In an effort to bridge the gap of economic and social inequality among the community, rural areas in Indonesia are encouraged to be self-sufficient in generating income. This makes the central government create various policies so that the regional government maximizes the management of its potential as an economic resource for the well-being of its people. One of the ways to manage this potential is to encourage rural areas to create tourism products that can be sold to the public. The Indonesian governments openly use the tourism sector as a tool for the development in many rural areas. Next, efforts to achieve successful development of the district will be closely related to the strategic planning and long-term cooperation of each local government with stakeholders in its implementation. These two points are the basic elements of the new regionalism theory. This theory states that the role of local governments is very important in initiating and making policies for new economic activities for a significant improvement in the quality of their population. Therefore, this study tries to explore how the new theory of regionalism can include rural development from a tourism perspective as a way to stimulate the fading economy in rural area of Indonesia. The study found that the new theory of regionalism needs support from various aspects such as social-cultural, community participation, the three pillars of sustainable development namely economic, social, and environmental as well as basic aspects to shape sustainable rural development through tourism.

This study intends to explore the idea of a vocational village strategy to foster sustainable rural development. Vocational villages, offering targeted skills training and economic opportunities, present a compelling soft approach to rural development, addressing the need for sustainable livelihoods and community empowerment. Drawing upon the collaborative governance (the penta-helix model); underpinning the social capital perspective; and highlighting the economic, institutional, cultural, environmental, technological, and institutional dimensions of sustainable development, a vocational village strategy is expected to level up village capacities and facilitate modernization. The research was narratively developed through a qualitative methodology using primary and secondary data sources. Primary empirical data was employed to analyze vocational village practices in Panggungharjo Village, Yogyakarta, Indonesia as a representative example. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) framework provided secondary data to present comparative literature on vocational village development. The findings determined a four-staged vocational village model includes initiation, training, business development, and independence. The success of this model is contingent upon political, bureaucratic, and sociocultural factors (social capital), as well as the effective collaboration of government, academia, industry, and community (penta-helix). This research contributes to the urgency of vocational village practices and models as a viable strategy for achieving equitable and sustainable rural development.

This study offers a new perspective on measuring the impact of village funds (DD) on rural development. Using a mixed-method approach, the qualitative analysis reveals that, like previous rural development programs, the DD program struggles to implement inclusive methods for capturing community aspirations and evaluating outcomes. Despite rural infrastructure improvement, many villagers feel they have not fully benefited and do not view it as offering economic opportunities. The econometric model confirms the qualitative findings, indicating no significant DD influence on the village development index (IPD). Instead, effective governance factors like Musdes, regulations, and leadership are essential for the IPD improvement. Thus, enhancing village governments’ institutional capacity is crucial for increasing the DD effectiveness. The paper recommends several measures: training village officials in financial management and project planning, providing guidelines for the DD allocation and usage, creating robust monitoring-evaluation systems, developing communication strategies, and fostering partnerships with local NGOs and universities.

As one of the key initiatives promoted by the Chinese government, precision poverty alleviation aims to lift information-blocked areas out of poverty and ensure their sustainable economic development. Yunnan Province, characterized by its combination of old, young, border, and poor areas, is the province with the most diverse types of poverty, the widest poverty coverage, and the deepest poverty levels in the country. Yunnan has carried out anti-poverty work in tandem with the national efforts for 42 years in a planned and organized manner, ultimately achieving the goal of zero absolute poverty. In this process, digital rural development has played a very important role. Based on the current experience of digital construction in developed regions, completing regional digitalization requires meeting the needs of information resources, information environment, and information supply and demand. Through keyword search, text analysis, and field visits, we summarized the factors considered by local governments in policy formulation. We also attempted to map out the path for rural governments to build digital villages. With the ultimate goal of bridging the urban-rural gap, the study of digital rural development in Yunnan will provide an effective case.