NORTH SUMATERA – A total of 1,437 villages in North Sumatra participated in the training of the 2023 Village Governance and Development Strengthening Programme (P3PD).
From data compiled by The Editor‘s editorial team, it is known that only 1,480 villages in North Sumatra are registered for this year’s training.
The number is much less than approximately 33,458 villages in the province that should be included in the P3PD training.
Despite this, North Sumatra still managed to complete P3PD training for 1,437 villages out of a total target of 1,480 registered villages.
“If we look at this number, it can be said (completed) 97 percent. This is above the national average target,” said Danli Pasko Timisela, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist from P3PD’s Regional Management Consultant (RMC).
Danli said, from the number of villages, the North Sumatra P3PD RMC team targets 5,920 participants to be trained.
By the end of the training in November, a total of 5,542 participants had attended the training.
The participants consisted of village government officials and village institution administrators.
To achieve good results, Danli measured the participants’ level of understanding before and after the training.
“The results were quite encouraging. 79 percent of participants’ understanding has increased,” he said.
One to note, P3PD training is carried out to encourage quality village spending. And to achieve this target, Danli recognised that it was not easy.
Thus, the short-term target given by Danli to the participants was an understanding of village expenditure.
“The assumption is that the apparatus understands first. Next comes determination (desire) that is creative, innovative, and courageous,” said Danli.
Danli assessed that the problem that often arises in the field is the level of understanding of the participants, which is linear with their respective educational backgrounds.
The thing is, 68 percent of village officials are only elementary and secondary school graduates. Only 10 percent of the total are university graduates.
“In North Sumatra, the number (of village officials with primary and secondary school graduates) is much higher, around 74 percent,” he said.
According to him, so far, the obstacle that has arisen in the field is the lack of publication about the P3PD programme.
If this programme receives a lot of publicity, it will also be easier for participants to understand the programme’s objectives.
Publicity will also encourage more participants to enroll in P3PD training and create creative work programmes.
