The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry has denied responsibility for ending the National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM).

First established in 2007, the PNPM, which was initiated by then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with financing from the World Bank, was reportedly wrapped up on  Dec.31, 2014.

According to Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Marwan Jafar, the PNPM was implemented under the Home Ministry.  

“There were minutes sent to the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry by the Home Ministry that stated that the PNPM had ended,” Marwan told a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday. He was responding to increased speculation over the program's demise.

Commenting on the fate of ex-PNPM facilitators, Marwan said that their  contracts had ended along with the closing of the program and that they had been informed as such by the Home Ministry.

“The Home Ministry’s directorate general of village community empowerment sent a letter to  facilitators, informing them that the program had ended. Yet they continue to protest,” Marwan explained.

The government had offered a solution to the problem, he said, when the Village Fund, a program initiated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, needed facilitators, inviting PNPM facilitators to join a selection test to participate in the Village Fund program.

“We have re-employed them as temporary Village Fund  facilitators until May this year. They may then re-apply,” he said.

Last year, the minister said, around 30 percent of ex-PNPM facilitators had been officially recruited as facilitators in the Village Fund program. However, certain ex-PNPM facilitators were unwilling to take part in the Village Fund selection process, instead demanding that the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry extend their contracts for five years without any terms or conditions.

“This is unfair. I believe there is a politically-motivated power behind the mobilization of the ex-PNPM facilitators to stage such a protest,” the minister said.

Marwan also denied accusations that most Village Fund facilitators recruited were members of the National Awakening Party (PKB), of which he too is a member.

“I come from the PKB but the selection of Village Fund facilitators was conducted at the regional level. And as you know, very few governors come from the PKB,” he said.

The Home Ministry’s director general of village community development and empowerment, Ahmad Erani Yustika, said 22,000 Village Fund facilitators had been recruited last year, around 6,600 of whom were ex-PNPM facilitators.

“We will recruit around 17,000 to 18,000 more Village Fund facilitators and this will be announced next year. The ideal proportion is one facilitator for one village, which means we need around 74,000 facilitators. But we don't have enough money for that, so for now, one facilitator  handles four villages,”  Ahmad explained.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Anton Hermansyah

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