Minister to Upgrade Jaga Desa App to Maximise Village Potential

The Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions, Yandri Susanto, has announced that the Jaga Desa programme will be upgraded. The programme is a collaborative initiative between the ministry and the Attorney General’s Office for monitoring village funds, and the update aims to advance villages according to their economic potential. “Moreover, the Ministry of Villages has 12 village development actions, including export villages and tourism villages. Perhaps this digital system can also assist with marketing and financial reporting for Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes). I think that would be excellent,” said Minister Yandri Susanto in an interview in Jakarta on Thursday. He explained that the Jaga Desa programme was created as a collaborative effort to oversee approximately 75,000 villages. Yandri stated that the programme prioritises assistance from prosecutors rather than prosecution, so that village funds can be managed more effectively. “A person’s prominence is not necessarily matched by their administrative skills, including financial management,” he said. Jaga Desa was established to address this limitation and ensure that village leaders can manage finances in accordance with state financial standards. Furthermore, the initiative aims to prevent the misuse of village funds. He noted that some individuals have used the money for gambling, polygamous marriages, or other personal needs. He also mentioned the extortion of village funds by certain unscrupulous law enforcement officers. “Through digitalisation, I believe we have an effective tool for village heads and law enforcement officers to complement each other and ensure that village funds are accounted for,” he said. He therefore urged village heads to maximise the use of the application so that their work in running village-level governance becomes more seamless. On that occasion, he also mentioned that the ministry is open to suggestions and input from village heads as users of the application.