Jakarta – The Prabowo-Gibran government has formed a separate Ministry of Cooperatives as an effort to restore the role of cooperatives as the main pillar of the nation’s economy. One of the steps taken is to launch the Red and White Village Cooperative program.
This program is designed to help villages throughout Indonesia to be more advanced and prosperous. The government is targeting this cooperative to be present in 70,000 to 80,000 villages, with the hope of increasing economic turnover of up to IDR 7 billion per village per year.
“The existence of the Red and White Village Cooperative, first of all, is for the benefit of the village community. Because the Red and White Village Cooperative is to break the chain of poverty in the village and also how the village community can increase their income,” said the Minister of Cooperatives, Budi Arie Setiadi.
The Red and White Village Cooperative continues to innovate in accelerating the growth of the people’s economy through various programs and strategies implemented in various sectors. With a vision to improve community welfare, this cooperative has implemented progressive steps in supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the agricultural sector, and the digitalization of financial services.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Strategic Socio-Economic Cadre Association (AKSES) and CEO of the People’s Business Cooperative Parent (INKUR), Suroto said that the success of this village cooperative still depends on several key factors, including that the cooperative must have professional and transparent governance.
“The government needs to ensure that every cooperative has a good management system, supported by trained human resources and has access to ongoing technical assistance,” said Suroto.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, also emphasized the importance of the role of villages in the national economy. Currently, around 44 percent of Indonesia’s population still lives in villages.
“Without proper intervention, villages can experience economic decline. Therefore, this cooperative is expected to be a motor of economic growth that can strengthen food security and improve community welfare,” he said.
As a next step, the government will conduct outreach to village heads, village officials, and various related associations to ensure a uniform understanding of this program. With various programs that support MSMEs, the agricultural sector, and financial digitalization, this cooperative has provided real benefits to the community and created wider economic opportunities.
Therefore, the Red and White Village Cooperative can be an intermediary so that each village can become an independent center of economic growth, improve community welfare, and maintain food security. This program is planned to be implemented in all villages in Indonesia in the near future.
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