Banyuwangi – Local Government (Pemkab) of Banyuwangi encourages the acceleration of poverty alleviation synergized with the National Board of Zakat (BAZNAS) program.
"Zakat is the right instrument to be integrated with government programs related to poverty alleviation. Although the local budget (APBD) has provided a large budget, there are some things that can not be handled by the APBD quickly because of the related rules. Therefore, BAZNAS, in this case can come to lend a hand," said Banyuwangi Regent, Abdullah Azwar Anas on Saturday (13/5).
Anas explained that Baznas is expected to be a safety valve for people who need to be assisted immediately without having to use the APBD procedure.
Anas exemplified if there is a family suddenly hit by accident and leave orphans, BAZNAS can directly step in with the local government.
"BAZNAS is more flexible to directly handle social problems that need to be addressed immediately. If waiting for the budget, while the procedure still has to go through various stages of approval, it will takes much time," he said.
Currently, he said, BAZNAS movement has been synchronized with data of poor people of Poverty Reduction Coordination Team (TKPK) of Banyuwangi. This synchronization is deemed necessary in order that the distribution of BAZNAS funds really on target.
"The TKPK data of poor people is from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), so it is quite valid. BAZNAS just need to match the data to see who are in need. With this system, the data of mustahik (recipients of zakat) can be uniformed and be more targeted. If there are any poor peole found in field who have not been registered, just report them to be entered into the database," said the 43-year-old Regent.
BAZNAS's work method, said Anas, is similar to the Peer Foster Student (SAS) program, which was raised by Banyuwangi regency since 2011 and until now is managed to collect Rp 12.8 billion to help students from poor families to meet their needs, ranging from wind bikes to go to schools, roller skates, sunglasses, and shoes.
"We have more than 170,000 students. The basic cost of the school is already provided by government funds, but the support cost, such as when students need glasses or bicycles is not possible to meet the budget. Now, there is SAS program where privileged students can help the underprivileged ones. This program has entered the Top 99 national best public innovation 2017," Anas added.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of BAZNAS Banyuwangi Commissioner, Samsudin Adlawi, added that BAZNAS began using the data of poor people owned by TKPK Banyuwangi. In addition, BAZNAS will collaborate with local governments to alleviate poverty.
"The collaboration between the local government with BAZNAS to synchronize the data is the first time in Banyuwangi, and it has been running since the beginning of last year. From the civil servants zakat, we target to collect more than Rp 3 billion per year, exclude from the private sector. We thoroughly optimize it to help the underprivileged people. The reporting is also transparent through online and mass media," he said.
(Source : http://www.beritasatu.com | Transl : amelya/puskasbaznas.com)