Villages as Motor of Awakening in New Normal
During the Covid-19 pandemic, villages in Indonesia have proven their persistence. Entering the new normal era, they also have the potential to serve as the motor of awakening
During the Covid-19 pandemic, villages in Indonesia have proven their persistence. Entering the new normal era, they also have the potential to serve as the motor of awakening. To optimize this role, villages should be promoted to become locations that ensure greater welfare for their residents.
One of the villages already showing evidence of perseverance in facing the Covid-19 pandemic is Panggungharjo village, Sewon district, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta. Over the last several months, no social disturbances or conflict have been apparent in this village.
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In fact, four Panggungharjo village residents had tested positive for Covid-19. However, the presence of these confirmed Covid-19 patients caused no alarm to other villagers. Even when the patients were declared recovered and allowed to go home, local residents welcomed them on the way to their homes.
“Panggungharjo village is relatively without conflict in spite of the four confirmed Covid-19 cases. Thank God, all of them recovered and residents made arrangements to welcome them home,” said Panggungharjo village head Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi at a webinar themed “Indonesia’s New
Course: New Normal, What It Is and How to Live amid Pandemic and Afterward”, on Wednesday (1/7/2020).
Residents pass in front of a banner containing an appeal to be aware of the transmission of Covid-19 in Panggungharjo village, Sewon district, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta.The webinar was part of the Village Cultural Congress held by the Panggungharjo Village Innovation Center. The congress organized various activities such as research, online discussions, a cultural festival and cultural declaration. The online discussions ran on 1-10 July 2020 while the peak of the congress will be marked by a declaration on 15 August 2020.
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Wahyudi revealed that in the early days of the pandemic, the Panggungharjo village administration had promptly set up a task force to control the impact of the spread of Covid-19. The impact anticipated not only involved health but also social and economic aspects.
“Thirteen days after the announcement of first confirmed cases in Indonesia by President Joko Widodo, we formed the task force for Covid-19 control in Panggungharjo. We also made several initiatives to mitigate its health, social and economic impact,” said Wahyudi.
Through the application on the official website of Panggungharjo village, residents are asked to report their health condition and travel history.
One of the initiatives taken by the Panggungharjo village administration was the creation of an online application for reporting residents’ health condition. Through the application on the official website of Panggungharjo village, residents are asked to report their health condition and travel history.
On the other side, the application also makes available forms to Panggungharjo residents wishing to provide support or aid for the control of Covid-19. Aid in the form of basic necessities, face masks and disinfectants is distributed to needy residents as a complement to the aid offered by the village administration.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Panggungharjo village administration has also opened the website pasardesa.id. This site is an online market selling the goods of a number of shops and stalls in Panggungharjo. It is expected to help those sellers in Panggungharjo facing income losses during the pandemic.
Wahyudi indicated that the experience of Panggungharjo and several other villages displayed rural persistence in encountering the Covid-19 pandemic. “Villages have emerged as the last defense trenches of the country in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Even many people say that the Covid-19 crisis is an urban crisis because it is actually experienced by the urban population,” he pointed out.
Locomotive
Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Deputy Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said the impact of Covid-19 on rural areas was relatively less severe than that on urban districts. This is among others noticed in the smaller number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in villages than the total of those living cities.
Budi noted that out of the 56,385 confirmed cases until 29 June 2020, only 909 people lived in rural areas. One of the factors seen as affecting the condition was the ban on home-bound exodus trips, which reduced the mobility of people traveling from cities to villages.
“We should be grateful for the exodus prohibition that was capable of reducing Covid-19 infection in villages,” said Budi when speaking at the webinar of the Village Cultural Congress.
As the impact on rural regions is smaller, Budi maintained that villages could become the locomotive or motor to propel economic awakening in the new normal period.
“The potential of village communities that are relatively less affected by Covid-19 enables villages to act as the motor that pushes economic recovery in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period,” he said.
Nonetheless, to serve as the locomotive of awakening, village communities should make adaptation. Budi reminded village people of the necessity to observe discipline by following health protocols such as maintaining cleanliness, wearing face masks and keeping distance. These protocols also need to be included in village rules and confirmed in village consultations so as to be implemented by all residents.
Besides, the health protocols can also incorporate elements of local wisdom in relevant villages. “Based on the data we have obtained, villages are the areas better prepared to carry out post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery than urban districts,” added Budi.
One of them is the many productive-age village people working in cities or other countries so that villages are often short of productive workforce.
At the same webinar, though, a professor of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Indonesia, Melani Budianta, reminded the meeting that so far villages had also faced a number of problems. One of them is the many productive-age village people working in cities or other countries so that villages are often short of productive workforce.
The other issue is the many productive land areas in villages being converted to meet other needs, such as industries, On the other hand, some villages developing tourist destinations also highly dependent on the presence of urban people. Therefore, in this pandemic period several tourist villages have also been significantly impacted.
Under the various conditions, villages are facing tough enough challenges as they are going to assume the role of an economic awakening locomotive in the new normal era. So, Melani suggested that there should be attempts to promote villages become locations that can enhance the welfare of their people.
“We should turn villages into places that ensure local people’s happiness and wellbeing,” said Melani.
The image of villages as places of abode of aged people should be changed so that they become the comfortable homes and workplaces of youths. Apart from that, village communities should also establish collective organizations like cooperatives or village enterprises for their greater welfare as well as increased bargaining power.