Based on the population census in 2019 in West Java, the number of elderly is 3.347.712 people with a life expectancy of 72 years old. Karawang district has changed from the agricultural zone into the largest industrial zone in South East Asia. It has brought the transition to social, cultural, economic, and health for the people in the area. One of the vulnerable groups affected by the change is the elderly.

The Indonesian government has regulations about the elderly’s welfare in UU-RI Number 13 the year 1998 chapter 25 and PP Number 43 Year2004 about implementing efforts to improve the welfare of the elderly. The West Java government has a program to improve happiness and life quality of the elderly called “Minggu Lansia”. This program is run by engaging young volunteers to visit the elderly at least once a week. Unfortunately, this program has not been implemented at the village level, especially in Subdistrict Klari and East Teluk Jambe.

From the problem above, it is necessary to find an alternative solution. One of the areas of village development is community empowerment, including the elderly, which can be optimized through village planning and budgeting. It is important to encourage the village government to implement participatory and gender-responsive village development planning and budgeting through the community. That is the main reason we apply the proposal of a program named ANDIL SAHATE.

ANDIL SAHATE is an acronym of ANDIL (ANggaran Desa bagI Lansia) means Village Budgeting for the Elderly and SAHATE (SehAt, sejaHtrA, dan TErampil) means the healthy, prosperous, and skilled elderly. The community that we’re going to build is called “Nyekar Desa”. It’s an acronime of “Nyakola Anggaran Desa {Sekolah Anggaran Desa or Village Budgeting Training) with the program targets are village government (officials and BPD/Badan Pemusyawaratan Desa) and citizens (the elderly, families, and youth). We hope the program can improve the understanding and skill of village officials and BPD members about participatory and gender-responsive village development planning and budgeting. The program also aims to increase citizen (the elderly, families, and youth) capacity and awareness about their rights and obligation in village development.

The Path of Andil Sahate in Karawang 

The “ANDIL SAHATE” program is a program with VOICE support carried out in Pinayungan Village and Teluk Jambe Village in East Teluk Jambe District, Curug Village and Karanganyar Village in Klari District.  

The issue in Pinayungan and Teluk Jambe Villages is that this area has developed into an industrial zone. The population is a combination of local residents and immigrants, so land is shrinking due to housing construction, factories and so on, as well as increasing economic pressure. This influences the low level of public awareness of the condition of the elderly group.  

August 2021, PPSW initiated the ANDIL SAHATE (Village Budget for Healthy, Prosperous and Skilled Elderly) program in Karawang with the support of VOICE with the aim of;  

1. Empowering and increasing the capacity of elderly women through increasing access and services for the elderly and seeking their involvement in participatory and gender responsive village development planning deliberations, 
2. Increasing the capacity of village government and the Village Consultative Body (BPD) regarding gender responsive planning and budgeting, 
3. Building connectivity/coalitions caring for the elderly with government and non-government groups. 

We started by visiting the elderly and found some issues ; feeling of loneliness due to the busyness of other family members, lack of income to meet their personal needs, and difficulty accessing health facilities when they need them. They also had low education, some had not even finished elementary school.  

The process of organizing the elderly group “Nyekar Desa” as a place for the elderly to sharing stories, learning, and also a safe place to convey aspirations when the BPD comes to discuss the needs of the elderly group. They admitted that they found happiness in gathering with other elderly people. With the existence of 16 Nyekar Desa groups that have been formalized with a village decree, these groups are legally recognized by the village. Currently, meeting halls have also been built in hamlets within the assisted villages for Nyekar Desa activities.  

During the course of the program, we carried out activities not only aimed at increasing the capacity of the elderly themselves, but also approached the village government and BPD. The Village Government and BPD receive increased capacity to be able to carry out participatory and gender responsive development planning. This process is carried out jointly and involves various groups, namely the Village Government, BPD, community, family, youth and District Government in building awareness for elderly women. As the program progresses, the BPD and Village Government have the technical capacity regarding mechanisms for absorbing village community aspirations and are committed to implementing mechanisms for absorbing community aspirations in the village planning and village fund budgeting processes.  

“The village government invites the elderly to attend village meetings to convey their aspirations or find out all the wishes and needs of the elderly. Compared with the past, the elderly could not express their opinions directly. When I attended the village budgeting training, I learned what proper village budgeting looks like and it turns out that the elderly have their own budget rights.” -Uji, Head of Telukjambe Village  

Lesson Learned  

Of course, it is not easy to build strength, agreement and a common understanding regarding fulfilling the rights of the elderly with various parties. One example is in the process of organizing Posbindo (Pos Pembinaan Terpadu/ Integrated Development Post) as an effort to facilitate health access for the elderly. The ANDIL SAHATE program is located in several villages with challenging geographical conditions, for example Karang Anyar village with hills which is far from access to PKM (Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat/ Public Health Center) services. In the hamlet deliberations, the need emerged to bring health services closer to the elderly in Ciwiru hamlet, Karang Anyar Village. We also held a hearing with the BPD, Village Government, Elderly Cadres and Elderly to discuss this with the deputy head of PKM and the coordinator of the PTM section. At that time, the problem that emerged was the lack of PKM personnel to carry out Posbindu to hamlets that needed it. But a joint solution was immediately sought. Apart from that, in the District Rempug we invited the Karawang District Health Department to discuss the proposal for implementing Posbindo and related matters. From the communication process with various parties, finally Posbindo in Ciwiru hamlet was realized and serves around 40 elderly people.  

Posbindo (Pos Pembinaan Terpadu/ Integrated Development Post) is a health monitoring activity and early detection of risk factors for non-communicable diseases suffered by the elderly. Apart from being a health service, Posbindo is also used as a health education activity for the elderly and their families. Now, Posbindo is not only in Karang Anyar village (Posbindo Ciwiru hamlet), but in other assisted villages such as; Curug Village (Posbindo Parung Kadali hamlet), Teluk Jambe Village (Posbindo Bintang Alam hamlet), Pinayungan Village (Posbindo Sukamaju hamlet). Curug Village even succeeded in procuring an Ambulance through a MUSDUS proposal in Siskudes.  

Impact and transformation  

Before the ANDIL SAHATE program existed, village government policies were based on village head decisions without looking at community needs. There is no space for expressing aspirations. The program journey initiated this so that it was able to implement UU Desa No. 6 tahun 2014. Starting with the village deliberation process in the 4 assisted villages and taking approaches with leaders, BPD, village government, community, as well as preparing tools in the form of an Aspiration FORM. Apart from that, awareness raising is carried out at the elderly group and elderly cadre level to build the courage to convey aspirations in forums and also in the process of filling out the Aspiration FORM. From there, the BPD has data on community needs that can be brought to village development planning meetings. It cannot be denied that not all village heads accepted this change. Approach, communication and building networks to support the process that continues to be carried out during the program so that results are obtained, which is the existence of a legal umbrella in the form of village regulations.  

“Once there is a Village Regulation, the process of implementing activities related to the elderly can be funded from village funds. Together with village officials, the BPD agreed to fund the elderly program. Initially there were only 4 groups, now this has increased to 8 groups. For 2024, a budget of IDR 25,000,000.00 – IDR 30,000,000.00 has been planned. So after the ANDIL SAHATE program ended, this continued. From the BPD, motivational encouragement was also given to the village government to always fund these activities.” -Ujang Tatang, Head of  BPD in Curug Village  

“The village government together with the BPD create, deliberate and establish a village regulation. This lays the foundation for more in the future for seniors. There is an activity budget for CO of Rp. 20,000,000.00 from the Village Fund Budget. Because there is already a Village Regulation, there are already rules for it, so even when budgeting, this is the basis for us. There is BLT for 70 elderly people from the Village Fund Budget. There is a Posbindu for elderly health checks, we just have one, in Bintang Alam Hamlet. We budget for 2024 Rp. 16,000,000.00 to hold 1 more posbindu.”  

-Tajudin Nur, Telukjambe Village Secretary  

Inspiring stories  

Mak Encih (67 years old) lives in a house alone behind a factory in the Teluk Jambe area. Mak Encih gardens on small land behind the factory. She earns a small income from selling garden produce. She then took part in Nyekar Desa activities after being invited by elderly cadres. There, we learned that she did not have access to cash assistance because she was not registered. Data problems are a classic problem in village government that continues to occur. We are advocating so that Mak Encih can be a priority for direct cash assistance services (BLT). This was responded to after a MUSDUS (hamlet deliberation) and determination by village deliberation regarding BLT recipients. Mak Ecih finally received assistance from the Teluk Jambe Village Government.  

Kamisah (68 years old), often called Mak Ikung, actively participates in Nyekar Desa group activities. The group agreed to produce traditional snacks. We help by connecting them to the UNSIKA (Singaperbangsa Karawang University) student group (youth involvement in the context of collaborative programs with students) to get training in marketing. The process continued with a hearing with Dinas Koperasi dan UMKM (Departement of Cooperative and Small-Medium Enterprises). The results of the hearing, the service secretary immediately responded to the business permit registration and subsequent processes for this elderly group.  

To see videos, please access the link below. Film ANDIL SAHATE (youtube.com) & https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Cg6e_M2wEYx3CkpHa5J4dkhnGuJ4jNL3     

There is an interesting lesson from the perspective, enthusiasm and patience of the elderly in facing their helplessness. This creates a sense of love that grows as the program progresses. Apart from that, there is joy and happiness that radiates from their various stories about their family life, celebrating the precious moments they have gone through such as lasting marriages, the birth of grandchildren, and the achievements of their children. From these stories, we learn that happiness can be found at every stage of life, even when faced with difficult challenges.  

More importantly, accompanying elderly groups is not only about providing practical assistance, but also providing sincere attention, empathy and respect. They are not just objects of social activity, but human beings who have emotional and social needs that are as important as the rest of us.  

Another interesting thing about this program is that we can involve young people to learn together with the elderly in preparing the 2023 National Elderly Day and some other activities. This process reminds young people not to be complacent. Old age will definitely come and they should prepare themselves well in advance both physically, mentally and financially.