Ministry taking up new initiatives to strengthen function, roles of village committees
Nanta (centre) posing with the participants who attended the Infra-UniKL Village Administration Certificate Programme in Sarawak.
KUCHING: The Rural and Regional Development Ministry has come up with a number of new initiatives that are intended to strengthen the function and roles of village security and development committees (JKKK) as government machinery at the grassroots.
Its Deputy Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi said among the initiatives are JKKK Management Procedures Version 2 that is aimed at strengthening the ministry’s new focus in the management of JKKK, such as payment of allowance through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), allowance payment monitoring system, and the preparation of reports online using e-administration system in the village.
In order to ensure high professionalism among the JKKK leadership, Nanta said his ministry is in the process of devising methods to provide educational opportunities at diploma level in rural area administration.
“This programme will be implemented in cooperation with institutions of higher learning under the ministry such as Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and University College Agroscience Malaysia (Ucam).
“JKKK and upcoming leaders can take this opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills to improve the current management method,” he said at the closing ceremony of the three-day Sarawak Zone Infra-UniKL Village Administration Certificate Programme here yesterday.
The programme, organised through the cooperation from Village Development Institute (Infra) and UniKL, was attended by 468 community leaders, including JKKK chairmen from Kuching, Samarahan and Serian divisions.
The programme is among the Rural and Regional Development Ministry’s initiatives under the Rural Transformation Plan (RTP) that is aimed at strengthening JKKKs. The comprehensive modules, consisting of village strategic plan, village management and financial management, village project monitoring, responsibilities of assistant registrars and entrepreneurship, were developed by UniKL specialists.
The programme in Sarawak is a continuity of a series of programmes implemented at Infra Bangi for the Central and Southern Zones, Eastern Zone in Terengganu and Northern Zone in Alor Setar. As of now, a total of 2,376 participants have undergone this programme. After this, the programme will be held in Sabah in July.
In terms of the ministry’s RTP, Nanta said various initiatives had been implemented through six main focus areas; namely provision of infrastructure, youth development and human capital, strengthening the rural economy and entrepreneurship, as well as strengthening of delivery system to the people.
“More employment opportunities will be created and affordable housing under the ‘Rumah Bina Negara (Rumah BN)’ will be provided to encourage the younger generation to stay and work in the village.