In February 2023, the Yogyakarta Community Development Project (CDP), one of the areas supported by Gugah Nurani Indonesia (GNI), reported annual project achievements to all stakeholders who are partners in implementing community empowerment projects during the 2018 to 2022 project cycle.

This activity has been carried out every year since it started operating in 2011 as a form of public accountability and transparency regarding GNI's performance in community empowerment efforts to fulfill children's rights. This effort is to implement GNI's core values: to ensure sustainability, spread awareness of fulfilling child rights, encourage all parties to live together in harmony (harmonization), and encourage the participation of local volunteers and supported communities for community development (participation), encourage partners to work together in achieving community welfare (partnership), ensure accountability and transparency of project reports to the public (transparency), and encourage communities to participate in GNI work (sharing values).



This activity was held at the Pendoworejo Village Hall. Also present were stakeholders from the Pendoworejo Village Government, Panewu (subdistrict head) Girimulyo, Head of the Kulon Progo District Health Office, Head of the Girimulyo I Health Center, Head of the Cooperative Education Institute for the D.I Yogyakarta Region, representatives from the D.I Yogyakarta Cooperative and Small and Medium Enterprise Office and Kulon Progo Regency, the Office Education, Youth, and Sports of Kulon Progo Regency, Social Service for Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of Kulon Progo Regency, Industry and Trade Office of Kulon Progo Regency, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service of Kulon Progo Regency, along with Yogyakarta CDP community empowerment partners, namely the Pendoworejo Village Child Protection Committee, the Pendoworejo Mitra Sejahtera Cooperative, the Mbok Daya Business Group, and health cadres.

The village head of Pendoworejo expressed his appreciation to GNI for its contribution to development in the Pendoworejo Village area, which covered almost all sectors. Panewu Girimulyo said that thanks to various parties' contributions, the Pendoworejo Village is currently included in the lowest extreme poverty of the three other districts in Kapanewon Girimulyo. Followed by the presentation of GNI's vision and mission, the achievements of Yogyakarta CDP activities in 2022, and the planned activities in the next cycle starting from 2023 to 2027 by Tiara as Yogyakarta CDP Manager.

Yosfialdi, Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation Manager, presented the results of the end-line survey and impact evaluation of Yogyakarta CDP activities in the project cycle, which focused on the economic and the health sectors. The final measurement results show positive changes in the health sector related to the health of children under five and parents’ sanitation behavior. Observations at Health Card (KMS) showed a decrease in the rate of malnourished children by approximately 5%. In addition, the rate of parents who said their child had tuberculosis and an upper respiratory infection (decreased by 50%) has also reduced.

In the sanitation aspect, the ownership of latrines increased from 93% to 97%. GNI continues to support efforts to increase the percentage of ownership of toilets with latrines through support for the construction of child- and women-friendly toilets for 57 families with sponsored children by the end of 2022.
 

Yogyakarta CDP has formed two business groups in the economic sector: the Mbok Daya Business Group and the Pendoworejo Mitra Sejahtera Cooperative (KMSP). Mbok Daya is a way of empowering the economy of women's groups which aims to increase the ability of mothers to run businesses to increase income and encourage balanced gender relations within the family. The existence of KMSP encourages business development through capital loans. Both business groups generally experienced positive growth in gross sales and cash and capital flows.

This activity encourages the participants to commit to maintaining the sustainability of this good practice—head of District Health Office Kulon Progo, dr. Sri Budi Utami also emphasized, “Usually, it is impossible to trace the legacy of support. Therefore, the most important thing is what we can do should GNI no longer work here. Who will continue (the program)?”. Appreciation, input, and participation in cooperation encouraged GNI and all parties to continue working together to build a more self-reliant society to fulfill the rights and protect children.