Mobilizing Volunteers to ensure Indian participation in the Azam program

Volunteers at the Workshop

Sixty volunteers from the six Program Mesra Rakyat districts gathered to hear a briefing from four federal government officers on the Azam program.

This program which was held on Nov 28, 2010 was a very effective program as the Azam program is one of the National Key Result Areas targeting the bottom 40% and low income families. It is coordinated by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. This Ministry has agreed to assist SITF channel all its applicants for welfare grants who have been rejected by the Department of Social Welfare into this program.

Currently SITF has a name list of about 1,412 names from among the people who registered with us for assistance. All these cases have been reviewed by the Department of Social Welfare and are not eligible for welfare assistance.

Social Welfare Needs

Mr Inau Edin Nom in his presentation indicated that welfare assistance is not a matter of right but based on eligibility. He informed that the Department officers have interviwed, visited and reviewed 1,884 out of the total 2,231 cases. Of these 483 cases have been approved and another 193 are confirmed as ones already receiving welfare assistance. It is the remaining numbers from the welfare list and aother set from e-kasih registration that is of concern as we want to reach them and provide some options to them.

Mr Inau Edin Norm, Deputy DG, Dept of Social Welfare

Every applicant has to be assessed if they are eligible and if they are productive ie employable or non productive in terms of unable to provide for themselves or if there is no family member who has the financial means to assist. Unfortunately there are many people who are thinking that this welfare assistance is a matter of right and is like a pension.

He cited a number of reasons why applications are rejected:-

·        They do not meet the income limit of below RM 750 for household income

·        They are still in the productive working age and therefore should actively seek employment

·        They have family members who have income ability to support

·        They might be receiving another welfare assistance or support including Sosco

The urgent task of the volunteers is to visit all the homes and encourage them to participate in one of the four Azam programs which is organized by the Federal government.

Introducing the Azam Program

Mr Ahmad Tarmidi from the NKRA of the Ministry highlighted the four special programs catering for the low income households. All these provide assistance to the low income to generate income. In this approach the focus is not on a short term grants but building the potential through self employment or micro business:-

• Azam Niaga (on micro business)
• Azam Tani (on agricultural projects)
• Azam Kerja (on securing a job & training)




Mr Amad Tarmidi from NKRA Azam Program


• Azam Khidmat (on service sector)

All volunteers were also given forms which they can use to ascertain the choice of the people and then channel it to one of the four areas for agency action and implementation through SITF and the NKRA team.

Introducing Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM)

Mr Rosli Abdul from AIM introduced the AIM approach of group formation and micro business loans. He provided details on the requirements and cited many cases of successful Indian women whose income rose from about RM400 to RM500 to over RM 2,000 over the past few through their active participation in the AIM micro finance program.

Introducing Job’s Malaysia

Mr Rahmat Ismail of Job’s Malaysia highlighted the job’s portal and the employment matching process including enlisting those registered for interviews and job placement. He highlighted that one of the major challenges they face. He said, “there are enough jobs and employers are searching for workers but the potential workers especially from this target group has an attitude issues. Mindset of the people is an issue”. He gave examples of how people do not turn up for secured jobs after securing it though an interview process via Job’s Malaysia.

Urgent Task Ahead

At this workshop which was held in KL also present was Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, Dato Siva Subramanian & Mr SP Manivasagam. It was indeed fruitful and the volunteers agreed to reach out to the target group within three weeks.

Some of the particpants at the Workshop

SITF officers both Premala and Thana provided an overview strategy and introduction to the forms to be utilized during the door to door home visits by the volunteer teams at the six districts. We have set a target of Dec 17, 2010 by which the volunteer teams would have visited the identified families in need and provide a summary list to SITF and NKRA team.

This exercise is not just a micro service exercise. It serves as a pilot study on how volunteers from both political parties and civil society can be mobilised to complement the efforts of the federal government agencies.

In the long run we aim to strengthen the confidence of the community to access directly these services. At the same time we want to build the capacity of the government agencies to be more sensitive to the needs of the Indian community at the bottom 40% of the socio-economic ladder, thereby ensuring a sustainable institutional mechanism.