(FEB NEWS) Islamic social finance, which includes zakat, infaq, alms, and waqf funds, has great potential to support the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Indonesia. "In 2022, the collected Islamic social finance funds in Indonesia amounted to 14 trillion rupiah, excluding waqf," said Noven Suprayogi, SE, M.Si, Ak, Chair of the LPEI FEB Unair. The enormous potential of Islamic social finance funds has not been optimally utilized in supporting sustainable development goals in Indonesia. Therefore, this Zakat Seminar aims to discuss the empowerment model of Islamic social finance funds to support the realization of sustainable development goals in Indonesia, as well as the accountability of Islamic social finance in sustainability reporting.

This Zakat Seminar is a collaboration between the Islamic Economic Development Institute (LPEI), Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga with the National Zakat Collection Institute (LAZNAS) Infak Management Institute (LMI). This activity is an annual routine activity of LPEI FEB Unair with LAZNAS LMI, and this year is the second year of collaboration between the two parties. The theme of this year's zakat seminar is the Role of Social Finance in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (TPB/SDGs). This seminar was attended by 350 people consisting of students, lecturers, and LAZNAS LMI partner companies as well as zakat activists and community empowerment activists. This seminar was opened by the Secretary of the Department of Sharia Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga, Sulistya Rusgianto, SE, MBA, Ph.D. "The issue of sustainable development (SDGs) is very complex and requires collaboration between various parties, starting from Islamic social financial institutions, companies, governments, and even the mass media also have an important role in realizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs)," said Sulistya Rusgianto in his remarks.

Bayu Arie Fianto, Head of the SDGs Center, Universitas Airlangga, stated in his presentation that the achievement of SDGs in Indonesia is still not optimal, so it needs to be pushed further so that the SDGs can be realized by 2030. "Islamic social finance has great potential to support the realization of SDGs. There are several issues that must be resolved in Islamic social finance so that it can be optimal in realizing sustainable development goals, one of which is the lack of synergy and collaboration between parties so that there is often overlap in the empowerment of Islamic social finance funds," said Bayu Arie Fianto. In the second topic, Prof. Iman Harymawan highlighted the need for Zakat Institutions to develop operational strategies that are oriented towards sustainable development. "We should not create trash bins in one place, but throw trash in another. This means that in every activity we must pay attention to long-term aspects. For example, LAZ distributes zakat fitrah using plastic which can increase plastic waste. On the one hand, this activity is good, but on the other hand, it has a negative impact on the environmental aspect," said Prof. Iman Harymawan. "Going forward, LAZ needs to create sustainable reports, so that the impact of LAZ's social activities on achieving sustainable development goals can be measured," explained Prof. Iman Harymawan further.

Meanwhile, Noven Suprayogi, Chairman of LPEI FEB Unair highlighted the lack of success of the empowerment program for poor communities because most of the social financial fund distribution programs are consumptive and charitable in nature so that they have little impact on poverty alleviation in Indonesia. "Based on existing research, the Islamic financial fund empowerment model only covers models to achieve 11 of the 17 SDGs, so there is still an opportunity to further develop Islamic social financial fund empowerment models to achieve SDG goals," said Noven Suprayogi. "There are many models of Islamic social financial fund empowerment for poverty alleviation, but many are not optimal. One of the causes is that the majority of poverty alleviation programs are in the form of productive zakat for businesses, while not all of the poor have the skills to do business. Therefore, there is a need for poverty alleviation programs in the form of improving the competence of the poor to work in companies or other places," explained Noven Suprayogi further. At the end of his presentation, Noven Suprayogi presented a model for empowering the poor through professional work skills development within companies. This program is suitable for those lacking the motivation and skills to become entrepreneurs. However, this model requires collaboration with companies committed to hiring a certain percentage of workers from the poor.

Before the zakat seminar was closed, awards were given to LAZNAS LMI partner companies who have contributed to social activities and community empowerment carried out by LMI. "This award is given to LMI partners who have made significant contributions to several areas of social activities carried out by LMI to motivate companies to contribute more and can be an example for companies that are not yet LMI partners to immediately join in collaborating with LMI," said Agung Wicaksono, ST, President Director of LAZNAS LMI. "We would like to thank FEB Unair, especially LPEI FEB Unair who has been willing to collaborate with LMI to organize this zakat seminar, God willing, it will continue in the following year," explained Agung Wicaksono further.