Directorate General of Poverty Handling Holds Coordination Meeting for Phase II of Social Cash Aid

JAKARTA (4 August 2020) - Coordination meeting to discuss the distribution of Social Cash Aid (BST) Phase II with Heads of Social Service Agencies throughout Indonesia led by the Director General of Poverty Handling (PFM), Asep Sasa Purnama. The discussion was held virtually on Tuesday (4/8) by video conference.

In the coordination meeting, the Director General of PFM was accompanied by Ministerial Special Staff for Internal Affairs, Joko Sembodo, Secretary of the Directorate General of Poverty Handling, Nurul Farijati, Director of Poverty Handling Region I, Nur Pujianto, Director of Poverty Handling Region II, I Wayan Wirawan, Director of Poverty Handling Region III, AM Asnandar, and Ministerial Technical Personnel, Angga.

BST Phase II worth IDR 300,000 is given to 9 million Beneficiary Families (KPM) for six months, starting from July to December 2020. This program is a continuation of the previous BST program of IDR 600,000 per month which has been distributed in three phases from April to June 2020.

The program was launched by the government to help fulfilling the basic needs of people affected by COVID-19, but have not been registered as recipients of the Groceries Program and Family Hope Program (PKH) yet. The targets of this program are the poor, vulnerable families, vulnerable to drugs, those who get layoffs, remote indigenous communities, as well as the elderly and people with disabilities. 

At the same time, the BST program is to increase purchasing power, stimulate the people's economy, and support the regional government. The recipients are families listed in the Social Welfare Integrated Data (DTKS) or those proposed by the regional government. 

Even so, it is admitted that the previous distribution of BST experienced a number of problems, but they are slowly being improved. A number of regions are still delaying the distribution of Cash Social Aid until an undetermined time. There are still proposals containing proposed beneficiaries' data overlapping with beneficiaries for Groceries Program and PKH. 

BST in some areas has failed to be distributed due to security reasons or is prone to conflict. BST was rejected because it intersected with the Direct Cash Aid from Village Fund. In addition, the address data information is incomplete. Other obstacles caused by natural disaster such as flood that hit several districts limits access to transportation as well as some area’s geographical conditions.

Some communities refused BST because not all of their members are enlisted to accept it and the recipients who came did not match with the distribution list.