VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Ministry said that the Village Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in 2021 aim to realize villages that are free from poverty and hunger.

"Through these Village SDGs, we hope that the economy will grow evenly, villages will care about health, the environment, education, accommodate women, expand networking, and be culturally resilient," the ministry's Director for Development of Village Facilities and Infrastructures, Nursaidi, stated here on Sunday.

At the national youth conference with the theme "Cultural Collaboration in the Expedition for Villages in Hidden Paradise", Nursaidi said the concepts of Village SDGs can be implemented through programs and activities. For instance, he said, the development of tourism villages, customary villages, inclusive villages, women-friendly and child-caring villages, and so on

In order to realize the village SDGs, the government has transferred the village fund and provided guidelines for the use of the budget.

The village fund is based on Ministerial Regulation No. 8 of 2022 concerning the priorities for using the village fund in 2023.

The regulation stipulates that village fund utilization aims to accelerate the achievement of Village SDGs through national economic recovery programs.

Nursaidi pointed out that the village fund can be used to mitigate and handle natural and non-natural disasters.

He emphasized that village fund utilization must be based on the village's authority.

Furthermore, the village fund can also be used for establishing, developing, and increasing the capacity of village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) and collective BUMDes, as well as tourism villages and productive economic businesses.

Nursaidi said that there are many villages whose budgets are lacking to develop tourism villages.

Therefore, he said, the ministry has facilitated proposals from regions on the development of tourism objects to support the establishment of sustainable tourism villages. (Antaranews)