Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Australian government helps improve basic services in South Sulawesi province through the Community Service for Welfare Collaboration program, or so-called KOMPAK which has been taking place since 2015.

KOMPAK, which has reached Bantaeng and Pangkep districts and will end in 2022, aims to improve basic services including those on education, health, and population administration by upgrading access and quality of the services.

These efforts are expected to alleviate poverty, said KOMPAK team leader Anna Winoto at a forum for the Improvement of Public Services for South Sulawesi, which was monitored through the YouTube channel on Thursday (Nov. 11).

"The KOMPAK program has been running for six years and will end in June 2022. This is a collaborative program between the governments of Australia and Indonesia, which of course has a time period. However, we have been involved in a number of activities since 2015," she explained.

In Bantaeng district, KOMPAK is helping increase administrative ownership through village authority-based administration service.

In 2016-2017, only 40 percent of Rappoa village residents had administrative papers, and now 85 percent of the population have such documents, especially birth certificates.

Meanwhile in Pangkep district, KOMPAK is helping strengthen ‘Kelas Perahu’ (literally means boat class), which aims to reduce the number of fishermen's children dropping out of school, from 2.25 percent in 2016-2017 to below 1 percent in 2021.

There is also ‘Perahu Sehat Pulau Bahagia’ program or healthy boat happy island, which facilitates the islands’ residents in Pangkep district to attain quality basic health services.

Prior to involvement, KOMPAK ensures the availability of budget, adequate local capacity, and standard procedures to ensure the sustainability of each program.

Meanwhile, Australian Consul General in Makassar Bronwyn Robbins said that administrative documents were the key for people to access basic services and social protection programs.

In Pangkep district, according to her, KOMPAK has answered a unique challenge by supplying boats as a health service that reaches people on remote islands, as well as assisting fishermen's children in fulfilling their right to education services through ‘Kelas Perahu’.

"We will continue to assist the government in overseeing development issues. I am optimistic that we can maintain cooperative practices with South Sulawesi provincial administration, Bantaeng and Pangkep district administrations, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and others," Robbins said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window