Community Dev’t Fund to alleviate poverty

KUALA LUMPUR: Yayasan Sejahtera has introduced the Community Development Fund (CDF) as a sustainable channel for contributions towards alleviating poverty as a whole.

Yayasan Sejahtera chairman, Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir said: “Eradicating poverty and rebalancing social inequality is multi-faceted and requires actions and interventions from many stakeholders.

“While extreme poverty has been addressed, relative poverty both in the urban and rural context remains a challenge in Malaysia and many countries around the world.

“The CDF benefits B40 communities, especially those in the lower 20 per cent (income) bracket and experiencing hardcore poverty. The CDF beneficiaries include low-income heads of household, single mothers and children.”

She was speaking at the Yayasan Sejahtera’s ‘2019 International Day for the Eradication Of Poverty Forum: Inclusive Development and Sejahtera In The New Malaysia’ event yesterday.

The CDF serves as a platform for government-linked and corporate companies to donate directly towards its community projects, and work closely together as a shared responsibility towards reducing poverty.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who launched CDF yesterday also encouraged other organisations to follow Yayasan Sejahtera’s footsteps and help the government eradicate poverty, especially in rural areas.

Faizah said the foundation had reached out to more than 12,000 individuals since its inception in 2009 and hoped that all stakeholders would work together to build a better nation where all Malaysians could enjoy a decent standard of living.

“We have the lower-income group’s database from the eKasih platform. Firstly, we would have to do an assessment to know what our target group wants.

“Then we will engage with our sponsors and stakeholders to expand our community services to the respective areas,” she said.