The Directorate of Community Service (DPkM) UGM held a Partnership Program Synergy Workshop in Community Service Activities in 2020 on Tuesday (1/9). This activity was held online through the Zoom platform. It was attended by the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) representatives from five cities/regencies under the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province.
They were Agus Tri Haryono, S.T., M.T. (Head of Bappeda City of Yogyakarta), Drs. Kunto Riyadi, MPPM. (Head of Bappeda Sleman Regency), Triyono, S.IP., M.Sc. (Head of Bappeda Kulonprogo Regency), Sri Suhartanta, S.IP., M.Sc. (Head of Bappeda Kab. Gunungkidul), and Ir. Isa Budi Hartomo, MT. (Head of Bappeda Bantul Regency).
DPkM UGM organized this workshop as an effort to strengthen partnerships with the city/district government earlier. It aimed to support the development of the UGM Student Community Service-Community Empowerment Learning (SCS-CEL) theme and location. In addition, this workshop also aimed to evaluate the SCS programs that have been carried out so far in the regions, especially the SCS Period 2, which had just ended.
This event was the first time. This series focused on areas within the scope of DIY only. The workshop was planned to last for three days and involve around 800 participants.
The five representatives welcomed the invitation from UGM. They then explained the problems, strategies, and development targets of each city/district one by one. On average, in the presentation, the five regions underwent changes and readjustments to their development strategies or plans. It is due to the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
It was as conveyed by Agus. He said that the Regional Government Work Plan of Yogyakarta City for 2021 is now accelerating socio-economic recovery for the community’s welfare. The same thing was conveyed by Kunto, that Sleman Regency also made some adjustments due to this pandemic. So did the other three districts.
Nevertheless, they admit that they are still optimistic that they can revive with priority programs. They also welcomed the presence of SCS from UGM because UGM SCS students could apply to these priority programs. Not only SCS, they are also open if UGM wants to send internships or other service activities.
Therefore, they hope that communication with DPkM UGM can be made more accessible and more sustainable in the future. They advised the Field Supervisors that they would accept if they wanted to propose an idea or theme for SCS as long as it followed the goals and problems in each region.
Meanwhile, drg. Ika Dewi Ana, M.Kes., Ph.D., UGM Vice-Rector for Research and Community Service, expressed her gratitude to all parties. She said they had worked well together in solving community problems, both from upstream to downstream and from mentoring to evaluation activities.
“The existence of this pandemic encourages us to make innovations to help and improve the progress of the community so that they can live their lives back to normal. Please let us know if there are criticisms or suggestions and ask for your help to assist our students in implementing the Community Service Program,” she concluded.
