Gorontalo (ANTARA) – Synergy and Collaboration for the Acceleration of Basic Services (SKALA), a partnership program between Indonesia and Australia, was officially launched in Gorontalo on Wednesday by Regional Secretary Budiyanto Sidiki and the Australian Consul General in Makassar, Todd Dias.
SKALA aims to support the reduction of poverty and inequality by increasing the availability of basic services for poor and vulnerable communities.
“It focuses on strengthening strategic elements in the regional government system, such as public financial management and minimum service standards,” said Sidiki in Gorontalo.
The program will also cover planning and budgeting, as well as strengthening perspective and mainstreaming GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion).
Sidiki emphasized that the partnership through the SKALA program is aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of providing basic services in the province.
“We are grateful that Gorontalo is one of the eight provincial governments in Indonesia that were selected,” he said.
Fulfilling basic services is crucial because it ensure community access, he added. For that reason, the fulfillment of basic services is also a benchmark for government performance.
Looking at various development performance indicators for Gorontalo, with a poverty rate pegged at 15.15 percent, extreme poverty at 4.28 percent, and a Human Development Index (HDI) at 69.81 percent, the province still has some work to do, he noted.
The prevalence of stunting in Gorontalo was still at 23.8 percent in 2022, which is above the national level of 21.6 percent.
Source: ANTARA News