inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Director of Zakat and Waqf Empowerment of the Indonesian Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) Waryono Abdul Ghafur said that zakat is an instrument that can help improve the community's economy.

Waryono revealed that zakat succeeded in lifting 577,138 people out of poverty, with 321,757 of them coming from extreme poverty zones in 2023.

However, there are still a number of long-term challenges that must be faced by zakat recipients, where most of the current zakat assistance is still consumptive in nature, where aid programs are more focused on humanity and health.

Therefore, Director Waryono emphasized that more efforts are needed to maximize the potential of zakat as a driver of a productive economy. One of them is through cross-sector collaboration between the Ministry of Religion, the National Zakat Agency (Baznas), and a number of Zakat Institutions (LAZ) in Indonesia.

The flagship program established by the Ministry of Religion is Zakat Village, which aims to improve the welfare of zakat recipients through economic empowerment, and covers various sectors including health, education, economy, and socio-culture.

He said a number of good practices from this program can be seen in Sulung Village, Sambas, West Kalimantan, and Ciladaeun Village, Lebak, Banten, where local communities are encouraged to participate in community-based economic activities, such as catfish, coffee, and processed product cultivation.

In addition, another program that also had a big impact was the Office of Religious Affairs for Empowering the People's Economy (KUA PEU), where the Ministry of Religion also collaborated again with BAZNAS and LAZ to help micro and ultra-micro entrepreneurs through mentoring, access to capital, and entrepreneurship training.

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