SURABAYA (December 12th 2019) - Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara said that social assistance is the spearhead of the Ministry of Social Affairs program of the Republic of Indonesia. "Facilitators, you are the spearhead of the Ministry of Social Affairs, you are social welfare fighters, without you companions, we (the Ministry of Social Affairs) cannot do anything," said the Minister of Social Affairs at the "Capacity Building for the Facilitators of Non-Cash Food Assistance" which organized by the Directorate of PFM Region III at a hotel in Surabaya.

The Minister of Social Affairs expressed his gratitude to the assistants for their enthusiasm in working together to reduce poverty. "I would like to express my gratitude to the assistants for your struggle one by one to come to the KPM to reduce poverty," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

With so many assistants in productive age, the Minister of Social Affairs explained that the function of assistants this time was not only to reduce poverty but also to empower the poor to be more productive. "According to the President's direction, if we want to become a developed country, we must work together for the welfare of the people, one of which is our program called KUBE (Joint Business Group), so we ask for the cooperation of our assistants to help each other in terms of empowerment," explained the Minister of Social Affairs.

Prior to the Social Minister's direction, the activity report was submitted by the Director General for the Poverty Handling (Dirjen PFM) Andi ZA Dulung. As for the report, the Director General of PFM thanked the Minister for the willingness of the Minister of Social Affairs to attend the activities organized by the Directorate of PFM Region III. "Given that the President often invites the Minister's meetings, so today we take the time to visit because today the meeting agenda is not there," explained the Director General of PFM.

In his report, the Director General of PFM appealed to assistants for the transition of the function of assistants from reducing poverty to empowerment towards an advanced Indonesia. "In accordance with the direction of the Minister of Social Affairs, next year our goal is to empower KPM to be more productive in running a business for an advanced Indonesia," said the Director General of PFM.

With the existence of KUBE which is successful and continues to grow, it is one proof that the KUBE empowerment program from the Ministry of Social Affairs is running quite effectively. "There were 9 successful KUBE and we connected them to the bank to get People's Business Credit (KUR), from Lumajang, Probolinggo, and Sorong," explained the Director General of PFM.

The activity was officially opened by the Minister of Social Affairs with the gong beating by the Governor of East Java Khofifah Indar Parawansa, accompanied by the Minister of Social Affairs, the Director General of PFM, the Director of PFM Region III Nur Pujianto, and the Plt of the East Java Province Social Service. This activity was attended by 269 Social Assistance Assistants (bansos) from six provinces, namely East Java, North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi and Gorontalo.