Village Ministry launches Gen Z Ambassadors to drive development of 75,000 villages

The Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (Kemendes PDT) has launched the Village Generation Z (Gen Z) Ambassador Festival in Serang Regency, Banten, to encourage active youth involvement in advancing 75,266 villages across Indonesia.

Village Minister Yandri Susanto said in Serang on Saturday that the formation of Gen Z Ambassadors is a collaborative step towards realising President Prabowo Subianto’s sixth Astacita goal, namely building from villages to achieve economic equality and poverty alleviation.

“Today we invite all Gen Z in Indonesia to get involved in building villages. We want to spur them to be creative, whether through tourism villages, export villages, thematic villages, cultural villages, or other creations,” he said.

At the launch, Yandri promoted the slogan “Gen Z tajir melintir dari desa” (Gen Z wealthy from the village) as a strategic effort to motivate young people to be proud of and willing to explore the potential of rural areas.

“I hope Gen Z does not need to feel inferior living in a village. There is no need to be ashamed to admit being a villager. Villagers can now live in the village but earn more than city people,” he said.

In implementation, the Gen Z Ambassadors are expected to carry out three main roles: creators of economic innovation, including exploring local potential through the establishment of tourism villages, direct export villages and thematic villages.

They are also expected to serve as digital driving forces by using social media to promote village development progress, and as inspirators of self-reliance, proving that village youth can earn high incomes through managing village potential and village-owned enterprises (BUMDes).

Meanwhile, Serang Regent Ratu Rachmatuzakiyah welcomed the designation of her region as host of the national programme launch and urged young people to seize this golden opportunity to the fullest.

“Be Gen Z who are inspirators and driving forces. Especially in how we make digital platforms a medium to convey positive things about village development,” she said.

She stressed that Gen Z Ambassadors must take a leading role as drivers of economic innovation without easily giving up amid the various challenges of rural development.

“Do not be discouraged, Gen Z, wherever you are, especially those in villages. I am confident we can build our respective villages, particularly in building Indonesia,” she asserted.