The Effectiveness of Cash For Work in Handling the Impact of COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on all aspects of life, especially the economy. Economic activity has stopped causing a decrease in income and loss of employment, that vulnerable groups are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. BAZNAS seeks to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 through the CFW program, an innovation in distributing zakat to vulnerable groups (mustahiq) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. CFW program helped vulnerable groups, especially food needs. This paper tried to explain the implementation of BAZNAS CFW and to analyze the effectiveness of the program for mustahiq. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach through interviews and documentation methods. The BAZNAS CFW concept is unique, namely collective social empowerment, for mustahiq and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The majority of participants who took part in the BAZNAS CFW program gave positive responses regarding the implementation and the impact it had given. That shows CFW was effective in tackling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The advantage of CFW is that it encourages the purchasing power of mustahiq towards economic needs, which can be purchased in the SMEs sector. This empowerment is not only for mustahiq, but also for the SMEs sector. CFW is beneficial for the social environment because it maintains and builds public facilities needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, implementation in the short term is a disadvantage of CFW, meaning that economic improvements can not be seen in the short term. CFW is not a permanent employer program, but temporary work as a response to mitigating the impact of COVID-19.