Recognizing the Roots of Self and Village Power

For two days from February 15-16 2025, the village coordinators formed by the Wisnu Foundation gathered in Baliwoso, Pengotan Village to discover the roots of their own and their respective villages. These village coordinators were inaugurated in 2023 during the celebration of Wisnu’s 30th birthday. The activity was attended by 25 Village Coordinators who were representatives from 9 Villages/Customs including Tenganan Pegringsingan Traditional Village, Dukuh Sibetan Traditional Village, Tanglad-Nusa Penida Traditional Village, Nyuh Kukuh-Nusa Penida Traditional Village, Nyambu Village, Dalem Tamblingan Traditional Village in Catur Desa, Perancak Village, Pedawa Traditional Village, and Pengotan Traditional Village. The “Recognizing the Roots of Self and Village Power” activity was facilitated by the Akar Daya Community, a community initiated by Indonesia for Humanity (IKa) and the Wisnu Foundation is one of the members of this root power community. This community is a collaborative forum or ecosystem that collects Catur Daya (funds, knowledge, networks, volunteerism) to support humanitarian work and nature conservation.

The activity began with the provision of material by Mr. Made Suarnatha, founder of the Wisnu Foundation, who discussed living spaces and their purification through the concept of Sad Kerthi (six efforts to maintain the sanctity & sustainability of the universe for the common welfare) in an effort to respond to the dynamics of life in Bali. The next session was given by Mr. Nyoman Sadra who discussed living in the midst of the Kaliyuga and globalization era. In this Kaliyuga era, the human mind is very quickly influenced by negative things. One of the interesting things from Mr. Sadra’s presentation is that life always has two sides like day and night, for those who want to receive pleasure, they must also be ready to receive sadness.

Before identifying the roots of self-power, the village coordinators were asked about their purpose in Wisnu which can be grouped into three, namely as a place to learn, a place to take action to have an impact, and a place to network. Next, the participants created their river of life, in this session the participants listened to each other and told their respective lives. Participants generally felt relieved because they could share, were moved to tears and some felt inspired. The thing that can be learned in this session is that no matter how bad a moment is, nothing can be underestimated. Everything that is experienced shapes us to become more resilient, we need to love ourselves more with all our successes and failures and always be grateful to ourselves for being able to survive until now. 

Accompanied by the cold atmosphere of Pengotan, the participants remained active in following a series of very dense activities, the next session was a brainstorming session on the situation and conditions of the Village in Bali. The results of this brainstorming were 67 negative responses, 19 positive responses, and 6 neutral responses. The facilitator then emphasized that humans are generally too focused on negative information compared to positive information (negative bias). Although the questions given are neutral, the responses given are usually negative. This arises because humans want to change existing conditions and do something about them.

The activity was then continued with an explanation of Asset Based Thinking (ABT) and Deficit Based Thinking (DBT). The ABT concept focuses more on the strengths that are owned while the DBT concept focuses more on problems and expects outsiders to come to save them. The facilitator then invited participants to create their own Catur Daya Mandala consisting of funds, knowledge, networks, and volunteerism. In the evening session, participants created SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) in each village. The first day’s activities were closed with a night of intimacy accompanied by a campfire, corn and sweet potatoes that were roasted by the participants themselves.

The next day’s activities, each KorDes (Village Coordinator) made a follow-up plan and inauguration of the village coordinator by creating a work that reflects the symbol of strengthening the movement in Wisnu. There are four summaries of proposals/formulations for follow-up actions, namely improving organizational governance, improving the economy of members, creating a learning container/room, and improving human resources. The work is made of plasticine and lit candles. An example of a work made by Bli Putu Wiadnyana from Tenganan is a flower with four petals symbolizing the mentor, supervisor, daily implementer of Wisnu and the village coordinator to work together in synergy in achieving Wisnu’s vision. The four petals also symbolize the action plan cluster, namely increasing capacity, institutional governance, learning container, and strengthening the economy of Wisnu members.

The second day’s activities were closed by playing a financial literacy game that aims to improve individual or group understanding of responsible financial management. In this game, participants will learn the topics of financial planning, loan management, and financial risk management, for example those related to the importance of insurance and emergency savings. This game uses the name TIKA, inspired by the name of the traditional Balinese calendar which is compiled based on wariga calculations. So in this case TIKA is an abbreviation of Titi Kelola Artha. While SUBAK is a rice field irrigation system in Bali and in this game it is translated as Strategy for Wise Finances. So TIKA SUBAK is an abbreviation of Titi Kelola Artha – Strategy in a Wise Way over Finances, and can be interpreted as a way to manage finances wisely.

The game activities are very exciting, there is a lot of laughter when one of the participants makes a profit or loss, besides that the participants also really understand their roles as husband and wife. Through this activity, participants learn to be more careful in recording finances, the importance of saving for emergency funds, debt payments need to be prioritized and to be more careful in making investments. The two-day activities were able to run smoothly thanks to the support of Diageo Indonesia. The social programs implemented are a form of corporate responsibility for the use of natural resources, especially for water use. The company located in Nyambu Village has been working with the village and the Wisnu Foundation since 2015, starting with mapping and participatory research.