Mendes PDTT: Village Development Must Be Based On Data And Needs

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar/PHOTO VIA ANTARA

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar conveyed that development in villages must be based on data and needs.

"Development policies in villages must be based on data, not wishes," he said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Thursday, November 18.

Halim said that President Joko Widodo gave two things. First, the Village Fund must be felt by all villagers. Second, the Village Fund must be used for economic empowerment and the development of Human Resources (HR).

To realize this mandate, Mendes PDTT formulates policies so that the direction of village development policies is in accordance with the needs and cultural roots.

He stressed that there should no longer be village development that was haphazard and only based on the wishes of the elite in the village without studies and needs.

"In the past, the use of the Village Fund was based on the wishes of the elite and certain circles, not based on the needs of the village so it was not well targeted," said Gus Halim, as he is usually called.

According to him, if community needs and cultural roots become the spirit of village development, and are supported by a strong database, then the benefits can really be felt by the community.

"I believe that development based on cultural roots is stronger and more resistant to external cultural currents," said Mendes.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Jembrana Nengah Tamba introduced his new program in collaboration with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), namely Desa Bagus which is an acronym for Village Development with Statistics.

Tamba explained that the Desa Bagus program would later become a Big Data about villages in Jembrana Regency which contained information about villages.

With this kind of management, development will be carried out based on studies and scientific data.

"Jembrana Regency wants something like a War Room or data center at the village office," said Nengah Tamba.

Tamba hopes that the Kemendes PDTT will support the data integration process. If possible, the Village Fund can be allocated to finance the IT team in each village office or War Room so that the process of integrating and updating village data continues.

Regarding the use of the Village Fund, Gus Halim said, further studies still need to be carried out, mainly related to the legal umbrella.

He said that the Village Fund was sourced from the APBN so that the process of using it must refer to the 2020-2024 RPJMN. The Village Fund according to the RPJMN is used for National Economic Recovery and Human Resource Development (HR).