In attendance at IPB University, Coordinating Minister for PMK: Universities Can Intervene to Alleviate Extreme Poverty
Prof Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) stated that the number of the national extreme poor is 42,411 people. Therefore, according to him, hard efforts are needed to reach zero percent extreme poverty in 2024.
"This requires the cooperation and assistance of universities with their innovations and thoughts," he said at the 'Academic Forum: Towards the Elimination of Extreme Poverty 2024', a collaboration of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture and the Faculty of Economics and Management (FEM) IPB University, held at Andi Hakim Nasution Building, IPB Dramaga Campus, (11/5).
Furthermore, he conveyed that the percentage of urban poor people in Indonesia in September 2021 was 7.60 percent, decreasing to 7.50 percent in March 2022. In the same period, the percentage of the rural poor also decreased from 12.53 percent to 12.29 percent. As for coastal areas, the percentage is higher than other regions, reaching 12.5 percent.
Rector of IPB University, Prof Arif Satria said that his commitment continues to be consistent in helping the government in poverty alleviation.
"Since then until now, IPB University has a big commitment to poverty alleviation. In fact, the concept of poverty line in Indonesia was first initiated by Prof. Sayogyo, Professor of Agricultural Social Economics at IPB University," he said.
On that occasion, Prof Arif also described a number of IPB University programs that could play a role in providing interventions in the elimination of extreme poverty. Among them are Data Desa Presisi (DDP), Sekolah Peter Rakyat (SPR), One Village One CEO (OVOC), Kuliah Kerja Nyata-Tematik (KKNT) and many more.
"Until 2022, IPB University has been present in 4,200 villages in Indonesia. This means that 5.7 percent of villages in Indonesia have been filled by IPB University programs. This is part of our efforts to continue to spread benefits by continuing to spread IPB University innovations," he explained.
Dean of FEM IPB University, Prof Nunung Nuryartono in the event added, Indonesia can take lessons from China in an effort to alleviate poverty.
"If you learn from China, one of the things that can alleviate poverty is by changing the way of thinking and innovation," he said.
For this reason, he encouraged students to play a role as educators to change people's mindset about poverty. "There are 5,000 universities across Indonesia with around seven million students," she said.
Prof Nunung also emphasized the importance of cooperation space in determining the target of activities, anything that can make a positive contribution to poverty reduction efforts. In addition, she said the integration of various policies is also important. (dh/Rz) (IAAS/RUM)
