Jakarta, IO – Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini revealed that the empowerment program is one government effort to overcome poverty. The Ministry of Social Affairs champions social empowerment to develop a National Economic Hero Program (PENA).
In the “Startup Asia: Chasing the Innovation Frontier – The Case of Indonesia” high-level Roundtable forum organized by OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Development Center and the EU online, in Jakarta, Wednesday (05/04), the Minister of Social Affairs offered an example of a PENA idea, a duplicate from Economic Program (PE) Surabaya in 2010 which succeeded in reducing the poverty rate in Surabaya City when she was Mayor.
“This approach (economic empowerment) was duplicated and modified for a national program called PENA,” said the Minister.
The PENA program provides training and mentoring to build the capacity of beneficiaries to create sustainable entrepreneurship or a startup.
“When I began, poverty in Surabaya reached 14%. This step was taken as a milestone. Reaching only 86 women from suburban areas in Surabaya, we started Economic Hero (PE) Surabaya in 2010,” she said.
During that ten-year journey, she said, participant numbers grew from 86 to 12,382 in 2020. Some of the group went on to master skills and reached new heights as millionaires and billionaires. The poverty rate dropped dramatically, to 5%.
Similar to PE, the PENA Program was then duplicated and modified by the Ministry of Social Affairs during her leadership era. PENA, an entrepreneurship program targets the poor and vulnerable groups, naming beneficiaries of social assistance programs (Family Hope Program and Basic Food Program) by providing training and assistance to grow sustainable businesses. The difference between PE and PENA programs is that the PENA program comes with capital assistance adjusted to a business plan or business of the beneficiary.
“Last year, we started with 5,209 families and have been planning to expand further to 7,500 families this year,” said Minister Risma.