1,169 students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) will perform community services in 116 villages of 14 districts in Bantul and Sleman. Most of them are students of batch 2013.
Head of Community Empowerment Division of Center for Research, Publication, and Community Service (LP3M) of UMY, Sutrisno, S.P., M.P., stated that the community services will focus on the issues in where the students perform the services. “UMY has cooperated with villages in Bantul and Sleman in empowering the community. Thus, the services will concern with the issues of tourism, handicrafts, home industries, and independent waste processing,” Sutrisno mentioned.
He also informed that the community services will concentrate the local potentials for five-year development instead of facilities and infrastructures in the villages. In the villages which have cooperated with UMY for years, the students will focus on the sustainability of the program undertaken by the previous community services.
“Meanwhile, students who will undertake community services in new areas are expected to create long term plans, identify local potentials, and make partnership plans, particularly dealing with main programs, tourism, and industries. Students also make additional programs in line with the community needs,” told Sutrisno who is also a lecturer of Faculty of Agriculture of UMY.
He wished that the community services will be one of the means of the personality development besides community and institution development. “It is essential since the community services are considered successful if, first, the services can improve students’ personality to be better, more cooperative, and more aware of community, more competitive, and well-prepared for team work. Second, students can become problem solvers in the community. They are prepared to contribute to community professionally because the community possesses high expectation to students or bachelor degree holders,” Sutrisno asserted.
Indeed, he also expected that students can learn Muhammadiyah values in-depth because the community services are one of the cultural dakwah (Islamic preaching) of Muhammdiyah. “Engaged in community may raise students’ appreciation to Muhamadiyah’s roles as rahmatan lil ‘alamin (blessing for the whole world and its content). Thus, the students may watch over themselves because they represent this institution,” Sutrisno emphasized.
Indeed, each group of the community services is required to bring a seedling to be planted in where they carried out the community services. Besides, they also successfully collected 4 million rupiahs to be donated through Lazismu, a Muhmmadiyah zakat agency.
