Indonesian Economic and Development Studies (Kanopi) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (FEB UI) held an international seminar The 19th Economix, with the theme “Paving Ways Out of Poverty: A Quest to Empower the World’s Underprivileged”. British Ambassador to Indonesia-Timor Leste, H.E. Owen Jenkins, said in his speech, the Covid-19 pandemic created a crisis and rising rate of inequality resulting in an increase in poverty and social problems in the world. This increase in poverty is trying to be overcome through domestic and global policies, including improving the quality of education, providing employment through community empowerment, and facilitating access to health through collaboration between countries.
The same thing was also conveyed by the former Minister of Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro. He stated that the increase in poverty due to the Covid-19 pandemic was exacerbated by climate change in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2020. According to him, these problems could be solved through several actions, namely making policies according to community needs, allocating more funds for preventing social problems through community empowerment programs, and enhancing global collaboration and cooperation to help poor communities around the world.
In the keynote speech session, Susi Pudjiastuti said that the rapid spread of Covid-19 became the main focus for Susi Pudjiastuti. He agreed that the pandemic had a major impact on increasing people’s poverty, but restrictions must still be in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
This problem needs to be responded to by the existence of an empowerment program for underprivileged groups through skills improvement training. “This program is very important considering that poor people do not have adequate capacity due to lack of knowledge and access to facilities. With this program, the community has the opportunity to access facilities and fulfill their needs,” said Susi.
The idea of empowerment is fully supported by Sandiaga Uno. According to him, empowerment of the underprivileged can be done in the creative economy and tourism by providing employment through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in tourist destinations throughout Indonesia. The moment of Indonesia’s involvement in international events (MotoGP and G20) must be used to advance the creative economy and tourism industries.
“Community empowerment focuses on several programs, such as village tourism and vocational education in tourism. Tourism villages are projected to increase the capability and readiness of the community to make the area a tourist destination. This program is accompanied by improving the quality of human resources through tourism vocational education provided to the community, “said Sandi.
The government also provides a population census in the socio-economic field to improve the accuracy of social assistance data in overcoming poverty. The government promotes people’s business credit (KUR) which is intended to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of the community. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. (H.C.) Ir. Airlangga Hartarto said, “KUR is intended for underprivileged communities with the hope of improving their standard of living through business activities. Not only existing MSMEs, communities affected by the pandemic, such as workers who have been laid off, can also take advantage of this program.”
After the seminar, it was followed by a panel discussion session guided by the Commissioner of PT Infra Digital Nusantara, Dr. Fithra Faisal, together with the Associate Professor from the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Samuel Bazzi; Practice Leader for Human Development at the World Bank Group Dr. Achim Schmillen; and IBEKA Executive Director Tri Mumpuni. On that occasion, the speakers discussed solutions to overcome the problem of poverty globally, especially those caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Writer: Satrio A | Editor: Sapuroh
