Poverty
Poverty
Dini Harmita
Poverty has multidimensional definitions. One of the main concerns currently is that rich people remain rich and the poor people remain poor. World Bank (2020) stated that from 267.3 million population in Indonesia, around 25.1 million people still live below the poverty line.
Several countermeasures have been taken places to reduce poverty in many countries. One of the well-known programs is the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT). In Indonesia, Ferraro and Simorangkir (2020) mentioned that CCT to alleviate poverty through a program named Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) also reduced deforestation in Indonesia.
Several companies have also maintained to implement their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) to alleviate poverty. Welford (2004) studied the CSR implementation in Europe, North America, and Asia. One of the results shows that Japanese companies are taking CSR seriously. It was found that Asian companies tend to be modest in presenting their CSR profile. This may be happened due to the culture where one does not shout about one's successes.
Community development has also been an option to solve poverty problems. Iqbal and Khaan (2020) studied about inclusive and sustainable community development and poverty reduction in Sindh Pakistan. They stated that if we ignore communities it can lead to poverty because the communities are the roots of the economy. They contribute to the development of the country. They also mentioned that there is a conflict between development, poverty, and the environment. Through community development, conflict can be managed. Sustained development can be achieved through participatory management and environmental education.
If communities are that important then why we do not emphasize the poverty alleviation program through communities? Seeing and learning from the experiences in Indonesia, it is believed that the role of facilitators is important in facilitating the needs of communities. The head of a small unit in the communities can be that facilitator. For example, in Indonesia, there are RT/RW(s) as the smaller units within a village or town. Each RT/RW head is supposed to know the condition of each household therefore it will be easier for him or her to facilitate the needs of each household. Through for example a mechanism of a weekly meeting, the head of RT/RW can consolidate the needs of each household and try to propose it to the higher position. Village funding can be used to cover the budget needed for making the dreams of each household come true. For example, if a household decided to start a small sewing business then probably the village funding can be used to buy them a sewing machine either in the forms of a grant or loan, depends on the capacity of each household and the local government.
The central government has a big role in collecting and disbursing the funding to each local government therefore the national and regional income should be maintained. Through a local economic development that is expected can be developed through the aforementioned mechanism, a regional and national economic development will also be achieved.
References
Ferraro, P. J., Simorangkir, R. (2020) Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia. (US: American Association for the Advancement of Science)
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/overview
Iqbal, A., Khan, A. A. Inclusive and sustainable community development and poverty reduction: An empirical study of Sindh, Pakistan. (IOP Publishing: IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science)
Welton, R. (2004) Corporate Social Responsibilities in Europe, North America and Asia. (Greenleaf Publishing and JSTOR)
