The Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Studies (FCS) Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Hamamah, Ph.D., with five Village Heads (Mangliawan, Mojorejo, Selorejo, Maduredo, Jambuwer) signed a Cooperation Agreement for the realization of the 2nd Diversity School Programme carried out by the Wargakarta Study Group, Department of Arts and Cultural Anthropology FCS UB on Friday (1/27/2023) at the UB Guest House.
In her remarks, Hamamah, Ph.D. hopes that this Cooperation Agreement can facilitate various activities of FCS Lecturers and Students in the context of the implementation of the MBKM Programme.
“I hope that this Cooperation Agreement will not only cover the activities of the 2nd Diversity School initiated by the Wargakarta Study Group but also facilitate other programmes carried out by both lecturers and students. At FCS, we have lots of activities that need to be partnered with the community. Hopefully, this agreement will become one of the entry points for lecturers and students to carry out activities there,” she hoped.
The Chief Executive, Dr. Sigit Parwoto, emphasized that this programme is a continuation of the 1st Diversity School Programme. The 2nd Diversity School Programme will go through several stages namely, Socialization, Training, Gethok Tular (Sounding), and Results Dissemination.
“The difference is, the subject of the 1st Diversity School Programme is students, while in the 2nd Diversity School Programme, the subject is the community. At the 1st Diversity School, students were invited to study diversity apart from the Pancasila course, there are also reflections on experiences in the field. At the 2nd Diversity School, the focus is more on promoting good practices that already exist in the community,” said Dr. Sigit.
“We also involve students in this programme to help the community produce promotional media and disseminate it. The goal is that the good practices that already exist in the community can be known by other people and we will be grateful if they want to do it too,” he added.
Furthermore, the Head of the Wargakarta Study Group, Dr. Hipolitus Kristoforus Kewuel, emphasized that the focus on the 2nd Diversity School activity is very relevant because it relates to village branding which is currently being pursued by many parties.
“Currently, almost all villages are struggling to brand themselves. The five villages involved in this programme are arguably the five luckiest villages because they are assisted by the FCS UB Wargakarta Study Group to promote their good practices, said Dr. Hipo.
“Mangliawan with their water preservation practice, Mojorejo with religious harmony practice, Selorejo with water preservation practice, Maduredo with waste processing practice, and Jambuwer with village cleaning practice. All of those practices after being promoted are hopefully will motivate others to do the same thing. That is our only wish,” he said.
As a speaker in this programme, Lecturer of FISIP UB, Dhanny Septimawan Sutopo, M.Sc., invited village heads and community representatives to identify what has become the strength of their good practice.
“In this event, I don’t invite people to theorize about themselves, but rather to inspire them to see the strengths of the good practices they have implemented. Who is the actor, what is the role of each actor, what strengths do they have, what are the obstacles, and so on? By looking at all of these things, we hope they will gain real power to promote their good practices,” he explained.
“So simply, before they promote their good practice, they need to be aware of what strengths need to be maintained, developed, and encouraged to become their habitus,” said Dhanny, a village community empowerment activist.
At the end of the event, several representatives of the participants expressed their impressions and messages about this activity which opened a series of activities for the next four months.
“We are very grateful for this activity which gave us a lot of insight into how to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses in the good practices we have implemented in our respective villages. We hope that this assistance will not only promote existing good practices but what is more important is to help us continue to strengthen the implementation of this good practice,” said the Head of Mangliawan Village, Moch Ja’i. [dts]