"Village SDGs had become the direction for village development that is easy to understand by the people," the minister noted through a written statement on Monday.
According to Iskandar, development based on Village SDGs will continue to be sustainable and will be based on the village cultural roots.
"Village development has to be based on the village's cultural roots," he remarked while meeting with the village chief representatives in Bogor District on Sunday.
"This aligns with Village SDGs No. 18, specifically Dynamic Village Institution and Adaptive Village Culture, meaning that while the village institution develops fast, it should still stay true to the existing cultural roots," he remarked.
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Village SDGs-based development changes the perspective of development that is decided in a top-down manner into a bottom up inter-village cooperation.
During the meeting, he motivated the village chiefs to always believe in the capability and potential that villages have.
To this end, for the last year, the ministry, along with the minister, upheld the slogan "Believe in Village, Village Can".
Iskandar also noted that village deliberation became the highest forum at the level of villages, thereby translating to the fact that the decision produced within the forum has the highest legality.
"The deliberation was created to be open for the public, so that other villagers can attend as participants to directly monitor the deliberation process," he explained.
"This is what we strive to bolster, so that the deliberation can have a strong legitimacy," he affirmed.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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