Central Statistics Agency (BPS) head Suhariyanto, Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indarparawansa and Health Minister Nila Moeloek prepare for a limited meeting on poverty eradication at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/7). The President asked the ministers to maintain price stability.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government has much work to do in addressing child poverty. As of March 2016, 13.31 percent or about 11 million of the 85 million children in Indonesia were living in poverty. Poverty is seen in the level of deprivation of the basic rights of the children.
Children are classified as poor if they live in households that have a consumption level of below the national poverty line. Now the national poverty line is about Rp 12,000 per day per person. Poor children are being deprived materially, spiritually and emotionally in meeting needs to survive and grow.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and the United Nations Children\'s Fund (Unicef) launched in Jakarta on Tuesday a book titled Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation of the Basic Rights of Children in Indonesia. In connection with child poverty, the BPS uses a multiple overlapping deprivation analysis (MODA) approach, which takes into account six aspects, namely housing, facilities, food and nutrition, education, child protection and health.
Based on the BPS report, the biggest deprivation level of the basic rights of children aged 0-4 years is in health. It was found that 61.99 percent of children of that age do not have health insurance and 47.21 percent are not fully immunized.
In children in the age group of 5-17 years, the biggest deprivation level of basic rights is in facilities, which include drinking water, sanitation and fuel for cooking.
"Poverty is a multidimensional problem that cannot be seen only from one aspect. However, at least basic rights, such as access to health and education, have to be met," said BPS chairman Suhariyanto.
Suhariyanto further said that demography and characteristics of households greatly affected child poverty in Indonesia. The BPS recorded that one out of four children living in households with more than seven people live below the poverty line.
"From there, it can be seen whether the Family Planning program is running well or not. We hope this report can become meaningful input to determine policies related to the fulfillment of the basic rights and protection of children," he said.
Unicef deputy representative to Indonesia Lauren Rumble shared Suhariyanto\'s view. The future of a nation depends largely on investment intended to end child poverty and protect its human resources.
"Large economic losses can be caused by neglecting the potential of children to grow healthily, happily and with adequate education," Rumble said.
From the BPS report in the book, the level of child poverty based on provinces shows there is an imbalance of development among the regions. The highest level of child poverty is in Papua with 35.37 percent, followed by West Papua (31.03 percent) and East Nusa Tenggara (26.42 percent). The lowest child poverty figure is in Bali with 5.39 percent, followed by Jakarta (5.55 percent) and South Kalimantan (6.06 percent).
"From this data it can also be seen that there is inequality even though equitable development is being implemented aggressively," said Suhariyanto.
Hindered by synergy
The National Development Planning Ministry\'s senior official for the development of human, society and culture, Subandi, said the main obstacle to and challenge in implementing the government program was synergy among ministries and institutions. Synergy with regional administrations is also important.
"To meet nutritional needs alone, for example, is not only the work of the Health Ministry, but there are also 17 ministries and institutions to take part. So there must be synergy," Subandi said.
He cited as an example the prevention of stunted growth in child in one regency. When the work region has been determined, every ministry and institution should play its part and carry out intervention holistically.
"This is a joint challenge on how all ministries work together in the same region to enable children to get complete services," he said.
In his address, National Development Planning Minister Bambang PS Brodjonegoro said his office was committed to eliminating child poverty in Indonesia and ending all forms of violence against children. The commitment is also contained in the Action Plan for National Child Protection as a derivative of the 2015-2019 Mid-Term National Development Plan.
"Based on the interdependence between child poverty and various economic, social and cultural factors, the child poverty reduction policy should be approached from various sectors," Bambang said.
In its action plan, the government has three policy directions, namely supporting the fulfillment of children\'s rights, protecting children from all forms of violence and increasing the capacity of government institutions, such as through the collection of data on children. The policy direction will become a strategy to eradicate child poverty.
