Great Potential of Local Youth
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Accelerated development targeting all villages in the country has been allocated Rp 400 trillion in village funds for 74,957 villages over the next five years. Local youth should also be involved to expedite the development.
A Kompas field survey of remote villages, conducted in cooperation with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and involving 5,372 UGM students, shows that local youth are participating, offering solutions and playing a major role with the assistance of rural administrations and communities.
In Gunung Kidul regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, young people are promoting tourist villages. In Bintuni, West Papua, they are initiating horticulture communities, while in the Banggai Islands, Central Sulawesi, they are mapping and identifying marine tourism potential. In Jayapura and Sidoarjo regency, youths are active in child literacy.
“People think youths have abandoned villages. No. They are absolutely capable of ensuring the advancement of their villages,” said UGM Community Service director Irfan D. Prijambada.
This year, 5,372 UGM students are involved in village empowerment community service programs (KKN) in 186 locations across 107 regencies/cities in 32 provinces.
Data from the Kompas-UGM KKN field study in July-August 2019 shows a variety of regional potential, ranging from local initiatives to local products, synergy and social assets. The findings analyzed the results from 159 KKN locations through Quality Scorecard Deployment (QSD).
The data shows the organizational capacity of residents groups (for mutual assistance) to effect change in villages as the most prominent rural characteristic. Changes occur even faster when entrepreneurs establish productive and labor-intensive businesses that specialize in local products.
Another finding is that physical infrastructure is not a priority need for all villages to effect change, while access to information technology has a vital role in stimulating rural change.
Digital technology reduces distance and disparities. Experts can be consulted without physical meetings. Products can be marketed through online applications or social media.
Technology also promises reform, including smart farming, which has been applied in Situbondo and Batu in East Java and Sukabumi in West Java.
“All agricultural information like fertilization, irrigation, weather and other analyses are transmitted through Android cell phones,” said UGM lecturer Bayu Dwi Apri Nugroho, who is developing smart farming technology.
Dialogue for change
At KKN destinations, UGM students and village youths of different backgrounds engage in dialogue. In Gunung Kidul, such dialogues maximize the potential of tourist attractions such as Pindul Cave and the Purba Nglanggeran Volcano.
“As a result of discussions, local youths are eager to develop their areas. Tourism development is designed as a community-based undertaking. All are the practical initiatives of youths,” said Gunung Kidul Development Planning Agency head Sri Suhartanta.
Nature tourism has been thriving in Gunung Kidul over the last few years, and new, locally managed beaches have emerged.
In addition, youth movements are encouraging transparent government in places like Tanjung Harap village of Serba Jadi district in Serdang Bedagai regency, North Sumatra, which used to reject a proposal to procure the village information system (SID).
“We explained to the village head that the residents’ confidence and participation would increase with transparent information,” said Taufik Syah Nasution, 32, who is urging rural transformation.
Now village secretary, Taufik continues to develop the SID, which has enabled village administration staff to work anywhere, including drafting 36 letters through an automatic archiving system.
The SID has also helped increase orders for cottage industry products like banana chips, with orders soaring to a weekly turnover of Rp 1.8 million through the village website.
Retail contracts with minimarkets have had to be declined. “We can’t accept the offers,” said Hujenah, 48, a member of the local banana chips group.
Big assets
The QSD analysis shows that local youths are a major asset. However, their role in villages cannot be optimized without a unified effort towards gotong royong (mutual assistance).
“As assets with inherent strength, youth initiatives should be optimized,” said Rika Fatimah, who created the UGM Community Service concept and currently chairs its research team. Rika has also developed the Yogyakarta Global Gotong Royong (G2R) Tetrapreneur concept.
Coupled with public awareness that supports the products of local villagers, it is expected that consistent quality will not be affected by limited funding. Rural change can be implemented sustainably, as has been designed in five villages across Bantul, Gunung Kidul, Sleman and Kulon Progo.
Along with the growing awareness of village development among regional administrations, demand to be designated UGM-KKN sites has increased from 350 previously to 600 this year.
(NCA/DIA/NSA/HRS/FRN/FLO/BRO/GSA)