The Ministry of Manpower will expand the network of Community Work Training Centers (BLK) by building 787 BLKs across Indonesia this year, Minister Ida Fauziyah has said.

“From 2017, we have been trying to bring services closer to the community,” she remarked at the signing of the working agreement on the Community BLK in 2021, here on Thursday.

According to Fauziyah, the ministry already has BLK managed by the central and local government, but she insisted that there is a need to bring the services closer to the community.

Launched in 2017, Community BLKs are a breakthrough initiative by President Joko Widodo.

In 2020, the ministry has established 2,127 BLKs for communities spread across many regions of Indonesia, Fauziyah said. This year, the ministry is targeting to establish 787 BLKs, she added.

Also, the ministry has signed a working agreement with the first phase Community BLK this year, she informed.

Under the agreement, 520 BLKs will receive government assistance and 267 BLKs will be provided aid in the second phase , she said.

“In 2021, we have invited as many strategic partners as possible because we want BLKs that we build to become independent centers that are part of the competency improvement implemented by the Manpower Ministry,” Fauziyah said.

Communities that have cooperated with the ministry are religious-based communities, such as Islamic boarding schools (Pesantren) and seminaries, she informed.

The ministry has also cooperated with trade and workers unions to develop Community BLKs since last year, she said.

“We are not satisfied with just building (the BLKs), we want them to be independent, as part of the government’s efforts to improve our workforce competencies,” Fauziyah affirmed.

“BLK is one of the real steps taken by the ministry to enhance Indonesia’s human resource competence towards the peak of Indonesia’s demographic bonus, which is expected to happen in 2030,” she added.

Source: Antara News