Responding to Displaced Residents Affected by COVID-19, the Ministry of Social Affairs Takes Action

JAKARTA (20 May 2020) - The condition of the COVID-19 pandemic with a curve that is still fluctuating, coinciding with the moments facing the month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr, the trend of displaced people has increased. On that basis, the Ministry of Social Affairs has created a scheme for handling displaced people affected by COVID-19.

Based on the direction of the Minister of Social Affairs. Juliari P. Batubara, Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation was appointed to handle the displaced people. This treatment aims to pay special attention to the poor, vulnerable and marginalized in order to survive in the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Following up on this, the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation created a scheme for handling displaced people with 3 approaches, namely the community approach, the Temporary Shelters (TPS) approach and the Social Rehabilitation Center approach.

Integration of Community Approaches, TPS and Social Rehabilitation Centers. The first is a community-based approach. This focuses on activities that are carried out directly in the community. Activities in the form of strengthening families affected by COVID-19, education about the dangers of COVID-19, how it is spread and ways to avoid COVID-19.

In a community approach, the Ministry of Social Affairs collaborates with Social Welfare Institutions that foster each community. Social Welfare Institutions are an extension of the Ministry of Social Affairs in conducting educational interventions and social assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Intervention in communities is not limited to education so that they do not take to the streets / public spaces during Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), but also ensure that they are able to meet their basic needs during the PSBB by providing social assistance for basic necessities.

A total of 10 Social Welfare Institutions that foster marginalized communities were visited by the Director General of Social Rehabilitation, Harry Hikmat from 6 to 8 May and 12 May 2020. The livelihoods of residents in the community are very diverse, ranging from scavengers, beggars, buskers, street children. , hawkers, drivers, garbage collectors and so on. The Director General of Social Rehabilitation also went directly to these marginalized communities, ranging from communities under toll roads, scavengers, street singers, residents along the railroad tracks to fishing communities.

The Director General of Social Rehabilitation came down directly to ascertain whether community members could access social assistance from the Government. On a visit to each of the Social Welfare Institution-assisted communities, the Director General for Social Rehabilitation also provided social assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the care of the Ministry of Social Affairs working partner, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) for several neglected residents. Other than that. Also distributed are medical devices in the form of masks, hand sanitizers and hand washing soap.

The second approach is the TPS-based approach. In this approach, the Ministry of Social Affairs is working with the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta to provide TPS in the form of a Sports Hall. The Sports Hall functions to temporarily accommodate displaced residents as a result of curbing the Public Order Agency on roads / public spaces.

In this sports hall, they will be recorded, have their health checked and given food from the soup kitchen. This public kitchen is managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs' Disaster Alert Cadets (Tagana) in collaboration with the local Social Service Sub-department. For those who still have families, the Ministry of Social Affairs will repatriate them.

Currently the Sports Hall that has been provided are the Karet Tengsin Sports Hall in Central Jakarta, the Tanjung Priok Sports Hall in North Jakarta, the Sports Hall for Pasar Minggu South Jakarta, the Sports Hall for Ciracas in East Jakarta and the Sports Hall for Cengkareng, West Jakarta. Each Sports Hall has a capacity to accommodate up to 100 people. So to avoid overcrowding at the TPS, the Ministry of Social Affairs is also trying to handle it in the Community through Social Welfare Institutions.

The third approach is an approach based on the Social Rehabilitation Center. This approach is the last alternative as a reference for Sports Hall in DKI Jakarta which requires special handling. This service is prioritized for vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, elderly and people with disabilities.

Several centers in the Jakarta and Bekasi areas were used as TPS. These are the Jakarta "Mulya Jaya" Hall, the Jakarta "Melati" Hall, the Bekasi "Tan Miyat" Hall, the Bekasi "Budhi Dharma" Hall and the Bekasi "Pangudi Luhur" Hall.

Cumulative details are based on daily reports as of 19 May 2020, there were 1,646 PMs who have been served at the Sports Hall, 195 PMs who have been served at the Social Rehabilitation Center and 2,162 PMs who are in the community. Meanwhile, the cumulative data are PM By Name By Address (BNBA) as of May 19 In 2020, there were 1,368 PM who had been served at the Sports Hall, 192 PM who had been served at the Social Rehabilitation Center and 2,102 PM who were in the community.

The Ministry of Social Affairs through the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation also distributed basic food assistance to communities and the Social Rehabilitation Center as visited TPS. A total of 1,080 basic food packages have been distributed, with details of 374 basic food packages from the Directorate General of Social Protection and Security of the Ministry of Social Affairs and 706 basic food packages from BRI which is a working partner of the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

In addition to the basic food packages, the Ministry of Social Affairs also provides medical equipment assistance for TPS at Sports Hall and Social Rehabilitation Centers in Jakarta and Bekasi. The medical equipment consists of 410 liters of disinfectant, 15 units of disinfectant sprayer, 3,667 bottles of 250 ml hand soap, 1,099 mask boxes, 4,637 bottles of 500 ml hand sanitizers, 2,109 bottles of 60 ml hand sanitizers and 799 boxes of gloves.

Of all the approaches to handling displaced people, of course the synergy among parties is an important point and determines the success of the program. The hope is that none of the residents are neglected, all must receive treatment according to the mandate of the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation is one of the work units of the Ministry of Social Affairs which deals with the problems of children, persons with disabilities, the elderly, victims of drug abuse as well as persons with social deviance issues and victims of trafficking in persons. This is what is commonly called the 5 Social Rehabilitation clusters.

The Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation has moved quickly to respond the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic for 5 Social Rehabilitation clusters. Since 4 April 2020, social assistance has been distributed to 5 Social Rehabilitation clusters through Social Welfare Institutions. A total of 19,303 social assistance packages have been provided for children, both at Social Welfare Institutions and the Child Social Rehabilitation Centers.

In addition, 297,239 packages of basic food assistance and cash assistance have been provided to persons with disabilities through Social Welfare Institutions, Social Rehabilitation Centers for Persons with Disabilities and Disabled Persons Organizations (OPD). This amount also includes the President's social assistance channeled through the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) and PT. POS Indonesia.

For the elderly cluster, 1,292,530 packages of basic food assistance and cash assistance were distributed through Social Welfare Institutions and the Center for Elderly Social Rehabilitation. Similar to persons with disabilities, the amount of assistance in this cluster also includes the President's social assistance, which is channeled through the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) and PT. POS Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the cluster of victims of drug abuse, 21,092 social assistance packages, as well as the cluster of persons with social deviance issues  and human trafficking victims, totaling 509 social assistance packages were distributed through Social Welfare Institutions.

This social assistance is a quick response from the Ministry of Social Affairs through the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation in meeting the basic needs of Beneficiaries in 5 Social Rehabilitation Clusters. So that they are especially able to survive the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Social Affairs hopes for the support of all elements of society in handling the impact of COVID-19 for vulnerable groups in 5 Social Rehabilitation Clusters as well as in displaced communities.