Universitas Indonesia (UI) through the Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment (DPPM) is holding a Community Service and Empowerment Festival (PPM) which will last for five days, from 6th–10th of November 2023, at the UI Library, UI Depok campus. There were 34 social innovation products displayed in the PPM UI Festival exhibition as well as performances of Indonesian arts and culture – especially arts and culture that are threatened with extinction, such as Gong Si Bolong.
At the opening of the 2023 PPM Festival which was held on Tuesday (7/11), the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, drg. Nurtami, Ph.D., Sp, OF(K); Director of DPPM UI Prof. Agung Waluyo, S.Kp., M.Sc., Ph.D.; Director of RTPM Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Prof. Dr. Ir. M. Faiz Syuaib; Director of P2SBK PDTT Village Ministry, Dr. Dimposma Sihombing; Chairman of the PPM UI Festival Widhyasmaramurti, M.A; and Founder of Jaya Suprana School of Performing Arts, Jaya Suprana were present.
With the theme “Meraki Bentala-UI Service for Indonesia”, this year’s festival was packaged a little differently. There was a series of events in the form of exposure to PPM UI products carried out by UI lecturers; International Symposium and Talk Show; Archipelago Cultural Carnival; as well as Arts and Cultural Performances by directly bringing in arts activists from their respective regions, as well as performances by UI students.
Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, drg. Nurtami, Ph.D., Sp, OF(K) in her opening remarks said that the UI PPM Festival is a routine event held once a year as a form of disseminating the results of the PPM program that UI has carried out to the general public. Apart from that, this Festival is also aimed at opening up opportunities for collaboration with various parties and across sectors.
She further said that this service program is not only present as a form of UI’s fulfillment of the dharma of community service, but also as a form of implementing the latest breakthroughs to solve various problems. More than that, when viewed from the community service perspective, community service programs are programs that exist because of a sense of care and connectedness between the service provider and the community.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the PPM UI Festival, Widhyasmaramurti, or often called Mara, said, “At the 2023 PPM UI Festival exhibition, there were 34 social innovation products on display representing each family of knowledge at UI, namely the Health Science, Science and Technology, and Social Humanities. These include animated skin care videos for the elderly, educational videos on acupressure to increase appetite in stunted toddlers, the Nutrition Impact game application, branding of drip coffee belonging to the people of Lembah Cocol, NTT, the Sumba Cultural Heritage e-catalog, the microorganism science literacy kit, and so on.”
Throughout 2023, the Director of PPM UI Prof. Agung Waluyo in his speech said that there were at least 216 UI community service and empowerment programs. The funds that UI has disbursed to support these activities are IDR 3.2 billion throughout 2023. “We are targeting as many as 40 social innovations to help solve community problems in a number of regional focus points in Indonesia. There are 18 focus points for community empowerment and service, namely Banten and West Java, DKI and the Kepulauan Seribu, Tegal, Banyuwangi, East Kalimantan, West Sumba, East Lombok, Labuan Bajo, Atambua, Belu, Mesa Island and East Manggarai,” said Prof. Great.
On the same occasion, a copy of the Indonesian Intangible Cultural Heritage Certificate for Tumang Metal Craft Art was also handed over by Dipo Mawardi as Head of Cepogo Village to UI. This was handed over thanks to assistance from UI to the people of Cepogo Village, Boyolali Regency. Furthermore, a Joint Memorandum of Understanding (NKB) was also signed between UI and Bank NTT in the form of collaboration between UI academics and Bank NTT and the local community. This collaboration aims to support the sustainability of MSME development in the NTT region.
The next agenda is a Panel Discussion on Collaboration Opportunities for the UI Community Service Program: “Satya Citta Bhakti Nagarim: Synergy and Collaboration Towards a Golden Indonesia 2045”. Hilmar Farid, Ph.D., as Director General of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture, was present as the key speaker in the panel discussion. Hilmar appreciated UI’s idea of holding a PPM Festival which was full of elements of art and culture. Apart from that, Hilmar fully supports the contribution of the UI community service and empowerment program as an effort to preserve Indonesian classical works of art.
Still on the agenda for the opening of the 2023 UI PPM Festival, an award was also given for the pentahelix synergy in supporting the success of UI community service and empowerment. This award was given to parties from various elements, such as elements of the Regional Government/Government (Kemendesa PDTT; Regent of East Manggarai; Regent of Boyolali); Community (Dr. Sitanala Hospital; Karang Sari Village Head, Neglasari District; Trained Community Leaders; Kopi Colol community representatives); Industry (Kimia Farma Laboratory & Clinic; PT Sucofindo; PT Pertamina; Pertamina Foundation); and Media elements (MNC Portal Indonesia, LKBN Antara, Tribun News).
