VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Most village governments have strived this year to achieve the first village sustainable development goal (SDG) of making villages poverty-free, Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (PDTT) Minister Abdul Halim Iskandar has said.

"In the implementation of the Village SDGs in 2022, we saw that the villages’ main priority referred to the first target of Village SDGs -- almost all of them strived to become poverty-free villages," he noted at the “2022 Kaleidoscope on Village and PDTT” event here on Thursday.

He said that the majority of the villages made the first Village SDG their priority, based on the consideration of each village administrator.

Furthermore, the second priority of the village administrators in 2022 was realizing villages with zero hunger -- which is also the second Village SDG, he added.

"The second Village SDG is related to the handling of stunting," he pointed out.

The minister said that the third priority of the village administrators was creating healthy and prosperous villages — which is also the third objective of the SDGs.

Meanwhile, the fourth priority that the administrators pursued was the ninth objective of the Village SDGs, namely developing village infrastructure and innovation according to the community’s demands.

"We have applied a problem-based concept and understanding. Thus, the development of the village infrastructure and innovation has not been without consideration, but according to the needs of the villagers," Iskandar added.

He said he expects the implementation of the Village SDGs to help realize the concept of “Think Globally, Act Locally.”

"Thus, the way of thinking is on a large scale, but the implementation is on a micro-scale, which is at the village level," he explained.

The minister said that the implementation of the Village SDGs will be successful if it is carried out with focus and detail, in line with the directives of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

If it is not conducted comprehensively, the SDG implementation will not meet the expected results, Iskandar added.

"Thank God, currently, the microdata on village (development) is quite complete," he added.  (Antaranews)