Prof Sofyan Sjaf: Precise Village Data, a Solution to Ensure Social Assistance Reaches the Right Targets
Villages are still home to the majority of Indonesians, but to this day they are often trapped in poverty, unemployment, and structural inequality.
According to Prof Sofyan Sjaf, Professor of Rural Development Sociology at IPB University, the root of the problem is not only a lack of budget, but also the way the state treats villages as objects of development rather than subjects.
“Our data collection system has been top-down, aggregative, and non-participatory. As a result, many villagers, especially vulnerable groups such as female heads of households, the elderly, and children with disabilities, are invisible in public policy,” said Prof Sofyan in his Scientific Oration at IPB University (8/30).
In response to this situation, Prof Sofyan proposed the Precision Village Data (DDP) approach. DDP is not merely a technical innovation, but a data decolonization movement that places villages as the owners and managers of data.
Prof Sofyan explained that DDP carries three main principles. First, every family is mapped spatially and socially. Second, data is used for deliberation and local decision-making, not merely for bureaucratic reporting. Third, villages have full control over data, from storage and access to utilization.
“In DDP, villagers are not only data providers but also interpreters, users, and owners of data. This is the true form of knowledge sovereignty,” he explained.
According to him, DDP has the advantage of being able to compare existing numerical and spatial data. “Data by name, by address, and by coordinate of each individual and family will be visible and monitored, so that control can be exercised over the conditions of each individual and family, whether they are eligible for assistance or not.”
“With DDP, we are able to know who the targets of development are,” Prof Sofyan emphasized.
Amidst rampant data leaks in Indonesia, he emphasized that the exploitation that has been occurring is due to villages not having access to the data that is collected.
“This is not the case with DDP, because the principle of participation allows villagers to have full access to update, monitor, and know the traffic of their data usage. To be more robust, this system needs to be supported by reliable digital infrastructure from the state, for example through the application of technologies such as blockchain,” he explained.
For Prof Sofyan, the presence of DDP is the first step towards the democratization of village development. With data that is owned, understood, and fought for by its own citizens, villages can become sovereign subjects of development.
“In a world filled with dashboards and algorithms, the future of development must begin in villages, from data that is generated, owned, and utilized by the villagers themselves,” he concluded. (Lp) (IAAS/STD)
