Referring to the President’s direction, the minister has taken concrete steps by issuing a circular letter regarding the upgrading and control of village funds for the 2020 budget.

Through the circular, the villages that have received the first phase of disbursed funds are to utilize the funds for self-managed manpower-intensive activities.

“We target members of poor families, the unemployed and partially unemployed and other marginal communities to access jobs under which they are paid directly everyday. This way, they can use the wage to meet the needs of their family life,” he said in Jakarta on March 18.

He also said that villages that completely prepared a village budget but had yet to receive the funds and had yet to start the manpower-intensive projects were asked to revise their budget by taking into account theactivities of the first phase of the projects, which are financed in cash.

“Villages that have yet to complete the preparation of the budget must complete it soon and include the activities […]by March 31, 2020 at the latest,” he asserted.

The village funds, worth Rp 72 trillion, are disbursed through three phases. The first phase comprises 40 percent of the funds, followed by 40 percent and 20 percent for phasestwo and three respectively. The first phase of fund disbursement began in January.

The minister said he would continue to monitor and intensively watch over the disbursement and utilization of the village funds, which he explained could help soften the blow from global economic shock.

“The village funds for the manpower-intensive projects financed in cash are a solution for the villages to survive the current unfavorable economic situation. A stable economic situation for villages will help stabilize the economic situation nationally because the majority of our people live in rural areas,” he said.

According to him, the village funds can nowbe disbursed more quickly, unlike in previous years, as they no longer go through the Regional Public Treasury Account (RKUD). The funds now are directly disbursed through the National Public Treasury Account (RKUN) to the village account.

“The quick process aims to enable villages to implement the village funds-financed programs, which are manpower-intensive in nature and financed in cash,” he said.

The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry conducted a review and revisedthe budget execution list (DIPA) to shift part of the budget to activities that directly relateto the needs of the public. This can be done as a follow up step in response to the President’s instruction, which was addressed in a limited working meeting on March 16.

“We continue to communicate daily with the villages to monitor the disbursement of funds and the utilization of the funds, especially in regard to the […] manpower-intensive activities [and in] mapping and assisting villages dealing with COVID-19,” he remarked.

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