Minister of Social Affairs Opens the 2019 KSN Exhibition: Dialogue with KPM PKH Purun Bag Crafters

BANJARBARU (December 19th 2019) - Two women were busy weaving purun to make mats when the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara approached them at the National Social Solidarity (KSN) Exhibition Booth, in the courtyard of the Regional Secretariat Office of South Kalimantan Province, Thursday (19/12).

"What are you doing, Mom?" Said the Minister of Social Affairs while squatting to approach two mothers who are Beneficiary Families (KPM) of the Family Hope Program (PKH) from Banjarmasin City.

Mrs. Nani (58), who was sitting on a mat, explained that she was weaving a purun into a mat. Purun is a type of grass that lives wild near swamps. Purun handicrafts are one of the best things in South Kalimantan which are also occupied by KPM PKH.

"I've been weaving purun since I was a teenager. In the past, I learned from my mother," said Nani.

This woman who wears a headscarf tells about the last two years she has often been given free training on weaving purun by the Regional Government (Pemda). He was taught to make various purun woven products such as fans, bags with various models, and purun coloring techniques so that they were more varied and attracted buyers.

"In the past, I only made mats, so my abilities were limited. Now after being trained, I can make all kinds of bags. There are big and small bags, party bags, shopping bags, and also various colors," said Nani who live in Palam Village, Cempaka District, Banjarbaru City.

PKH Coordinator for Banjarbaru City, Erma Febriyanti, said that Banjarbaru City has five sub-districts. Each consists of four districts, so that there are a total of 20 villages. The total number of KPM in this area is 4,436 people.

"The majority of them work at home weaving purun. Even in Palam Village, Cempaka Subdistrict, where Mrs. Nani lives, is a tourist area where every house sells various kinds of purun weaving," said Erma.

Buyers and orderers, continued Erma, often come to residents houses and make direct transactions.

Along with the continued development of purun weaving business among PKH recipient mothers, now the local government has set up a PKH outlet in a tourist area of ​​Banjarbaru City. This outlet specifically displays a variety of purun handicraft products made by KPM PKH women.

Empowerment of KPM PKH

The Minister of Social Affairs said that the Ministry of Social Affairs supports various innovations and creativity of KPM PKH to improve their standard of living.

He said from his visits to various regions in Indonesia and meeting with KPM PKH women, he saw that the spirit to be economically independent was very high. The persistence, hard work, and enthusiasm of these mothers also motivated the Ministry of Social Affairs to prepare empowerment and entrepreneurship programs.

"PKH assistance initially opened access to education, health and social welfare. Along with the increase in the aid index, KPM PKH was guided so that it could set aside assistance for business development. KPM was provided with assistance in managing finances, facilitated sales, provided business credit assistance so as to accelerate independence. In the end, they no longer depend on government assistance," he explained.

For this reason, the Minister continued, the Ministry of Social Affairs continues to strengthen cooperation with stakeholders or work partners across ministries, institutions, local governments and the private sector.

Furthermore, apart from having a dialogue with KPM PKH women, Minister of Social Affairs Ari and his wife, Grace Batubara visited the 2019 KSN exhibition booth owned by the Directorate of Social Protection for Natural Disaster Victims (PSKBA). Here, the Minister collaborated with a student in a Boy Scout uniform. The two of them tried the disaster puzzle game prepared for visitors. The chosen puzzle is a fire disaster.

Director General of Social Protection and Security, Harry Hikmat said the aim of this game was for visitors to understand the types of natural disasters as well as social disasters. After the visitors have finished assembling the puzzle pieces, visitors can match the puzzles with the posters on the walls of the exhibition booths containing the disaster management efforts.

The 2019 KSN Exhibition will take place from 19-21 December 2019. The exhibition is attended by all work units at the Ministry of Social Affairs which display their respective work programs. In the booth owned by the Directorate General of Social Protection and Security, apart from displaying KPM PKH business products, there was also an exhibition of communication tools, Tactical Communication Package, and local wisdom of the community through performances of dances and traditional music of South Kalimantan.

The dance shown is the Jepen Dance by Sanggar Seni 3 Seirama, Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan. They received assistance to strengthen local wisdom from the Ministry of Social Affairs amounting to IDR 50 million in 2019. Assistance to strengthen local wisdom is aimed at preventing and strengthening people in areas prone to radicalism.