For the first time since its inception, Sejahtera decided to address problems of urban poverty that affected the residents of Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) community. PPR was a government programme for the resettlement of squatters and residence requirement for low-income earners. The National Housing Department under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government was the main implementing agency for the PPR projects throughout the country.

It was very challenging for Sejahtera to undertake a community project in the urban areas as urban poverty was multidimensional and more complex. After meeting with relevant authorities, in the government, Sejahtera was directed by the National Unity and Integration Department (JPNIN), Wilayah Persekutuan to look into PPRs that already formed the Komuniti Rukun Tetangga (KRT).

KRT was encouraged to organised as many communities, welfare and education activities as they like in addition to programmes to enhance racial unity and integration in Malaysia. The aim of these activities was to enable local people to get acquainted, to help each other in time of need, interact and foster closer ties at the grassroots between leaders and the people and between people of different ethnicity, customs and culture.

After preliminary visits to the proposed areas, Sejahtera finally selected PPR Pantai Ria in Pantai Dalam area, Kuala Lumpur to be part of our pilot project because of its potential for the community enhancement and economic empowerment.

The residential area of PPR Pantai Ria consisted of four buildings namely Block A, B, C, and D, with a total of 1,264 residential units. The residents of this community were mostly from the nearby squatter areas such as Kampung Pantai, Jalan Kubur, Rumah Rizab KTM, Kampung Simpang Tiga, Kampung Sentosa and Rumah Pangsa Pantai Dalam. they moved to PPR Pantai Ria in 2008.

Oh! My Ringgit Programme

The objectives:

• To improve and expand the knowledge on the importance of financial management to children in PPR Pantai Ria to enable them to help their families deal with financial difficulties.

• To inculcate children to manage money wisely so that they can be ana example to the community in PPR and educate their parents on financial literacy.

• Making financial literacy education as part of formal education for children at PPR as to enable them to compete with kids from all walks of life.

• Empowering the children in PPR through financial literacy programmes to prepare them for the challenges of high cost of living in the city.