Zmart: Poverty Alleviation and Women Empowerment Program Through Micro Retail Shop Business

Zmart program is a micro retail shop empowerment program using zakat funds to alleviate poverty, especially in urban areas. This research examines the impact of Zmart program on poverty alleviation and women empowerment. The general poverty indicators based on poverty line and had kifayah standard show that the number of poverty decreases after Zmart intervention. In addition, the impact of Zmart also measured using BAZNAS Prosperity Index (BPI) with a score of 0.68, meaning Zmart has a good impact on its recipient. The Gender Development Index (GDI) in the Zmart program shows an increasing value from 75.97 to 139.32. It means that there is significant emancipation for the female group compared to the male group in the program. These results show that the Zmart program favorably empowers women as it is shown that the GDI value exceeds 100 points.


Zakat on Poverty Alleviation and Women Empowerment
Zakat is one of the pillars in Islam that has a socio-economic impact on society. It is levied from the wealth that has surpassed the threshold (nishab) and being disbursed to the eligible recipients or known as mustahik (Zayas, 1960;Qaradawi, 1999). Zakat can be a social safety net and give basic protection for sustaining life (Chapra, 2008). Moreover, Mohieldin et al. (2011) elucidate that zakat mobilization could help to solve extreme poverty in Muslim countries. In this sense, zakat is being distributed and fulfills the basic needs of the mustahiq. However, it is not merely enough to bring socio-economic advancement to society. Hence, zakat is also utilized under an empowerment program that can give long-lasting benefits for the beneficiaries. In this regard, the zakat fund is structured so that it can allow financing for productive economic activities, enlarge capacity building opportunity, and open access to the market (Purwakananta, 2018) Studies have shown that empowerment programs based on the zakat fund have positively brought advancement to human development and poverty alleviation. Nurzaman (2016) shows that the productive zakat program has significantly increased the recipients' human development index. Moreover, using the CIBEST model, Mubarokah et al. (2018) conclude that the zakat empowerment program increases the beneficiaries' income. Center of Strategic Studies BAZNAS (2019), in its report, shows that the empowerment program in BAZNAS has positively contributed to poverty alleviation under several indicators: poverty line, kifayah, and nishab with rice and gold standard. Muthmainnah (2011) and Hilyatin (2014) emphasize the role of zakat for women empowerment considering the strategic role of women in family and society. This consciousness also has been realized by the government, zakat administrators, and NGOs. They came up with a retail shop business program that can empower women and maintain their role as mothers who nurture kids at home. It is expected that the program can raise additional income and livelihood from the head of the family. Nonetheless, this business also becomes the main income, especially when the mothers are single parents or her husband has difficulty finding a decent job. Susanti (2013) discusses how the E-Warong program, an initiative by Ministry of Social Service, can access social and economic resources. Another research by Sriharini and Moh Abu Suhud (2017) shows that Warung Beres, a program by Dompet Dhuafa in Gunung Kidul has positive economic impact for poor peole in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. Nonetheless, most research on women empowerment through retail shop business is done qualitatively and with limited samples. Hence there is a genuine need to conduct research in this area that involves many participants with a quantitive approach.

An Overview of Zmart Program
Zmart is a micro retail shop empowerment program that BAZNAS initiates. This program aims to enhance the capacity of the micro retail shop owners to alleviate them from poverty. In this regard, BAZNAS has structured zakat fund into this program to give inclusive financing facility, capacity building, assistantship and mentoring, and opportunity for market enlargement. In addition, this program also allows the participant access the technology to increase customer satisfaction.
There are two kinds of Zmart in this empowerment model: Zmart Point and Zmart Distribution Center. Zmart points are micro-retail shops that are owned by mustahik and become the main locus intervention. In contrast, Zmart Distribution Center is a cooperative designed to increase the market competitiveness of participants by being the main distributor for Zmart points. In addition, this model also allows the surrounding micro business in the neighborhood to join this program by becoming the supplier. Fig. 1 illustrates the model of the Zmart program.
The Zmart program is implemented in three different stages: preparation, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation. There are two main activities in the preparation stage, namely assessment and program socialization to the targeted participant. Assessment is conducted to meticulously choose the right participant based on the asnaf and the commitment to join the program. Meanwhile, the socialization process is obtained to ensure that the participant is well aware of program regulation and ready for the consequence if they are joining. Afterward, the participant will enter the implementation stage consisting of various activities as illustrated by the following table. The third stage is monitoring and evaluation. BAZNAS staff will conduct impact evaluation using several methods such as Social Return on Investment, Sustainable Livelihood Impact Approach, BAZNAS Prosperity Index, etc. Having this evaluation allows BAZNAS to improve its program.  Until December 2020, there are 986 Zmart in 20 cities/regencies in 5 provinces in Indonesia. It involves 743 women and 243 men as its participant, making a portion of 75.35% as the participant. It clearly shows that Zmart is targeting women as its participant. The next part of this paper will elucidate the impact of this program on poverty alleviation and women empowerment.

Research Method
This research using both primary and secondary data to perform the analysis of Zmart program. The primary data is collected by conducting a structured interview using a questionnaire towards the zakat recipients under the Zmart program. The participant of this research is confined to those who only have joining the program for at least six (6) months. Then the data is processed to measure the impact of the Zmart program. The secondary data applied in this research are poverty line (PL) and had kifayah standard (HK).

Poverty Alleviation Measurement
In order to measure the impact of Zmart program in poverty alleviation, this research using General Poverty Indicator and BAZNAS Prosperity Index.

General Poverty Indicator (GPI)
General Poverty Indicator is used to evaluate poverty conditions under certain territorial. There are 5 (five) indicators that are used to evaluate the poverty condition in this research. Moreover, this research is also measuring the time needed to escape poverty. The measurement of all indicators (H, I, P1, P2 and P3) in this research are in the household unit. a. Headcount Index (H) measures the total number of poor people in certain territorial. The Headcount Index ranges between 0 and 1, where one means more people are poor, and 0 means fewer people are poor in that territory. A good zakat distribution program will have less H value after the program implementation than the initial condition. b. Income Gap Ratio (I) is used to measure the income gap between people where we conduct this research. If the I value is near to zero (0) it means the income gap is lessened and becomes equal. A good zakat distribution program will have a lower I value after the program is implemented. c. Poverty Gap (P1) shows the poverty depth and is measured with currency in IDR. The less value of P1 and if it is closer to zero (0), the poverty depth is lessened. A good zakat distribution program will have a lower P1 value after the program is implemented. d. Sen index (P2) shows the poverty severity within people in a certain area. It ranges between 0 and 1. The closer the value of P2 to zero (0) means the lower inequality among the poor. e. FGT Index (P3) shows the poverty severity within people in a certain area. It ranges between 0 and 1. The closer the value of P3 to zero (0) means the poverty severity is lessened. A good zakat distribution program will have a lower P3 value after the program is implemented This research also evaluates the time needed for the participant to escape poverty using time taken to exit poverty formula (Morduch, 1998). The following discourse illustrates how to measure it.
where: z is poverty line, y is income, g is income growth, i is total person in a population, and q is total person with income y that is under the poverty line.

BAZNAS Prosperity Index (BPI)
BAZNAS Prosperity Index (BPI) is a part of the score for the National Zakat Index and consists of three other indices, which are CIBEST Prosperity Index, Modified HDI Index, and Independence Index. If BPI is closer to 1, it means the impact of distributed zakat is better. The explanations of each index are as follows: 1. CIBEST Prosperity Index The CIBEST Model Beik and Arsyianti's (2016) background is the idea that we need a measurement tool for poverty that is in line with the point of view of Islamic economics. It is because the mainstream measurement tool for poverty only measures poverty in a materialistic view. As a matter of Sharia's point of view, there is a kind of poverty that is more vital and needs to be prioritized, named spiritual poverty. Departs from this idea, they developed a model that could measure poverty in a materialistic view and in a spiritual view, which is widely known by CIBEST Model.
a. Determining CIBEST Quadrant CIBEST Model consists of 4 indices: welfare index, material poverty index, spiritual poverty index, and absolute poverty index. The measurement is done by household analysis unit and divided into six sub-groups: Head of Household, working adult, non-working adult, teenagers, children (7-13 years old), and children (0-6 years old). To know the poverty level of a household, CIBEST divides a household into four categories.  (2016) First is the household in Quadrant-1. Household in this quadrant is categorized as prosperous family. It means that the household can fulfill material and spiritual needs. The second is the household in Quadrant-II. Household in this quadrant is categorized as a materially poor household. In this quadrant, the household can fulfill its spiritual needs well, yet the household cannot meet its material needs properly. The third is the household in Quadrant-III. Household in this quadrant is categorized as a spiritually poor household. This household has fulfilled its material needs well, but it has not been fulfilled in terms of spiritual needs. Fourth is the household in quadrant-IV. Household in this quadrant is categorized as an absolute poor household. This means that household in this quadrant is at the lowest poverty point because they cannot fulfill their spiritual and material needs.
Determining the quadrant of a household is done by calculating the indicator of material and spiritual poverty first. The CIBEST model measures aspects of material poverty or Material Value (MV) through 3 approaches. The approach is a periodic survey of basic material needs, the standard poverty line according to Statistic Indonesia, and the limit of zakat-related assets (nishab). For the standard poverty line, according to the Statistic Indonesia, it is necessary to make adjustments in advance from per capita income to household income. The standard nishab is included because it is the boundary between mustahik and muzakki. In the spiritual aspect, the CIBEST Model measures each household based on 5 variables which are prayer, fasting, zakat and infaq, household environment, and government policy. The five variables have a relationship with each other and become a minimum standard that must be met related to the spiritual aspects.  (2016) Likert scale is used to measure all five variables on spiritual needs. A range of number 1 to 5 is used to fill in each variable. The higher the Likert scale, the better the fulfillment of spiritual needs for these variables, and vice versa. If a household has a Spiritual Value (SV) equal to or smaller than 3, that household is declared spiritually poor. The value of fulfilling the spiritual needs of each household member is calculated using the formula below: Where: Hi is actual value of household member i, Vpi is prayer value of household member i, Vfi is Fasting value of household member i, Vzi is zakat and infaq value of household member i, Vhi is household environment value of household member i, Vgi is government policy value of household member i.
After Hi value is obtained, it is necessary to calculate the value of all household members to obtain the spiritual value of the household. The formula for calculating the spiritual value of a household is as below: Where: SH is spiritual score for household member -h and MH is total household member.
When MV and SV have been measured, the determination of the position of each household in the CIBEST quadrant is measured by the combination of the actual MV and SV. An explanation regarding the combination of MV and SV can be seen in the table below:

b. Calculation for CIBEST Prosperity Index
After the quadrant of each household has been determined, the next step is to calculate CIBEST Prosperity Index. CIBEST Prosperity Index consists of Material Poverty Index, Spiritual Poverty Index, Absolute Poverty Index, and Welfare Index. The calculation of each index can be seen as follows.

Modified Human Development Index (HDI)
The second composite index of BPI is the modified HDI. This index can measure the welfare of observed households. In this index, measurements are in terms of health and education. After the scores of the two indices are obtained, the next step is to weigh the two scores. The weighting will provide a modified HDI index calculated by the following formula: HDI: (0.5 x education index) + (0.5 x health index).

Independence Index
The measurement of the independence index of observed households is done by identifying whether or not observed households have a permanent job, business and savings. The Likert scale is used to measure the independence of the observed households.

Women Empowerment Measurement
This research using Gender Related Development Index in order to measure the impact of women empowerment in Zmart program.

The Gender Related Development Index (GDI)
The Gender Related Development Index (GDI) is calculated by comparing Human Development Index between women and men. The HDI is calculated using the following indicator: The following are the interpretations of GDI, 1. If the result is closer to 100, then the gap or inequality between women and men is narrowing 2. GDI < 100, women achievement < men achievement 3. GDI = 100, women achievement is equal to men achievement 4. GDI> 100, women achievement > men achievement

Results and Discussion
The following discourse will elaborate on the impact of the Zmart program on the participant's welfare using the General Poverty Indicators & BAZNAS Prosperity Index. Moreover, it will also evaluate the impact of this program on gender empowerment using the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI)

The Impact of Zmart on Poverty Alleviation
The participant's welfare level is measured using the General Poverty Index and BAZNAS Prosperity Index. Participant's income is measured up against two different standards: poverty line (IDR 440.583 per capita/month) and had kifayah (IDR 772.088 per capita/month). The GPI calculation shows that overall, there is a decline in H value throughout the PL and HK standards, which are 38% and 26%. Therefore, we can infer that the Zmart program has eradicated the participant from poverty.
The above table also shows that the income gap (I) based on had kifayah standard is declining by 14%. This result shows that zakat has successfully narrowed the income gap among the observed community. However, the I value against the poverty line standard after the program implementation Vol. 9, No. 1, Maret 2022, pp. 37-49 Swandaru, R., Rizkiningsih, P., & Kuswanda, D. (Zmart: Poverty Alleviation and Women Empowerment Program...) is observed higher in comparison to the preliminary condition. It happens because the incremental income of the observed participant that is far under poverty line is lower than the observed participant that lies near the poverty line. Moreover, there are many more participants who live far under the poverty line compared to participants who live near the poverty line. This aligns with the increase of P1 value that being measured against the poverty line, whereas other P1 values for had kifayah.
The poverty depth that is represented by P2 and P3 show a decrease across the standard that are applied in this research. It shows that the Zmart program has shallowing the poverty depth among the observed participant. In addition, the time taken to exit poverty using Morduch (1998) shows that the Zmart program has shortened the time for the participant to escape poverty across the standard applied, as shown in the table below.  (2021) The calculation of the BAZNAS Prosperity Index also has shown that the Zmart program has a good impact on poverty alleviation. The impact of this program is observed at 0.68 (Good) when it is measured against the poverty line. The following table showcases the detailed result. In addition, the following table shows that about 78% of the observed participant are in Quadrant I (prosperous both in material and spiritual), and 22% are in Quadrant II (prosperous in spiritual but poor in material). There is no observed participant in Quadrant III and IV. Then, the calculation of modified HDI shows the Zmart program is fairly good in increasing the HDI with a score of 0.5 where the health index at 0.43 and education index at 0.38. Lastly, the independence index is 0.68 (Good). Based on the observation, all of the participants have already had a regular income and on top of that, about 22% of participants have a non-regular income. It is also observed that 72% participant has savings.
The following table represents the result of the CIBEST Index using the had kifayah standard. The CIBEST Index measured up against the had kifayah is 0.25, with 28% of the observed participant in Quadrant I and 72% in Quadrant II. There is not any participant in Quadrant III and IV.

The Impact of Zmart on Women Empowerment
This research compares the human development index in micro-scale between the male and female group to understand the gender empowerment impact between the two groups. The GDI value is an HDI ratio between females and males before and after the Zmart program implementation. The following table shows an increase in GDI value from 75.97 to 139.32. It means that there is significant emancipation for the female group compared to the male group in the program. In other words, these results show that the Zmart program favorably empowers women as it is shown that the GDI value exceeds 100 points.

Conclusion
Zmart program is a micro retail shop empowerment program using zakat funds to alleviate poverty, especially in urban areas. The empowerment of micro-retail shops is relevant to be implemented in the midst of the increasing number of modern retail stores that have eroded the portion of the micro-retail shop, which is the basis of life for the small community. By implementing the Zmart program, it is hoped that micro-retail shop entrepreneurs will be able to increase their capacity to increase their livelihood. Zakat, a part of Islamic social finance, can play an active role in encouraging inclusive and sustainable growth. Zmart program is also very possible to be replicated either using zakat funds or using other social funds. In addition, this program also empowers women who are categorized as mustahik to increase their quality of life.
The findings in this research show that the Zmart program has a Good impact on their participant in poverty alleviation, as illustrated by the BAZNAS Prosperity Index score of 0.68 based on the poverty line standard.The GPI calculation shows that overall, there is a decline in H value throughout the PL and HK standards, which are 38% and 26%. Therefore, we can infer that the Zmart program has eradicated the participant from poverty. The income gap is narrowing, and the poverty depth is also lower after the program intervention.
In the case of Zmart's impact in women empowerment, the Gender Development Index (GDI) in the Zmart program shows an increasing value from 75.97 to 139.32. It means that there is significant emancipation for the female group in comparison to the male group in the program.