Funding is one of crucial issues in implementing a program or activity. How can it be implemented, if there are no funds to support it? The absence of funding sources become challenge in several programs, for example in stunting prevention programs. The budget for stunting prevention is actually available in the Village Funds. It is intended for villages that are transferred through the District/Municipalities Annual Budget (APBD), but sometimes the village government does not have good understanding how to access these funds. So, what should be done?
Minister of Finance Regulation Number 222/PMK.07/ 2020 concerning Village Funds Management has been published. The regulation contains several requirements that village government must submit to the regents/mayors for distribution of Village Funds in 2021. One of these requirements is the submission of the 2020 Village Level Stunting Prevention Convergence Report, through the OM-SPAN application (Online Monitoring System for Treasury and State Budget). These requirements are mandatory for all villages in 434 districts/municipalities, in 33 provinces. There are 514 districts/municipalities in Indonesia, but only 434 districts/municipalities that have villages. All villages in the districts/municipalities are required to submit the report to Community and Village Empowerment Service (PMD). Then the PMD Office with the Regional Financial and Asset Management Office (DPKAD) as the owner of the OM-SPAN application User ID, will upload the report. Uploading the report in the OM-SPAN is a requirement for distributing Village Funds. For Independent Villages, the distribution of Village Funds is in two phases, phase I for 60% funds and phase II for 40% funds. Whereas for Very Disadvantaged Villages, Disadvantaged Villages, Developing Villages, and Developed Villages is requirement for distributing Phase III Village Funds.
Beside as a requirement of Village Funds distribution, uploading the report is also used as an indicator of measuring progress of the use of Village Funds for stunting prevention. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has sent a Letter of Request to Upload Complete Data for the 2019 and 2020 Village Level Stunting Prevention Convergence Report to the OM-SPAN Application. The letter, which was signed on March 10, 2021, has been sent to the Regional Secretaries in 434 districts/municipalities.
As of December 2020, there were 53 of 260 priority districts/municipalities for stunting in 2020, which at least 70% of villages in these districts/municipalities had uploaded their reports to the OM-SPAN. In addition, none of the 160 priority districts/municipalities for stunting in 2019 met the provisions of at least 80% of villages in these districts/municipalities, reported an increase of village convergence of at least 20% in 2020.
Based on the data above, it appears that there are still many stunting priority districts/municipalities that have not submitted their convergence reports into OM-SPAN. The government continues to encourage all villages to fulfill the requirements so that Village Funds can be distributed. The Village Funds is used to finance government administration, community development, and community empowerment in the village level.
Besides funding, the stunting prevention program also depends on the quality of planning in the village in preventing stunting, regional policies in guiding the village, and the arrangement of authority between regions and villages.
