Social Minister Regrets the Delay of Regional in Delivering Verivali Poverty Data

JAKARTA (January 25, 2020) - Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara suspected that around 100 districts / cities were less active in updating data on underprivileged people. The low performance of certain regions in updating data has influenced the government's efforts to accelerate poverty reduction efforts.

"Please cooperate, especially city and districts to be more diligent in sending feedback to us (Ministry of Social Affairs). We have data, almost 100 districts / cities have not been diligent in updating, "said Juliari in Jakarta, Saturday (25/01/2020).

Juliari stated that the issue of data on underprivileged people had become his first concern since his initial term as minister. From his review of Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS) managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, it was found that the target distribution of social assistance for Beneficiary Families (KPM) for Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) in 2019 has not been achieved.

"Because there was an incident, when I reviewed it with the Director General, our target KPM was 15.6 million (KPM recipients of BPNT). It turns out that when it entered November 2019, only 13.9 million had been sent,” said Juliari. This is due to the problem of up-dating data from regions that the Ministry of Social Affairs has not received maximally.

Juliari explained that updating data is very necessary because conditions in the field are very dynamic. Changes in data can occur at any time for various reasons, including KPM passing away, moving domicile, or KPM having graduated (economically capable) and vice versa, there are people who fall into poverty for certain reasons.

If this dynamic is not immediately corrected through the Social Welfare Information System - Next Generation (SIKS-NG) carried out by the Social Service Agencies in the regions, then the gradual data reporting to the centre will also be affected. For this reason, Juliari asked the Regional Secretary and the Social Service Agencies to immediately coordinate and recheck the data when returning to their areas.

"If there is a complaint that assistance is not on target, this is the root of the problem. So, we ask the head of the regional service agencies to ensure the accuracy of the data. That is what the regions have to check with the help of the Coordinator of Social Welfare Workers (Korteks)," he said.

The role of regions is very important in the process of verifying and validating (verivali) data. Referring to Law no. 13 of 2011 concerning poverty handling, the process of verifying data on the poor in integrated data is carried out from the village, sub-district, up to the district / city level and reported to the governor.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs has the authority to determine data on the poor twice a year. Thus, how strong is data integrity as the basis for implementing social security for the poor, the role of local government is very significant.

The problem of the accuracy of the data for the underprivileged population is again felt to be important in line with the initiation of the transformation of BPNT into the Basic Food Program, starting in early 2020.

According to the Director General of Poverty Handling Andi ZA Dulung, this program is to strengthen social protection and increase the effectiveness of the food social assistance program for KPM.

Public Relations Bureau

Ministry of Social Affairs