Commission VIII DPR RI Agrees to Strengthen the ATENSI Program in 2021

JAKARTA (14th September 2020) - The Ministry of Social Affairs has complied with an invitation from Commission VIII of the House of Representatives regarding the Hearing Meeting (RDP) the deepening of the discussion of the Ministry/Institution Budget Work Plan (RKA K/L) for the 2021 Fiscal Year and the actual issues and solutions.

In this RDP, the Director General of Social Rehabilitation, Harry Hikmat, was given the opportunity to convey 3 important things, namely the Realization of Targets and Budget for 2020, RKA K/L for Fiscal Year 2021 and actual issues.

A total of 75.04 million of Social Welfare Services (PPKS)  recipients handled by the Directorate General of Social Affairs consist of Children, Persons with Disabilities, Elderly, Drug Abuse Victims as well as Social Deviance Issues and Trafficking Victims. This shows that the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation handles complex and varied PPKS.

Therefore, Harry said that it is necessary to understand the characteristics of each category of PPKS. So the Directorate General of Social Affairs has collaborated with the Secretariat General in this case the Data and Information Center (Pusdatin) to create a dashboard that can provide an overview of each PPKS category in the Next Generation Social Welfare Information System (SIKS-NG).

As of September 9, 2020, the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation which consists of 5 Directorates and Management Support has reached 62.39% realization. Meanwhile, the target and realization of the program performance of the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation has reached 148.16%. This was achieved due to a change in the service strategy which was not only based on residential, but also based on family and community. "Then it is also supported by the results of the budget refocusing at the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation," said Harry.

So the RKA K/L of the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation in 2021 will focus on services in the form of Social Rehabilitation Assistance (ATENSI). The ATENSI program will be implemented by 41 Technical Implementation Units (UPT) of the Ministry of Social Affairs, namely the Social Rehabilitation Centers / Centers / Workshops throughout Indonesia.

The Technical Directorate at the center will only carry out campaigns to prevent social problems, technical guidance for human resources, policy reviews, service standardization, revision of guidelines to supervision, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

ATENSI as a program to restore the social functioning of Beneficiaries (PM) has a general goal of increasing the ability of individuals, families and communities to fulfill basic needs, carry out social tasks and roles and overcome problems in their lives.

ATENSI also has a specific goal to increase PMs who can meet basic needs, are able to carry out self-care, are able to carry out self-actualization according to their potential, are able to return to their families, increase PM families who are able to provide care and nurture social protection, increase communities or institutions. Social Welfare (LKS) capable of performing ATENSI and increasing human resources capable of carrying out ATENSI.

Harry mentioned that the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation is often faced with difficult efforts at the downstream level, for example dealing with exploited children on the street. However, when the family support normally provided by the Family Hope Program (PKH) is intensive enough to ensure that children's rights are fulfilled, then PKH automatically reduces the number of people in need of social rehabilitation.

Currently, the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation is carrying out a transformation, mainly on the understanding that Social Social Affairs does not provide social assistance, but social services. So the segments that will be handled are not only the poor, but from the upper to lower economic groups.

However, it should be noted that social assistance is still being sought to be given to lower economic groups, namely from regular assistance or from various other priority programs managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. "So we need assistance from the DPR to ensure that our 41 UPTs synergize in providing social rehabilitation services to PM," said Harry.

Harry emphasized that ATENSI is not only based on Social Rehabilitation Center, but family and community. This community base will involve Social Welfare Institutions (LKS) and orphanages in the community to carry out ATENSI.

This has received strong support from Buchori, a member of Commission VIII DPR RI from the PKS faction. He said that public involvement should be more intense. "In addition to having a supervisory function, we also have a representation function. Community representation is to synergize between the orphanage and the Ministry of Social Affairs in dealing with social problems," he explained.

Harry also asked for support from Commission VIII of the House of Representatives for the adjustment of the honorarium index for social welfare assistants which will be standardized next year. Human resources also need attention, considering that currently the honorarium index is still varied.

In the future, to answer actual issues in terms of service, the Ministry of Social Affairs through the Directorate General of Social Affairs will build a Social Service Center (SERASI) as a one stop service that will connect with an integrated service and referral system at the district, sub-district and village levels.

Of course, the development of SERASI also needs to be supported by adequate infrastructure facilities at the Social Rehabilitation Center / Center / Workshop, especially for the 5 Center that became the pilot project for SERASI, namely the Gowa "Gau Mabaji" Elderly Center, "Satria" Baturraden Drug Center, "Antasena" Children's Center. Magelang, Bekasi "Pangudi Luhur" Center and Center for Disability "Prof. Dr. Soeharso" Surakarta.

At the end of his presentation, Harry hopes to get support from Commission VIII of the DPR RI and is strongly committed to both in terms of services and the provision of infrastructure needed at the Directorate General of Social Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs.

One of the conclusions from the RDP with Commission VIII of the DPR RI stated that it was necessary to strengthen the Social Rehabilitation Assistance (ATENSI) program implemented by the UPT Ministry of Social Affairs/Local Government and Community Social Institutions.

This meeting was attended by the Secretary General, Hartono Laras along with Echelon I and II officials within the Ministry of Social Affairs, members of Commission VIII DPR RI representatives from several factions in the meeting room and also other members who took part in virtual meetings to maintain health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.