HALLOSUMEDANG, Indonesia – The Sumedang Regency Government has welcomed a collaboration proposal from the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) International in an effort to reduce the poverty rate in Sumedang Regency.
This was revealed after the Acting Secretary of Sumedang Regency, Tuti Ruswati, received representatives from BRAC International in the Secretary’s Meeting Room, Wednesday (25/4).
BRAC itself is a global NGO that offers an approach to address inequality and various social injustices by empowering community potential through large-scale socio-economic interventions.
“We just discussed the potential for collaboration between the Sumedang Regency Government and BRAC International in the development and implementation of graduation-based poverty alleviation,” said Acting Secretary Tuti Ruswati after the audience.
Tuti assessed that the program offered is very synergistic with the vision of Sumedang Regency in reducing the poverty rate.
“Because we are targeting a 1.5 percent reduction in poverty this year. This target is a very heavy target, so we automatically have to collaborate. One of them is collaboration with BRAC International,” she said.
Tuti hopes that with this collaboration, the implementation and substantive steps for handling poverty in Sumedang Regency can be accelerated.
“The implementation of this cooperation has been agreed upon by us. The sooner it is implemented, the better. Currently, we are collecting data first from the Social Service and also Bappppeda, so that it can be analyzed by BRAC. Next week we will immediately map and execute,” she said.
Meanwhile, BRAC West Java Province Coordinator Arvian Triantoro said that BRAC International is already present in 17 countries, one of which is a program to eradicate poverty, especially extreme poverty, using a graduation approach.
“With a graduation approach, we hope that it can be integrated to improve the welfare of those who were initially categorized as very extreme, so that gradually with a strong business and mentoring scheme as well as financial and social, one or two years can graduate out of the poverty line,” he explained.
He also expressed his gratitude to the Sumedang Regency Government for its openness to collaborating with his party.
“This graduation approach has been proven to be very effective in various countries, namely helping governments in the countries concerned to accelerate the reduction of poverty, especially extreme poverty, within two to three years,” he concluded.
