Postgraduate Students Study Banyuwangi's Public Service Innovation

BANYUWANGI, E Java, January 24 (Antara) - Students of Malang's Brawijaya University post-graduate program learned a number of public service innovations, including the "Smart Kampung" or Smart Village program from Government of Banyuwangi Regency, East Java. Dozens of graduate students of economics, who had received scholarships from the National Development Planning Agency, conducted a study on a number of innovations in the sub-district of Banyuwangi, including e-planning and e-budgeting, the Smart Village program, down to the development of the tourism sector. Chairman of Brawijaya University Graduate School of Economics and Business Studies Devanto Shasta Pratomo said that the students' were keen to see the real program that had became the chain of preparation and supervision system of the budget, starting from the village level. "All along, these systems had only been theories that we learned on campus, through our visit to Banyuwangi, we can practice and apply our theory so the students can link and match the science with the strategy of the Banyuwangi government," he said. Moreover, he said, the graduate students of the National Development Planning Agency scholarship are alsp civil state apparatuses from various regions in Indonesia and they surely would want to learn more about these innovations to later be applied in their own areas. "Aside from added knowledge as a part of their education, the innovation in Banyuwangi can be adopted for the development in their respective regions when they have finished their Masters degree," he said. Meanwhile, Head of Banyuwangi Sub-District Data Development and Control Division Amir Hidayat said that the E-village budgeting program is an innovation that integrated planning, governance, reporting and evaluation by utilizing widely accessible information technology. This system, he continued, combined finance and development at the village level with the district, in order to create harmony and prevent program intervention in the middle of the process. "Through this system, the control over the utilization of village funds can be done at any time without having to come to every village. The officers can know the progress of the work up to the village, so this system can cut the chain of compilation and supervision of the budget manually at the village level. The monitoring process becomes more effective and efficient, "he said. Since it was implemented three years ago, he continued, this program has attracted the attention of many parties. Various regions in Indonesia have come to Banyuwangi specifically to closely learn about the village's financial management system. Up until now, there are hundreds of representatives from various areas that had visited Banyuwangi, he stated. "This is what we call the synergy of tourism. Their visits to Banyuwangi had made us prepare our tourism destinations," he said.