"The provincial government has allocated Rp40 billion, and (the budget) will add from each regional budget in each district and city," Acting Governor of Southwest Papua Muhammad Musa'ad said here on Sunday.
He said the budget allocation is needed to overcome the high rate of extreme poverty in Southwest Papua.
The extreme poverty rate in Southwest Papua was recorded at 9.05 percent in 2021 and dropped to 7.37 percent in 2022.
One of the regions that experienced a decrease in extreme poverty, he said, was Sorong District, where the poverty rate was recorded at 14.86 percent in 2021 and 12.09 percent in 2022.
While extreme poverty remains high in the Tambrauw and Maybrat Districts, with 22.40 percent or 3,140 extremely poor people, and 22.89 percent or 9,520 people, respectively.
"Based on our analysis, it is the dependence among family members that causes extreme poverty," Musa'ad said.
He explained that many elderly residents who have no longer had a source of income depend on their children to meet their daily needs.
When the youngest generation in the family is married, their parents and even their relatives can live together in one house, he said.
In such conditions, where only one person generates an income, he said, it will not be enough to meet the needs of all the family members.
Therefore, Musa'ad said, the provincial government is implementing the elderly protection program called Paitua to reduce old people's dependence on their family members.
"This is a social protection program. Every person aged 65 years and over gets an allowance of Rp250 thousand (US$16.66) per month," he said.
He said that the provincial government is designing integrated and focused programs to address extreme poverty to ensure the community can accept the implementation too.
He also asked the local governments to empower residents economically through the programs.
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Translator: Yuvensius B, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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