MoSA Secretary General : Wanting to Improve Community Social Welfare through Care Economy

YOGYAKARTA (September 20^th, 2024) – Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation, Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia (MoSA), held a Coordination Meeting to discuss the preparation of the Initial Draft of Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation’s Strategic Plan of 2025-2029 and the development of Care Economy concept. This event was expected to be an important platform in formulating long-term social rehabilitation policies that are responsive to community needs, while also developing the Care Economy as an effort to enhance social welfare sustainably.

In this activity, participants will be invited to provide critical and innovative input to enrich the discussion and the formulation of comprehensive strategies related to *Social and Economic Rehabilitation of Care (Care Economy).

MoSA Secretary General Rubben Rico stated that he wanted to improve the community’s social welfare, particularly in the field of social rehabilitation. "What is economic care, where we want to elevate the level to the community of family and friends? Not stopping at the process alone, and must indeed be encouraged. If God permits this new government, MoSA will become one of the core ministries to help achieve economic growth above 8% or at least 8%, with the desired target of 0% for the poor. Nothing is impossible, everything is possible as long as we support everything," he said.

In his speech, the Director General of Social Rehabilitation, Supomo, emphasized the importance of optimizing the utilization of all facilities owned by the Ministry of Social Affairs, both at the central level and in Integrated Centers and Centers spread throughout Indonesia. He also highlighted the importance of including reviews or studies in strategic plans that pay more attention to pre-PPKS (pre-persons in Need of Social Welfare Services) before they become PPKS (Persons in Need of Social Welfare Services). "So far, I see that our current focus is only on PPKS, but those potential future PPKS are not being addressed. I hope that MoSA Integrated Centers and Centers will be more prosperous in the future and can be better utilized for PPKS," he said.

According to him, the current attention is too focused on existing PPKS, while those potential to become PPKS have not received adequate attention. Supomo hopes that the Integrated Center and Center owned by the Ministry of Social Affairs will continue to develop in the future and can be utilized more optimally to serve PPKS.

Senior Advisor to the Minister for Social Welfare Technology, Pepen Nazaruddin in his speech emphasized that the Strategic Plan (Renstra) for Social Rehabilitation must have clear and distinct characteristics from the Strategic Plans in other fields, such as Social Empowerment and Social Protection and Security. "Social rehabilitation’s Strategic Plan must be different from Social Empowerment and Social Protection and Security because the functions of social rehabilitation must be visible, such as the targets, methods, outputs, and outcomes," he said.

Officials Present at the Coordination Meeting were MoSA’s Secretary General Rubben Rico, Director General of Social Rehabilitation Supomo, Senior Advisor to the Minister for Social Welfare Technology Pepen Nazaruddin, Secretary of Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation, Salahuddin Yahya, Acting Director of Social Rehabilitation for the Elderly Sri Harjati, the head of Center for Economic and Social Studies of National Development University (UPN) Veteran Surabaya Dr. Dra. Ignatia Marta Hendrati, S.E, ME, the head department of Social Development and Welfare FISIPOL of Gajah Mada University, Dr. Krisdyatmiko, M.Si along with 16 Lecturers and Staff, 30 Students from KAPSTRA (college students association)

Officials from Ministry of Social Affairs who attended via Zoom Meeting were Director of Social Rehabilitation for Children, Director of Social Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities, Director of Social Rehabilitation for Social Rehabilitation for Disasters and Emergency-affected People, and Head of Integrated Centers and Centers.

This event would be an important opportunity for all participants to contribute innovative ideas that can enrich future social rehabilitation strategies, as well as create a more responsive and inclusive social ecosystem through the development of the Care Economy concept.