Mendes PDTT Encourages Culture To Become A Village Development Base

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar assessed that culture is the main basis in village development.

"What is certain is that the main basis for handling villages is in culture. There are many things that need assistance to explore positive cultures for development as well as canalization and revitalization of cultural values so that they are in accordance with development needs," said the Mendes PDTT in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Therefore, Mendes said, his ministry positively welcomed the invitation from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) to implement the Village Culture Advancement program.

In implementing the program, he emphasized that there must be a clear pattern that adapts to problems, potential, and village needs that tend to be different between regions.

"It must be ensured how the pattern is. But it must still be measured and what is clear must be sustainable and sustainable," said Mendes PDTT when receiving an audience from the Director General of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture Hilmar Farid in his office.

He said that the Village Culture Aduction is a priority program of the Ministry of Education and Culture which has been initiated since 2021. The goal is to support the process and realize cultural promotion initiatives through empowering the village community.

This is in line with the idea of Mendes PDTT in the 18th Village SDGs point, namely the Dynamic Village Institution and Adaptive Village Culture to develop villages without leaving their cultural roots.

According to Mendes PDTT, culture should not be eroded by the progress of the times, but instead becomes the basis for efforts to create independent villages.

"We always build thoughts or concepts that build villages so that they do not rely on cultural roots or other languages, whatever the development process, we must refer to objective things that can be maintained," said Gus Halim, as he is usually called.

Director General of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Culture, Hilmar Farid, explained that the Village Empowerment Progress program will focus on 235 villages. The village will be given assistance to advance its area with a cultural approach.

"The point is that we collect data, cultural potential is not only art but also technology knowledge including language. We want to overcome village problems such as stunting and others, but we are more focused on the cultural approach," he said.