family heads (PEKKA) receiving village fund BLT this year reached 2.85 million.
"The PEKKA recipients increased from 31 percent in 2020, then 40 percent in 2021, and now 45 percent," he added.
He said he expects the ‘feminization’ of the village fund BLT to expand the opportunity for poor families led by women in villages to maintain their purchasing power and prosperity.
The proportion of PEKKA receiving village fund BLT is quite high, never less than 30 percent of KPM, he underlined.
In fact, the average proportion of PEKKA receiving village fund BLT in four provinces exceeds 50 percent. The provinces comprise West Sumatra, Banten, West Java, and West Nusa Tenggara.
"In addition, PKTD also specifically has to empower PEKKA," he added.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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