West Papua forms task force to tackle extreme poverty, stunting – ANTARA News

Manokwari, West Papua (ANTARA) – The West Papua provincial government has formed a task force for accelerating programs for reducing extreme poverty and childhood stunting in the region.

The task force will be deployed in seven districts, namely, Manokwari, South Manokwari, Pegunungan Arfak, Bintuni Bay, Fakfak, Wondama Bay, and Kaimana, West Papua acting Governor Paulus Waterpauw said here on Friday.

“We had a meeting and formed a task force last night (June 1, 2023),” he said.

In addition to the task force’s establishment, the provincial government has also allocated Rp18 billion (US$1.2 million) for extreme poverty and stunting interventions in the 7 districts, he added.

The task force in each district will need to collaborate with the provincial task force so that the efforts of reducing extreme poverty and stunting can run optimally as per expectations.

“We hope that the task force team in the district can cooperate with the provincial task force,” he said.

Waterpauw explained that the provincial government has set a target to intervene in the cases of at least 70 percent of the 2,659 stunted children in West Papua.

The government is also working to reduce extreme poverty in West Papua, which dropped by 8.35 percent in the period from 2022 to 2023.

“We try to reduce extreme poverty every year,” Waterpauw said, adding that intervention programs to achieve this have included the construction of clean water infrastructure and bathrooms and toilets as well as the provision of nutritious food and non-cash social assistance.

However, the intervention program implementation will require accurate data from each district government.

“If the data is not accurate, what we are working on will not have a significant impact,” he said.

The acting governor informed that the schedule for the program implementations in the 7 districts will start from South Manokwari on June 7, 2023, and then continue to other districts.

Efforts in each district will be coordinated by one member of the task force.

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