PEKKA Monitors Social Assistance for Women during COVID-19 Pandemic

Yayasan PEKKA presented the survey results it had conducted when monitoring various COVID-19 social assistances in the webinar on “Feminization of Poverty and Social Assistance’s Effectiveness in Responding to COVID-19 Pandemic” which was held online on Monday, 24 August 2020, from 1-3 PM JKT time.

Throughout 12 May – 3 June 2020, Yayasan PEKKA facilitated Serikat PEKKA (PEKKA Union) in 17 provinces and 42 districts, 69 sub-districts, and 90 villages to conduct monitoring of various government social assistances distributed during the pandemic. The monitoring was conducted with the support from MAMPU Program, KOMPAK and WVL-GAC.

The Minister of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (VDDRT/Kemendes PDTT), Abdul Halim Iskandar, became the key speaker in this webinar. He expressed the ministry’s commitment to always engage women in village development processes.

“We have emphasized that in every village consultative meeting, there must be women elements that represent at least 30 percent of total participants. We will consistently monitor this so that the policy will not become a mere lips service, but truly be implemented,” he explained.

The Secretary General of Ministry of VDDRT, Anwar Sanusi, said in his remark that in the sixth month after the pandemic, an interesting issue had emerged regarding the assistance given by the government to the target community, which can be seen from the monitoring by Yayasan PEKKA. “The issue raised by PEKKA is very interesting, since women are an integral part of village community and play significant roles for the village.”

Throughout the period of 21 May – 3 June 2020, 123 cadres of Yayasan PEKKA had been trained to conduct census in 90 villages and 90 sub-neighborhood (RT)/hamlets (dusun) to 6,559 heads of household. In addition, interviews were conducted to 87 village apparatus to get a general idea on social assistance distribution by the village government.