JAKARTADAILY.ID – Ganjar Pranowo officially concluded his two-term tenure as the Governor of Central Java on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, a position he has held since 2013.
During his leadership in Central Java, Ganjar has been successful in alleviating poverty, one of the main development challenges in the province with the third-largest population in Indonesia.
According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Ganjar has successfully lifted 1 million people out of poverty. The number of impoverished people in Central Java has decreased from 4.83 million to 3.86 million.
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Ganjar's success can be attributed to the various programs he implemented to boost Central Java's economy from top to bottom.
One of the upstream programs Ganjar initiated was the Central Java Vocational High School (SMKN) to enhance the quality of human resources. Through this program, Ganjar provided scholarships to underprivileged students to receive vocational education, enabling them to enter the workforce and improve their family's economic status.
On August 30, 2023, President Joko Widodo visited Central Java Vocational High School (SMKN). Jokowi acknowledged Ganjar's program as an accelerator for economic growth and deemed it suitable for national implementation.
On the downstream side, Ganjar has introduced programs like #LapakGanjar and Hetero Space to expedite the progress of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). This includes assisting MSMEs in marketing their products.
Economic analyst from Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Wahyu Widodo, acknowledged the stable economic growth in Central Java during Ganjar's leadership.
"Looking at macroeconomic indicators and the economic growth in Central Java over the past 10 years, it has been quite stable. In fact, for the past five years, it has been slightly above the national economic growth rate," Wahyu told reporters on Tuesday.
Wahyu also believed that Ganjar's economic acceleration program had successfully addressed multidimensional poverty issues in Central Java.
"That's why we know multidimensional poverty, because when people are already poor and you want to lift them above the poverty line, those who are just above the poverty line are potentially falling into poverty as well," said Wahyu.
It is worth noting that today, tens of thousands of Central Java residents from various backgrounds plan to attend Ganjar Pranowo's retirement event at the Central Java Governor's Office. This event is a form of appreciation for Ganjar's dedication and achievements in Central Java.
