UNAIR NEWS – The academic community of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) has once again shown its presence internationally. This time, UNAIR Faculty of Public Health (FKM) Professor Prof Dr Sri Sumarmi, won Best Community Engagement Project at University Malaya Academia-Community Engagement (UMACE) International Symposium 2022.
“We only presented ‘Desa EMAS’ project, which we do to reduce stunting rates, and the panelists there (University Malaya, ed ) looked amazed,” said Prof Sri to the media crew on Friday, December 23, 2022.
The concept of ‘Desa EMAS,’ continued Prof. Sri, stands for Stunting Elimination, which is a real effort to realize the acceleration of stunting reduction in Indonesia down to the village level. The program, she continued, was the result of a collaboration between the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) and 20 universities in East Java.
“UNAIR was the initiator of the program, then I invited 19 other universities, both public and private, to form a consortium of universities,” explained Prof. Sri.
The higher education consortium consists of Universitas Airlangga, 10 November Institute of Technology, Brawijaya University, UPN Surabaya, Surabaya State University, Jember University, Surabaya Ministry of Health Polytechnic, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Trunojoyo University Madura, Malang Ministry of Health Polytechnic, Jombang Darul Ulum University, Nahdlatul Ulama University Surabaya, University of Surabaya, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya, University of Muhammadiyah Gresik, Islamic University Malang, STKIP PGRI Pacitan, Madura State Polytechnic, and Ciputra University Surabaya.
“East Java higher education consortium was formed as an extension of the Indonesian Rectors Forum through funding from the Kemendikbud Research and Technology Kedaireka matching fund scheme,” she said.
Furthermore, Prof. Sri explained 18 regencies or cities were chosen as the locations for 180 villages/Desa EMAS, including Surabaya, Bangkalan, Sumenep, Pamekasan, Mojokerto Regency, Jombang Regency, Pasuruan, Nganjuk, Bondowoso, Bojonegoro, Malang, Malang City, Tuban, Pacitan, Jember, Lumajang, Gresik and Probolinggo.
“In this program, we involve 540 students from various universities to 180 stunting locus villages in 18 regencies/cities throughout East Java,” said Prof. Sri.
In the program implementation, the Desa EMAS Program takes an approach through 5 pillars, namely: 1) Strengthening the commitment and vision of local government leadership to villages, 2) Improving communication of behavior change and community empowerment, 3) Improving the convergence of specific interventions and sensitive interventions, 4) Improving food security and nutrition at the individual, family and village community levels, and 5) Strengthening and developing systems, data, information, research, and innovation.
Author: Haryansyah Setiawan
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
