"I would like to push for strengthened solidity among village assistants. It should be noted that villages do and will always need professional assistants," the minister noted in a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday.
During a professional assistants' capacity-building activity on Tuesday (August 1) evening, Minister Iskandar noted that village assistants have made significant contributions to the country by providing intensive assistance to rural governments and communities.
Iskandar believes that such an assistance had helped villages improve their capability of formulating, executing, and monitoring development plans in an integrated and comprehensive manner.
Hence, to this end, the minister has motivated village assistants to continue to facilitate rural governments in the process of arrangement and stipulation of the 2024 village budget (APBDes) in the hopes of creating a superior economic climate and human resources in villages.
"Village assistants should invest all-out efforts to help villages manage the 2024 APBDes, so they can use it for implementing programs that can stimulate economic growth and boost the quality of human resources in villages," he pointed out.
Minister Iskandar further noted that the success of the assistance in village development will serve as an indicator and data that will later be outlined to President Joko Widodo during a ministerial cabinet meeting.
"I will later report about the national condition of APBDes to the president. We can show him that we have made significant progress. However, such progress would not be achieved without the help of professional assistants," he affirmed.
On the occasion, he also lauded the significant efforts exerted by village assistants to help village-owned enterprises improve the quality of their public services and optimize village assets.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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