KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The government has targeted to create additional income totalling RM230 million for 80,000 participants from the low income group (B40), with the implementation of the eRezeki Programme by 2018.
The programme is aimed at accelerating the B40’s participation in the digital economy, by enabling them to earn additional income via digital means, especially opportunities offered by crowdsourcing models, according to the Economic Report 2015/2016.
Under this programme, B40 participants whose monthly household income is below RM2,300 per month will be profiled, trained amd assessed on their ability to perform digital micro tasks sourced from both international and local markets.
Among key activities under the programme are eRezeki Outreach, a targeted outreach programme via channel partners such as community leaders, associations, universities and colleges, foundations and state governments and Digital Worker Recruitment, a process to train, assess and qualify B40 to become digital workers, which is conducted mainly at eRezeki centres.
Also, the ‘Digital Workers On-Boarding: ‘Internship’, an experimental period where qualified B40 workers requiring hand-holding will be monitored over a certain period of time until they are able to perform and consistenly deliver good quality of work.
As of September 30, a total of 18,000 participants of B40 have registered at five eRezeki centres, and a total of 9,500 participants have recorded an increase in income with a cumulative income of RM7.5 million.
For 2016, it has been targeted that 20,000 participants will achieve an increase in additional income of RM33 million, and in 2017, 40,000 participants will earn RM80 million in additional income.
For a start, eRezeki centres have been set up in strategic locations, namely Alor Setar, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur to address technological challenges faced by the B40.
Currently, there are about 2.7 million B40 households involving fishermen, clerks and drivers, among others. — Bernama
