YOGYAKARTA — Dompet Dhuafa in collaboration with Trubus Bina Swadaya again organized a series of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on Culture and Empowerment at Grand Hotel Yogyakarta on Wednesday (7/24/2024). The FGD this time carried the theme “Local Self-Help and Entrepreneurial Ethos” which was attended by GKR Mangkubumi as the Keeper of the Cultural Core of the Yogyakarta Palace, Parni Hadi as the Initiator of the Cultural Movement as well as the Initiator and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dompet Dhuafa Republika Foundation, Ahmad Juwaini as Chairman of the Dompet Dhuafa Management, Otok S. Pamudji of Bina Swadaya, Hasto Wardoyo of BKKBN, Muhammad Jazir of Jogokariyan Syuro Council, Mursida Rambe of BMT Beringharjo, and other leaders.
“Today, you are all gathered in the City of Culture, in the Culture Hub of Indonesia, the Cultural Center of Indonesia, especially Java, to discuss how to empower communities based on local cultural cerlang (brilliance). And Yogya is where the wangsit, the idea, the intuitive mindset for the establishment of Dompet Dhuafa came from. I am sure that today’s discussion will produce something useful to empower the community, empower the poor, to build a just and prosperous Indonesia,” said Parni Hadi in his speech, Wednesday (24/7/2024).
GKR Mangkubumi, who represented Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X from the Yogyakarta Palace, explained that the entrepreneurial sector is one of the pillars of the national economy. The strength and resilience of local entrepreneurs is undeniable. In the midst of a crisis such as the Pandemic, local MSMEs and entrepreneurs have proven to be able to act as a way out. However, despite its strategic role, the entrepreneurship sector is still haunted by both internal and external obstacles.
“Internally, the challenges faced include limited human resource capabilities, limited marketing that focuses more on the production function but forgets about the marketing function, and limited capital. While externally, it is related to the elements of entrepreneurship guidance and development that sometimes still stutter in interpreting and implementing programs and policies,” he said.
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Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi, Director of Bulog and Chairman of the Board of Bina Trubus Swadaya, as the next keynote speaker stated that many studies show that we must pay attention to local culture, community habits, recognized values, and social constructions in the community for empowerment programs to be effective.
“I would like to make a special note for today. There are allegations, threats to empowerment, and several phenomena. For example (1) power relations, this is getting more and more tedious, our society increasingly considers that all success is related to power, (2) instant culture, everything must be done immediately, and (3) the phenomenon of post truth,” said Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Juwaini as the keynote speaker stated that Dompet Dhuafa built the Cultural Movement initiative. It aims to revitalize Indonesian culture and ensure its resilience to global influences by supporting ethical, communal, and sustainable living practices. He emphasized that Dompet Dhuafa already has programs that encourage local self-reliance and entrepreneurial ethos. For example, the DD Farm livestock center program in Pundong-Bantul, Batik in Imogiri, and Aloe Vera in Gunung Kidul.
In addition, Ahmad Juwaini also conveyed several points of joint action plans, including (1) writing down concepts and good practices in order to capture the many local initiatives that ultimately make social change, (2) conducting empowerment programs by identifying and strengthening local cultural values and ethics that increase local self-reliance and entrepreneurial ethos, (3) these empowerment programs should be driven by young people who understand the cultural values of their communities and have the knowledge of community-based empowerment, youth organizations, religious institutions, and other civil society groups with the help of the business world, and (4) bring together various stakeholders in the fields of culture and economic empowerment.
In the first session, Dr. Hasto Wardoyo, Head of BKKBN who has served twice as Regent of Kulonprogo, also stated that the demographic bonus should be balanced with strengthening local self-reliance and entrepreneurship to reduce dependency rates. In some regions, the dependency rate has exceeded 50 percent. This means that more than half of the population is economically dependent on people around them, such as family members, friends and communities. This was agreed by the second speaker, Komara Djaja, Ph.D. He considered that entrepreneurship is a lesson that is not found in schools, but needs to go directly to the field to do it or learning by doing.
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In the second session, Muhammadi Jazir from Jogokariyan Mosque said that in 1963 President Soekarno launched Trisakti: Political Sovereignty, Economic Sovereignty and Cultural Sovereignty. Where cultural sovereignty is a locomotive that will pull the carriages of economic and political sovereignty. Therefore, Jazir encourages local economic self-reliance and entrepreneurship starting from the mosque in his neighborhood.
Various entrepreneurial initiatives are carried out with the ultimate goal of using the surplus profits to help the mosque congregation. The second interviewee, Mursida Rambe from KSPPS BMT Beringharjo, attempted to free traditional market traders from loan sharks. According to her, the ethical and communal Javanese culture helps her BMT to build local self-help and economic empowerment.
The FGD was also responded by a number of parties from various elements of entrepreneurship and culture, such as Sugeng Handoko (Ngelanggeran Tourism Village Activist), Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi (Head of Panggungharjo Village), Santi Zaidan (Radio Broadcaster and Entrepreneur), Romo Dr. Kusmaryanto (UGM and Sanata Dharma), Andhika Mahardika (Entrepreneur/Founder of Agradaya), Raho Mahardika (Village Masterplan), and Mahditia Paramita (Village Masterplan). Kusmaryanto (UGM and Sanata Dharma), Mahditia Paramita (Village Masterplan), Bambang Purwanto (UGM Historian), Andhika Mahardika (Entrepreneur/Founder of Agradaya), Rahmawati Husein (Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center), and other stakeholders.
It is hoped that this FGD can summarize good practices of local self-help as a model. Then formulated and applied in various places in Indonesia so as to create improvements in people’s lives. (Dompet Dhuafa/Bina Trubus Swadaya)
Text and photo: IMZ, Ayu Nadia
Editor: IMZ, Dhika