Belmawa Director: Student Community Service Projects Succeed When They Benefit Communities

Makassar (ANTARA) – Beny Bandanadjaja, director of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa) at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, stressed that community service programmes (PKM) succeed when they deliver a sustainable impact.

“ A programme is successful when communities become increasingly capable of managing local potential and continuing initiatives developed together,” Beny said at the opening of the Student Organisation Community Service Awards (Abdidaya Ormawa) at the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) sports hall in Makassar on Thursday.

“That is the meaning of impact we need to safeguard: benefits that continue to grow after our activities have ended,” he added.

He said community service was an experiential learning process. Students bring knowledge and ideas, while communities contribute experience, knowledge and local wisdom that determine whether proposed solutions are appropriate.

“Develop ideas together with the community so that the results meet its needs and can be managed by its members,” he said in front of representatives from 60 public and private universities across Indonesia.

He further explained that the Student Organisation Capacity-Building Programme (PPK Ormawa) provides students with a learning space to develop leadership and social responsibility through community empowerment.

The Abdidaya programme, he said, recognises these efforts while also offering an opportunity to share experiences and good practices. Ideas that have worked in one area can be studied, adapted to local needs and developed elsewhere.

“That is why communities need to be involved from the stage of identifying problems and planning activities through to assessing the results,” he said.