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Villages lack expertise to manage funds for rural development
Villages across the archipelago receive between Rp 800 million (US$56,200) and Rp 1 billion per year from the government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s village development program.
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Farmers harvest rice using a modern rice cutting machine in the area of the village of East Biara Village, Tanah Jambo Aye District, North Aceh, Aceh, Monday (9/3/2020). (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas)
South Sumatra's Serjiabo village head Heriyan has a lot on his plate when it comes to managing village funds.
He said village heads lacked understanding of financial administration and management, slowing down overall budget absorption. They also worry about punishments stipulated in the current provision if they fail to manage the money well despite their lack of expertise on the matter.
"Technical problems have delayed the disbursement of village funds. There are regulations on developing a village, yet villages lack technical experts and advisors," he said during a meeting in Palembang, South Sumatra on Feb. 28.
Heriyan was just one among thousands of village heads who attended a meeting alongside several ministers to deliberate village funds, which have helped infrastructure projects get off the ground in rural areas.
The village fund program has become a flagship policy of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, under which his administration provides between Rp 800 million (US$56,200) and Rp 1 billion per year to each of the 73,670 villages across the archipelago.
But there have been reports of misallocation of funds and corruption because of the poor quality of accountability mechanisms put in place by the government.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) reported that from the start of the program in 2015 until January last year, it had recorded 181 corruption cases in villages across the country, with around 30 percent of the cases related to village funds. A study by the Australian-Indonesian Government Partnership revealed in 2017 that there were imbalances in the distribution of funds because of flaws in how the funds were calculated.
