The Sweet Result of Citizen Voices and Actions for Village-Owned Enterprise

Kombapari is one of 15 villages that received assistance from Envision (Enabling Civil Society for Inclusive Village Economic Development) project of Wahana Visi Indonesia in East Nusa Tenggara which was funded by the European Union. Through this assistance, this village has carried out socialization and recruitment of prospective village facilitators and is committed to making improvements to Village-Owned Enterprises.

The training for capacity building for village facilitators is delivered through an advocacy method using the Citizen Voice and Action approach combined with Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI). The village facilitators received various information related to Village-Owned Enterprise Policies, Village-Owned Enterprise Service Standards, Citizens' Rights and Obligations, Village Development Planning Deliberation Processes, and an introduction to gender.

Merkurius Djawaray was one of the 71 participants who were trained. He admitted that at first, he did not understand Village-Owned Enterprise both from the process of formation, objectives and benefits, type of business, and management.

“Indeed, I know that there is a Village-Owned Enterprise in my village. However, I don't understand what it is and how it is because it's not active," said Merkurius.

After going through a four-day training process, the village facilitators, including Merkurius, became aware of and were even able to facilitate the education process for residents regarding Village-Owned Enterprise Service Standards, accompanying the standard monitoring and performance appraisal process, as well as presenting the results to the government at the district level to agree on an Action Plan for Village-Owned Enterprise improvement.

“Initially I didn't know about policies, BUMDES standards, the importance of involving women in development and sharing roles in the household as well as the importance of speaking out and taking action by citizens, but through this training, I came to know about Village-Owned Enterprise Standards and share roles in the household as well in the village," he explained.

After receiving the training, Merkurius then met with the village head and asked him to revise the management of Village-Owned Enterprise. According to him, the village head accepted the proposal and immediately held a village meeting.

As a result, Merkurius is now entrusted with being the Secretary of Village-Owned Enterprise, while the chairman and treasurer are from the village women's group.

"This is one of the sweet fruits of our voices for the village facilitators," he concluded.

Written by: Otniel Rissy, Envision Wahana Visi Indonesia Project Staff

Translated by: Aqueta Alexandra Kroons, Intern Wahana Visi Indonesia
 

*This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Wahana Visi Indonesia and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.