Preparing Competent Village Apparatus, IPB University Graduated School of Village Government Batch III

Hundreds of village officials who participated in the Village Government School (SPD) program of IPB University followed the Graduation Ceremony of Batch III, on Wednesday (20/12) at Graha Widya Wisuda (GWW), Dramaga Campus. The third batch of SPD participants amounted to 180 people from 60 villages in Bogor Regency. They are village heads and their officials.

Dean of the Faculty of Human Ecology (Fema) IPB University as well as the initiator of SPD, Dr. Sofyan Sjaf expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all parties who have been willing to collaborate so that SPD can continue to run until now.

“Until now, it means that SPD IPB University has reached the third batch and with the collective action of all parties, we are optimistic that SPD will continue,” he said.

Optimism for the sustainability of SPD, he continued, is not without a strong reason. Dr Sofyan traced that the idea of SPD was born from discussion after discussion with village heads.

“The basic idea is from the village. From conversations with village heads who are in contact with our activities in villages in Indonesia. Because the roots are clear (village), we are optimistic that SPD will continue to be sustainable,” he said.

Furthermore, he emphasized that the urgency of SPD is inevitable at the current moment. Village autonomy, he alluded, needs to be accompanied by the ability of qualified village human resources (HR), more specifically village officials who are directly related to village governance.

“The presence of SPD is intended to respond to this problem. SPD learning is directed at producing village officials who are adequate to participate in village management. Including, understanding the construction of precision village data as the basis for village development planning,” he said.

In the same place, Murtono, SSTP, MSi, Director of Village Apparatus Capacity Development Facilitation, Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) RI appreciated the innovation of SPD IPB University. He said SPD is the only educational program in Indonesia that is fully concentrated on increasing the capacity of village officials.

“This innovation needs to be appreciated because it is true that the urgency of increasing the capacity of village human resources, more specifically village officials, cannot be ignored anymore,” he said.

He said, “So many government programs enter the village. If they are not matched or supported by the capacity of qualified village human resources, there is a big risk that these programs will be less than optimal or fail altogether.”

He hopes that the cooperation between village governments, district governments, and universities can expand to many regions in Indonesia. “Hopefully in the future, the SPD program can touch more villages in Indonesia,” he said.

Meanwhile, in his speech, the Rector of IPB University, Prof Arif Satria said villages in principle are strengths. The majority of Indonesian people live in rural areas, so whether or not the village also determines Indonesia’s advances.

“If the village grows forward, it means that the transformation will also be at a higher level, namely the sub-district, district, and so on up to the national level,” he said.

Prof Arif continued, that to lead the village to progress, there are at least two factors that determine, namely superior village human resources and innovation from the village. The SPD and Precision Village Data (DDP) program, he continued, is a form of IPB University’s commitment to the progress of villages in Indonesia.

“SPD is aimed at producing reliable village officials in the implementation of good village governance, while Precision Village Data is intended to fix Indonesian data that needs to start from the village,” he said. (Wid/Rz) (IAAS/SHY)