The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Kemendesa PDTT) are collaborating to develop the Desanesha Application.

The ITB Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM ITB) team, along with several leaders from Kemendesa PDTT, held a meeting to evaluate and follow up on community service activities in the 3T regions of Eastern Indonesia on Friday, December 1, 2023.

Willy Junaidy, Ph.D., Secretary for Community Service at LPPM ITB, mentioned that similar collaborations in the future will involve cross-institutional and cross-university efforts.

"In the future, Community Service programs in the 3T regions of Eastern Indonesia will involve various institutions and universities through the Desanesha platform. This application synergizes technological needs to solve village problems using appropriate technologies developed by Indonesian universities," said Deny Willy Junaidy, Ph.D.

This collaboration aims to benefit the community through the Desanesha application, integrating and synergizing programs to achieve Village SDGs based on appropriate technology in the 3T regions of Eastern Indonesia.

The idea for Desanesha emerged from the need to connect competent experts with village issues and vice versa. Villages often struggle to find solutions from experts, and ITB experts find it challenging to identify village locations with specific issues. Desanesha bridges this gap.

A total of 1350 ITB lecturers/researchers/experts are ready to assist rural development through community service programs. Village officials and residents need a medium to connect with ITB experts, and ITB lecturers need information about village locations facing problems that require science and technology applications. Therefore, the app serves as a medium to meet these needs.

The meeting, which discussed and evaluated the collaborative program, was attended by:

• Dr. Ivanovich Agusta, Head of the Village, Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Information Development Agency.
• La Ode Muhajirin, S.I.P., M.Si., Head of the Integrated Development Planning Center.
• Henny Mustika Sari, S.STP., Mid-level Policy Analyst, and several other team members from Kemendesa PDTT.

From ITB, attendees included:

• Prof. Ir. I Gede Wenten, M.Sc., Ph.D., Vice Rector for Research and Innovation.
• Dr. Yuli Setyo Indartono, Head of the Institute for Research and Community Service.
• Deny Willy Junaidy, Ph.D., Secretary for Community Service.
• Mohammad Farid, Ph.D., Secretary for General Affairs.
• Dr. rer. nat. Rino Rakhmata Mukti, S.Si., M.Sc., Secretary for Research.
• Dr. rer. nat. Widodo, S.T., M.T., Lecturer of Geophysics Engineering.
• Dian Sumardiana, S.Kom., Head of General Affairs.
• Ferdyansyah Poernama, A.Md., Head of Community Service Program from ITB.

The meeting also aimed to report activities already carried out and formulate several activities for the following year, including:

• Synchronizing village funds with university activities.
• Technical guidelines for implementation.
• Consortium for utilizing the Desanesha application.
• Publicizing community service activities in the 3T regions of Eastern Indonesia in a book.
• Planning community service programs by applying appropriate technologies to a village.
• Planning an exposition of community service activities in the 3T regions of Eastern Indonesia at the Research Innovation and Community Service Exhibition (PRIMA ITB 2023).