Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) in Brubuh Village in Ngawi Regency, as one of the locations for the UGM SCS CEL implementation in the June-August 2020 Period, has successfully won the ITS 2020 BUMDes Award from the Ngawi Regional Government. They triumphantly gained the first winner in the Good Corporate Governance category.
In this village, the UGM SCS-CEL Team has taken a stand in enhancing the tourism sector through several online programs, starting from English language training to promoting tourism village profiles.
"The village of Wisara Brubuh was officially established in mid-2019. When we arrived in 2020, we started to make changes, one of which was training English-speaking tour guides because foreign tourists had started to come," said Atus Syahbudin S.Hut., M.Agr., Ph.D. as the Field Supervisor.
Atus also explained, in Brubuh Village, some local actors encourage the development of tourism villages, one of which is the Secretary of Brubuh Village, who is also an alumnus of the UGM Biology Masters Study Program, Shinta Candra Dewi.
He mentioned that this local actor's existence is one of the important factors that generate the Brubuh Tourism Village to develop in a relatively short time.
He also added that UGM SCS-CEL activities implementation in this village proposes to complement the efforts that have been made by residents with some further developments.
Students conducted several programs such as updating village pages, training for page administrators, compiling village profile books in Indonesian and English, promoting tourism potential, and distributing tour guide books.
"We encourage them in the tourism sector. We believe that what we provide online is quite beneficial for the community, especially in terms of good corporate governance in terms of tourism and other document readiness," Atus explained.
Atus leads the UGM SCS-CEL unit to conduct community service activities in two villages, namely Brubuh Village and Jaten Village, Jogorogo District, Ngawi Regency. Jogorogo sub-district is part of the Kenebejo region on the northern slopes of Mount Lawu, which includes four sub-districts, namely Kendal, Sine, Ngrambe, and Jogorogo.
Besides being Ngawi's strength tourist destination, Kenebejo serves as a protection and preservation area for biodiversity and springs.
"I informed the community that this Community Service Program aims to preserve the mountain forests' flora and fauna utilizing making the community prosperous. Hence, the community does not need to invade the forest, and the forest can be developed naturally," he explained.
The UGM SCS CEL activity in Brubuh Village is also projected to be continued next year. There would be some additional programs, especially those related to tourism promotion activities.
Atus added that the development of tourism in Brubuh Village could also be done by exploring the potential of agro-tourism and enriching local plant products such as herbal medicines.
"Since this village can manage its finance, we will focus on assisting its promotion. We will also add the professional village tourism training, one of which can be by observing the experiences of several successful tourist villages in Yogyakarta," he concluded.
Author: Gloria
Translator: Natasa A