Recognition of prior learning program in improving human resource in Bojonegoro district: an open government analysis

ABSTRACT


Introduction
Every organization has resources that become assets to make various innovations in meeting public satisfaction.Efforts to improve organizational performance to respond to various demands and dynamic environmental changes.To deal with this, manual efforts are not enough, technology can be used as a driver of improved business performance because it can provide increased efficiency and effectiveness (Alhalboosi et al., 2021).This trend is caused by increasing globalization and changes in the social, economic, and technological environment, which require new, dynamic, and participatory approaches to innovation (Papa et al., 2020).One of the 5 working priorities of the President of the Republic of Indonesia from 2019 to 2024 is the development of Human Resources (HR) (Kristanti et al., 2024).

Recognition of prior learning program in improving human…
Human resources are a crucial metric for assessing the well-being of a country.Large-scale changes are occurring in many domains, including the difficulty of enhancing human resources, in the VUCA era (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) (Kennedy, 2020;Nangia & Mohsin, n.d.).To achieve the ideal service society, these obstacles compel the government to enhance the caliber of its personnel and administrative machinery.Given the current environment, which places a strong emphasis on human resource development, the government works with human resources to guarantee that they have the necessary knowledge in their capacity as administrators.As a result, the government launched an endeavor to create villages through the development of highly skilled people capital.(Kristanti et al., 2024), respecting the principles of effective and efficient village development is essential if one is to innovate in the field of human resource enhancement.One of the government's endeavors to draw in the best human resources is to boost the education sector.
Bojonegoro Regency is among the regencies that are launching an education scholarship assistance program with great vigor at present.Bojonegoro Regency provides thirty percent of the nation's crude supply.Nevertheless, these natural resources have been depleted in recent times.Predicting the sustainability of regional development in the face of the depletion of these natural resources requires long-term investment.To tackle this issue, the Bojonegoro government has devised a plan to establish scholarships specifically designed for young individuals and lower-level constituents, which in this case comprises village communities (Wijoyo et al., 2022).Sustainable development considers this crucial for the accomplishment of national objectives, specifically human resource development.Furthermore, oil and gas revenues are incorporated into the endowment policy.This endowment fund is converted into a regional budget reserve for future development because of the overdistribution of capital from oil and gas.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) through the Village Higher Education Forum (Pertides) entered into a cooperation agreement to implement a university affirmation program to increase the capacity of human resources related to village development (Kristanti et al., 2024).The Bojonegoro Regency Government has a special Scholarship Program for Bojonegoro residents which is divided into 3 groups, namely: (1) scientist scholarships; intended for those studying at State Universities (PTN) and Private Universities (PTS) with scientific majors and study programs, such as engineering faculty, agriculture faculty, livestock and fisheries faculty, medical faculty; (2) one village two undergraduate scholarships; intended for those studying at PTN and PTS all majors; (3) Final Aid Scholarships; intended for those who are completing their final project (thesis); and (4) recognition of prior learning or recognition of village prior learning (RPL Desa) is a form of academic recognition intended for village activists, village heads, all village officials, BUMDes administrators, village consultative bodies (BPD), and village assistants to convert their experience into a Semester Credit System (SKS) that does not need to be taken, so that they can complete academics in a short time (Wijoyo et al., 2022).RPL Village Programme is the focus of the Bojonegoro Regency Government's flagship program in improving the quality of human resources.Implementation RPL implementation starts in March 2022 by using the 2022 and 2023 APBD.Submission of a letter to 28 sub-district heads throughout Bojonegoro Regency Bojonegoro to convey information on the RPL program to all Village Heads in the Bojonegoro Regency area.RPL Desa directly contributes to the achievement of SDGs Village Goal 4, Quality Village Education; Goal 8, Equitable Village Economic Growth; Goal 16, Equitable Peaceful Village; Goal 17, Partnership for Village Development; and Goal 18, Dynamic Village Institutions and Adaptive Village Culture.Previously, researchers had conducted a pre-survey to observe how things were going in the field.Researchers found the fact that there was a network collaboration between stakeholders in the realization of this RPL program with several factors that required stakeholders to make efforts to collaborate.Researchers also found facts related to transparency where some village officials stated the lack of information obtained by them regarding this RPL program, so they had to try to find information themselves regarding the program.In addition, related to registration and acceptance information some village officials feel that there is a lack of openness in data access.
The concept of Open government is based on the government's awareness of the public's desire for open governance.Open Government is committed to improving the quality of information availability about government activities, supporting civil society participation in government, organizing professional standards in providing public administration to prevent corruption, and abuse of authority, and increasing access to the use of new technology to support accountability and openness (Yudan & Virgy, 2021).In Indonesia, the concept of open government already exists in the regulations of Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Disclosure and the Law is the basis for implementing open government in Indonesia (Andhika, 2017).This shows the seriousness of the Indonesian government to transform towards an open government because a closed government is prone to irregularities and abuse.
Three elements comprise an open government: participation, collaboration, and transparency.The public gains insight into the functioning of the government via transparency (Harrison et al., 2012;Obama, 2009).The public can exert influence over the functioning of the government through participation in public affairs and the provision of public services (Yudan & Virgy, 2021).Enhanced data transparency serves as the foundation for this collaborative effort and public participation in the development of novel and value-added services.The implementation of open government initiatives aims to enhance public confidence through increased government participation, collaboration, and transparency (OECD, 2013).Open government, which encompasses the entire process of managing public resources including decision-making, implementation, and evaluation, is additionally characterized by transparency, openness, and participation in government administration (Gant & Turner-Lee, 2011).Source : (Gasco, 2015;Obama, 2009;Wirtz et al., 2015) Open government has become an important movement among governments around the world.For example, in terms of the benefits of open government, it makes it easier for the public regarding transparency for access to government data and activities, government legislation, and policies that can be easily obtained, open data is closely related to the sharing of government information that can be used by the public for various purposes (Zuiderwijk & Janssen, 2014).However, most experts argue that the potential benefits of open government can stimulate transparency, and accountability, increase public participation, and stimulate economic growth (Wirtz et al., 2017), and also as an effort to combat acts of corruption (Andhika, 2017;Kim et al., 2009).Open government in theory, if it is connected to the village recognition of prior learning (RPL) policy, can be used as an analytical knife to see the extent of the process of collaboration, transparency, and participation between stakeholders and the target targets of the program.
The concept of the three pillars of the open government dimension includes 3 pillars according to (McDermott, 2010;Wirtz et al., 2015Wirtz et al., , 2017)), namely 1) collaboration, as an effort to gather input from the community to assess and improve the level of collaboration to identify new opportunities for cooperation.The government makes a joint commitment to creating new and innovative solutions to the problems faced.2) transparency, encouraging accountability, and providing information to the public about what the government is doing through timely publication of information can have an important impact on public trust in government.As such, transparency is the foundation of an ideal democracy, and government websites are a tool to enhance it.3) participation, and public engagement can improve the effectiveness of the Government and the quality of its decision-making.Knowledge is widespread in society, and governments benefit from access to that widespread knowledge.
Numerous prior investigations have examined the application of RPL in diverse contexts (Fuad Abdillah, 2020;Trapsilawati et al., 2019;Travers & Evans, 2011;Wijoyo et al., 2022) However, scholars have been unable to identify any RPL-related topics that utilize open government as an analytical tool.To determine the level of implementation of the village RPL policy, which was one of the innovations aimed at enhancing resource management, researchers conducted an open government analysis.

Method
This type of research is qualitative descriptive research.Qualitative research is a research method based on the philosophy of postpositivism which is usually used to research natural objective conditions where the researcher acts as a key instrument (Creswell, 2014;Sugiyono, 2019).This study chose to use qualitative methods because this research procedure will produce descriptive data in the form of written words with a focus on social phenomena and perceptions of participants (Moleong, 2017).The technique of determining the informants was carried out by purposive sampling, namely choosing based on the criteria of the informants who played a role in this RPL program.By using purposive sampling, researchers select participants and informants who are most suitable for explaining research problems and questions (Chun Tie et al., 2019).Previously, researchers had conducted preliminary observations to find out the big picture related to the RPL program in Bojonegoro District.The sample selection criteria are: 1) Informants are part of the government, universities, and village officials in Bojonegoro Regency; 2) Informants have resources, knowledge or social capital that can support the implementation of the RPL Village program.
Specifically, the research informants were selected based on their resources, knowledge, or social capital related to the implementation of the RPL program.The profile of each research informant is shown in the following table 1: Based on the table 1, the number of people who will become informants in this study is 6 people.Data collection techniques were obtained from primary data sources and secondary data sources.Primary data sources consist of open-ended interviews, as well as observation.Meanwhile, secondary data sources come from documentation studies obtained from the research location.Data analysis techniques were carried out with interactive analysis (Miles et al., 2014).Data validity was carried out with method triangulation.Research triangulation is a form of checking the validity of data by utilizing comparisons, based on sources, methods, and theories (Fusch et al., 2018

Results and Discussions
Analysis of Open Government in the Implementation of Village RPL Program The term cooperation as a pattern of breakthrough relationships between institutions is understood as a source of efficiency and quality of public services.Open Government has a shared commitment to creating a system with information disclosure about activities organized by the government and encourages reciprocity through a process of collaboration, transparency, and participation in the implementation of the Village RPL policy in Bojonegoro Regency.Secondly, with the collaboration of the Village RPL program, it is hoped that it can become a tool in terms of carrying out tasks with increased insight, increased knowledge, balanced with the progress of community human resources."(SA, Jumput Village Official).The collaboration process that occurs in the implementation of this village RPL is between the government and universities that have been appointed by Belmawa and both carry out cooperation and assistance to RPL participants "Cooperation has been in the form of financing the lecture process, like a scholarship from the district government to village officials and there are 2 campuses that are RPL destinations, namely UNY and UNESA" (ST, Klepek Village Official).This is in line with what was conveyed by the Secretary of the Bojonegoro District DPMD Office: "The first S1 lecture, which is the result of collaboration between universities and affiliated agencies, is typically completed within four years.However, under this RPL program, the lecture duration is reduced to two years.UKT is, secondly, entirely borne by the APBD.Thirdly, because of the partnership, the local government and the university must evaluate the RPL student attendees at the lecture."(MD, Secretary of DPMD Bojonegoro).

Recognition of prior learning program in improving human…
Based on this statement, it shows that the collaboration that occurs between the government and universities is the provision of lecture facilities for village officials to pursue education accelerated or in a short time.Another statement related to the collaboration process was also supported by: "To begin with, the initiative holds the authority of the Ministry of Villages.The second category consists of both public and private universities/PTs that are members of Pertides (village universities).Thirdly, the program is financially supported by the district authority or organizers.The government, including we, cannot accomplish this objective independently; collaboration is required.These parties are an example of this".(EA, Head of Village Community Resilience, Bojonegoro).
Based on the above, the collaboration process involving several stakeholders is interrelated to achieve the focus of this policy.The form of collaboration certainly runs according to the functions of each by the MoU or Cooperation that has been written.Then, based on the 2 opinions related to the collaboration process above, it is also reinforced by the statement of the university as the organizer as well as this as the validity of the data submitted by the PT from UNY: "We are all required to continue our education until the day we die, and Unesco has mandated this RPL as one method of lifelong learning.cooperation between universities and the Bojonegoro Regional Government, first with the Ministry of Villages.Collaboration in harmony denotes that the study program selected by the RPL program organizer is adapted to the requirements of the Bojonegoro Regency and that the curriculum is not altered.As a result, the village RPL program does not have a unique curriculum; rather, it follows the university's policy, which prohibits curriculum modifications to meet local needs."(GD, RPL Manager UNY).
The university directs the recipients of the Village RPL program to choose study programs that are relevant to their needs according to the background of each regional apparatus, Village Secretary, and Village Head In the implementation of the RPL program, the implementation of lecture time is not flexible like regular classes in general, thus, the learning method uses project-based learning so that lectures produce solutions to various problem solving where each problem in the student's workplace.The collaboration process formed in the implementation of the village RPL program shows the role of each stakeholder as in the table below: The division of tasks and roles between each stakeholder is very important in the collaborative process of implementing the RPL program.Based on the results of the interview with SA as the Jumput village apparatus, he stated that "the village apparatus as an object so for collaboration indicators with related agencies and universities has indeed occurred and is indeed involved.Our involvement as village officials is by being proactive in seeking information or other sources that can be obtained in implementing the program from this RPL Village".The Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, and the Bojonegoro Regency government must cooperate in providing policies as well as facilities to the target, namely village officials who do not have an S-1 or S-2 education.Universities that have been appointed by Belmawa must also fulfill their responsibilities as providers of formal education facilities to form human resources in the learning process until the student graduation stage.

Transparency in the Village RPL Program
Transparency is a measure of how transparently the government operates to support ongoing efforts to achieve information disclosure and to oversee or monitor stakeholder initiatives.The concept of transparency also implies that data should be usable, reusable, and distributable by all relevant parties.Achieving transparent, easy-to-understand, and communicative governance leads to a significant rise in citizens' social control.According to the findings of an interview study done with the Bojonegoro District Government, efforts were Vol. 9, No. 2, 2023, pp. 1060-10711066 Journal homepage: https://jurnal.iicet.org/index.php/j-edu made to disclose information about the Village RPL program from the beginning of the screening procedure until the point at which the college test passers are announced: "Socialization was carried out to village heads and sub-district heads throughout Bojonegoro Regency to inform them of information related to the program and the information was given to the target targets, namely village officials and village activists.The second effort is through a portfolio mechanism that is accessed to universities of interest by the universities that are targeted at S1, namely UNESA and UNY.Regarding the transparency of election results, it is the authority of universities that only universities have access to.So, the participants who have met the requirements and passed are announced by their respective campuses because this has become the authority of the campus."(MD, Secretary of DPMD Bojonegoro).The government's socialization of the RPL Village program received a positive response from the community, especially the targeted village officials.Understanding must be carried out to all lines of the village government to obtain information in collecting the required files needed in the selection process.Based on the results of interviews with SA as a Jumput Village Official, and ST as a Klepek Village Official, it shows that the RPL Desa program has been quite open to village officials obtained from direct information through the Subdistrict Coordinator through social media WhatsApp groups, banners, websites, and Instagram.ST added "At the time of recruitment and also registration, there are provisions for village officials who are eligible to participate in the RPL programme.What is clear is that village officials who register but still lack the requirements are considered unable to participate in this programme because they cannot meet the requirements".However, due to the limited time in the process of registering candidates for the Village RPL program, it is required to actively seek information on the requirements that have been determined by the university.
State universities have facilitated socialization in the Village RPL program, this is related to the mechanisms and provisions that are the rules of each university.Government neutrality in giving full authority to universities related to the selection stage process, the value assessment stage is carried out by each university that collaborates in the Village RPL program in Bojonegoro Regency.The district government cannot intervene in this matter, the relevant agencies or organizers respect their respective educational institutions because the two universities have different systems.Therefore, the agency does not interfere with the selection, but the agency participates in overseeing the Village RPL program.
"We start over because this is a unique program, which necessitates cooperation between the sub-district head and the district government as well as the village.At the time, there was a misunderstanding regarding information regarding this program, which the village should have known about, but some villages were still unaware of its implementation.Maybe not enough information was sent by the village to the villages it was targeting.As a result, to ensure that there was no confusion regarding the registration requirements or files that did not meet them, the agency formed a sub-district coordinator composed of employees or officials appointed by the sub-district head.The village assistant was then tasked with assisting with the registration of this program."(EA, Head of Village Community Resilience, Bojonegoro).
The joint commitment in leading to information disclosure from the Bojonegoro Regency government continues to strive to avoid miscommunication in the Village RPL program, where coordination is an important key in facilitating assistance and direction to prospective participants.This has also been shown by state university organizers carried out by UNY by holding Technical Guidance on how to process RPL online, however, many experienced obstacles so that the campus went to the location in Bojonegoro divided into 4 teams, namely the central, eastern, western, and downtown teams which then helped directly upload data.
"Regarding data access, the university furnishes transparent information concerning the outcomes of recognition.This ensures that any deficiencies or suboptimal performance will be fully remedied if possible if there are no repercussions for the number of recognized courses.The program upholds transparency, which ensures that all aspects, including the transparent selection results, are accessible to the public.The authority to disclose student entry results is exercised individually via the registration system, which also contains the acceptance decision.Transparency efforts are being supported by SK, which serves as the foundation for reporting the value of recognition or PD-DIKTI equivalence, in addition to being provided to the Bojonegoro regional government."(GD, RPL Manager UNY).
The recruitment process of prospective RPL Village participants has shown transparency in the stages of the selection process through an online system owned by each university.This can make it easier for village officials to obtain information on the decision results of the Village RPL program.Universities also have the responsibility to report the results of the selection of participants to the Bojonegoro District Government.

Participation in the Implementation of the Village RPL Program
The overall enthusiastic involvement of the community is critical to the success of the Village CSP program.Encouraging community participation in discussion and deliberation activities to create greater trust in the public value of government-initiated programs.The RPL Desa program is a program to increase the capacity of village government human resources to optimize the delivery of services to the community.This program is very interesting and utilized by the target target, of course, this is an opportunity to develop knowledge and add insight.But back to the conditions that have been determined that not all can participate for those who do not meet the requirements because this program is another way to get a diploma, not an easy way to get a diploma."Because knowledge, as well as insight and experience, can be expanded.During this period, I acquired knowledge of the fundamental tasks and functions through self-study; however, how I executed these concepts was less systematic.Formal academic education enables us to comprehend the appropriate public services, enabling us to deliver those that are most beneficial to the community.Village RPL at UNESA is committed to preserving the standard of education and not merely pursuing diplomas."(EA, Head of Village Community Resilience, Bojonegoro).
The active role of village officials in accepting the RPL Desa program is to improve the quality of services in the village.This occurs in the process of community empowerment in providing service improvements and realizing independent villages so that village governments can manage the potential resources in their area.This was expressed by SA as the Jumput Village Official "We village officials hope to gain knowledge from lectures that we can later apply directly to the community, because we are village officials who are always in direct contact with the community.this academic program will continue to be implemented to increase the capacity of village officials' human resources".This is in line with what was expressed by ST as the Kelepek Village Official "very interested because we can increase knowledge and also insight and experience, which I am interested in this program, I am self-taught only knowing as the main tasks and functions but for how to implement it myself is not so organized so that through formal academics we can understand the correct public services so that we can provide the correct service to the community".
The target audience in the utilization of the Village RPL program to the community, especially village development activists including the Village Head, Village Apparatus, BPD, BUM Village Manager, and TPP P3MD have welcomed the Village RPL program.The community showed enthusiasm for the opportunity to continue their education to a higher level, which is expected to be well-optimized by the Village RPL participants in Bojonegoro Regency.Village heads and village secretaries are instructed to enroll in S1 management and state administration study programs when choosing their educational options by village officials.This is because these roles require managerial abilities for the development of improved village administration.Village activists are instructed to select S1 Sociology and S1 Out-of-School Education study programs in the interim so that they can create numerous social programs in rural areas based on the activities of their fellow students who are also village activists.In the meantime, S1 accounting study programs are given preference when it comes to BUMDES managers, who are anticipated to be able to manage the organization's finances for the sake of improved financial development and financial balance sheet transparency.However, some students are unable to finish their education due to RPL Desa's adoption in terms of student graduation rates.This has to do with the RPL Desa participants' capacity to follow the process of learning.Six UNESA students withdrew out of 605, citing their inability to concentrate on lectures during the first and second semesters.
"There is already a resignation letter reported to the Bojonegoro PMD Office to be submitted to the college, namely UNESA.So, the remaining 599, out of a total of 605 who can graduate in the thesis examination process, only 582, meaning that the academic process conditions cannot be achieved optimally by students.From there, of course, there is assistance so that the rest of the students who have not been able to fulfill the achievements of the academic process still have assistance from the university."(AS, RPL Manager UNESA).
Based on the above statement, the level of involvement of RPL Desa program participants in completing their studies faces various obstacles.This has an impact on the less-than-optimal implementation of the RPL Desa program by showing the resignation of 6 students, and of the 599 active students, 17 of them have not completed their studies at UNESA.This is a factor in the declining motivation of the students after undergoing lectures that did not match the expectations imagined.Encouragement is always given by the university for students to survive and complete their studies on time.
"There are problems from the students themselves that become obstacles in the implementation of the lecture, namely the lack of meeting the maximum value so that the campus has a solution, namely adding a semester or short semester to help them meet the values of those who have not been maximized.With the graduation of natural RPL program students, maybe 50-60%, meaning that some have to repeat and have to improve the value of assignments and so on, it is done so as not to add another semester, but 7 students have to repeat and are left unable to attend graduation yesterday, this shows that the campus does not just give a diploma and there needs to be objectivity of accountable data so that the diploma obtained does not become a problem in the future."(GD, RPL Manager UNY).
Student participation in the Village RPL program found a decline in student motivation in undergoing the lecture process.This concerns assignment instructions and grades that do not meet the standards set by the campus.Thus, there are 7 students of the RPL Desa program at UNY who must repeat, which results in delaying the student graduation process.

Factors Influencing the Success of the Village RPL Program
In the collaboration process, the RPL policy is a joint commitment to realizing the resources of the village government apparatus in carrying out services to the community.Based on the collaboration process carried out between the government, village officials, and universities, the following factors influence the success of the RPL program, namely: The table indicates that the same dedication and comprehension are the supporting elements in the RPL program's priority implementation.It can't function without commitment, so one of them needs to be heavy lifting.Each stakeholder's vision for reaching the common objective of raising the caliber of the village's human resources includes the collaborative process.One understanding, one commitment, and one vision in which all three roles of stakeholders have the same understanding to commit to accomplishing common goals are the supporting factors in the implementation of collaboration in achievement.The Ministry of Health's objective of enhancing the ability of village government and community empowerment to raise the capacity of human resources in the village has been supported by enthusiasm for the RPL program.The connection is that rising human development index levels can both lessen regional inequality and promote the creation of higher village classifications.

Figure 4
Figure 4 <Analysis of Open Government in the Implementation of the Village RPL Program> Source: Data processed by researchers, 2023 Collaborative Process in the Implementation of the Village RPL Program In the implementation of the village RPL policy, especially in Bojonegoro Regency, several stakeholders play a role in the implementation process.The RPL program is very strategic in the collaboration process to improve human resources in the classification of villages to become advanced and independent villages."To improve the human resources of village activists because so far village activists still have no S1 educational background.Secondly, with the collaboration of the Village RPL program, it is hoped that it can become a tool in terms of carrying out tasks with increased insight, increased knowledge, balanced with the progress of community human resources."(SA, Jumput Village Official).The collaboration process that occurs in the implementation of this village RPL is between the government and universities that have been appointed by Belmawa and both carry out cooperation and assistance to RPL participants "Cooperation has been in the form of financing the lecture process, like a scholarship from the district government to village officials and there are 2 campuses that are RPL destinations, namely UNY and UNESA" (ST, Klepek Village Official).This is in line with what was conveyed by the Secretary of the Bojonegoro District DPMD Office:

Figure 5
Figure 5 <Recapitulation of Undergraduate Village RPL Program Student Data> Source: Data processed by researchers, 2023 Based on the data above, the RPL Desa program has provided scholarships to 5 positions of village development activists with a total of 999 students distributed into 5 study programs in UNESA and UNY as follows: 1) The UNESA Village RPL Program has a total of 605 students with details of the position of Village Head 34 students, Village Officials 446 students, BPD 34 students, Village Enterprise Managers 76 students, and ).

Table 2 <Condensed
Results of Collaboration Process> TPP P3MD 15 students; 2) The UNY Village RPL Program has a total of 394 students with details of the position of Village Head 34 students, Village Officials 256 students, BPD 30 students, Village Enterprise Managers 72 students, and TPP P3MD 2 students.