East Java Governor Khofifah: Innovation And Creativity Of Village Heads Are The Keys For Regional Advancement

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa/DOK VIA INSTAGRAM private

MADIUN - The East Java Provincial Government (Pemprov) encourages village heads in the region to continue to innovate and be creative in order to advance the region, the goal of which is to improve the welfare of the residents.

"Innovation and creativity are keywords for village heads, especially in advancing their respective regions. The spirit of village heads in continuing to work, innovate, and creatively advance village communities can improve welfare so that it has an impact on reducing poverty. This February please accelerate the realization village fund program," said East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa during a working visit in Madiun, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, February 15.

When opening the Human Resources Capacity Building (HR) Education and Training for the Village Heads of the East Java Provincial Government in 2022 Batch I and II at the Aston Madiun Hotel Ballroom, Governor Khofifah said, village heads have an extraordinary role to mobilize all existing resources.

"Therefore, be happy and proud to be a village head, to be the initiator of the entire strengthening process in this country. So it is hoped that village heads will continue to have enthusiasm in advancing their villages and improving the welfare of their people," he said.

Khofifah explained that innovation and creativity can encourage village heads to be able to identify, map, and maximize the potentials that exist in their villages whose goal is to improve the welfare of the community.

The first female governor in East Java said that there were many efforts that village heads could make to create an advanced, independent, and prosperous village for its people. Among them are through several schemes, namely Tourism Villages, Foreign Exchange Villages, MSME Villages, Digital Villages, and Creative Economy Villages.

In order to encourage village heads to make this happen, the East Java Provincial Government held several trainings to improve and strengthen village head human resources. Namely, through Independent Village Potential Development Training, Village Apparatus Training, Digital Village Education and Training, Tourism Village Education and Training, Village Government Schools, and "One Village One CEO".

The Governor of East Java said that several villages had been recorded as being developed, independent, and successfully prospering their communities which had an impact on reducing poverty rates in their regions due to the role of their village heads. For example, the Tourism Village in Pujon Kidul Village, Pujon District, Malang Regency and Wedani Village, Cerme District, Gresik Regency as a Foreign Exchange Village.

The development of the village is in line with the ideals of the founding fathers of the nation, including the current President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, who said that village development throughout the country is the basic foundation for the progress of the Indonesian nation.

"The founders of this nation had great and strong hopes for village growth and development. Even though the process later experienced many disruptions, I think we can continue to maximize the adaptation process through ways such as training and discussions, sharing experiences, meeting the minds of all village heads, " he explained.

In addition, Governor Khofifah expressed his appreciation to village heads in East Java because thanks to their hard work and synergy, East Java has succeeded in achieving national level achievements. Among others, it has 7,724 independent villages, the highest in Indonesia, East Java is free from underdeveloped villages, and East Java is the largest rice producer in Indonesia.

This shows that the role of the village head is really extraordinary for the progress of Indonesia.

"I send my greetings to the farmers and Gapoktan who have done extraordinary work and strive to make East Java a national food barn, because our farmers have made extraordinary contributions," he said.

Khofifah advised that the achievements that have been achieved so far were asked to be maintained. One of them is by building egalitarianism among leaders at the village level. He invites to involve Babinsa, Babinkamtibmas, village midwives, as well as other village assistants in jointly building the village.